August is National Wellness Month, making it the perfect time to focus on well-being in the workplace. When wellness is a priority within your company culture, every employee receives better support. Along with making work more pleasant, there are benefits for the company, including enhanced morale and productivity.
Often, creating a culture that centers on well-being isn’t overly challenging. By providing access to resources that support wellness on multiple levels, it’s possible to develop a holistic program that benefits employees, managers, leaders, and the company alike. If you want to get started, here are tips for the well-being of you and your employees.
Tips for the Well-Being of You and Your Employees:
Set Healthy Boundaries
Due to the rise in mobile technology and remote work, employees may struggle to disconnect from their professional lives. Additionally, the high degree of accessibility may cause some managers to have unrealistic expectations about after-hours activities, creating a sense of pressure on workers to adopt an always-on mentality.
Both of these issues can harm an employee’s well-being, as it negatively impacts their work-life balance and elevates stress. Instead, create a workplace that embraces healthy boundaries. Make sure that employees can disconnect without fear of not meeting expectations. Establish formal times when they’re expected not to engage in work activities, such as responding to messages. Additionally, ensure that vacation or sick leave isn’t disrupted by requests to handle tasks.
Offer Ample Paid Time Off
Paid time off allows an employee to effectively manage their personal lives without sacrificing their paychecks. Ensuring the entire workforce has access to a sufficient amount of vacation and sick leave is essential, as it allows them to handle a wider variety of situations without undue stress.
Additionally, streamline processes for using any type of leave. Make sure that managers or others with approving authority are focusing on how they can say “yes” to a request instead of “no,” as a generous leave package doesn’t provide value if using the paid time off is overly difficult.
Encourage Gratitude
Showing gratitude is beneficial for any company’s culture, as it ensures that everyone feels seen, appreciated, and valued. Managers should work diligently to recognize the contributions of their team appropriately. Completing tasks on time should come with a “thank you” at a minimum. For larger achievements, selecting an appropriate reward is best.
However, it’s also wise to ensure that gratitude comes from multiple levels. Create opportunities for employees to express their appreciation to one another. For example, you can take a moment before a meeting begins to let attendees recognize those who’ve assisted them or to acknowledge the accomplishments of others. That makes the whole environment more supportive and appreciative, creating a more positive culture.
Provide the Right Resources
Wellness can require a wide array of support mechanisms, so ensuring those resources are highly accessible is a must. Make sure that any medical insurance includes robust mental health coverage, and have an employee assistance program available that everyone can access during urgent situations.
It’s also wise to offer coaching in various areas, ideally at no cost to the worker. For example, giving employees access to a financial coach can help them navigate personal financial struggles. Nutrition coaching can provide guidance on healthy eating, and career coaching can help them plan for their professional lives.
Incorporate Movement
Many professionals work in positions that primarily involve sitting at a desk or meeting table all day, which can cause them to become sedentary. Since remaining physically active is a critical part of whole-body wellness, incorporate opportunities to promote movement.
Having benefits like access to an on-site gym or free fitness center memberships can work well. Additionally, consider holding walking meetings, especially for shorter catchups that don’t require presentation materials. Also, ensure that breaks or lunches are long enough for employees to take a stroll if they’d like, as even light or moderate activity can make a difference.
Installing sit/stand desks is another option worth exploring. It can at least allow employees to stand for periods during the day, which is often better than remaining seated for hours on end.
Design Ergonomically
Proper ergonomics can reduce injury rates and fatigue, so focusing on ergonomics when designing workstations can promote wellness. Assess each workstation to adjust various features based on an employee’s unique needs. For example, have several chair sizes available to ensure workers of different heights and weights can remain comfortable. Allow employees to get footrests if needed, and make lighting, screen heights, and other options adjustable.
Provide Access to Healthy Foods and Drinks
For employees that purchase food and drink while at work, providing them with access to healthy options supports proper nutrition. Make sure that cafeterias, vending machines, and similar options have healthy choices available. Provide access to filtered water in break areas, too.
You can also take this further through other benefits or arrangements. For example, you can arrange for discounts on healthy meal delivery options or invite a food truck that focuses on nutritious creations to come to your worksite during lunches, providing employees with a quick service option if you don’t have a cafeteria.
Do You Need Top Talent to Fill Your Vacant Positions? Burnett Specialists Is Here to Help!
Creating and maintaining a capable workforce isn’t just critical for productivity and profitability; it can help with employee wellness, too. When you’re properly staffed, employees experience less stress, as they don’t have to make up for the organization being shorthanded.
At Burnett Specialists, we understand what it takes to identify and engage top talent, making it easier for companies to fill vacancies efficiently. Additionally, we know the importance of culture fit for employee success, so we factor it into the equation when recommending candidates for open positions.
If you have vacant roles to fill, the experienced recruitment team at Burnett Specialists can make finding the right-fit candidates quickly simple. Request more information to see how Burnett Specialists can streamline your hiring today.
