Workplace Wellness: Should Employees Be Healthier?

Unless there’s an elusive money tree in the backyard, work is just a way of life for most people.

There’s no getting around a busy schedule, so it’s inevitable that activities like personal fitness must be sacrificed. Luckily there are some great ways to integrate employee health and wellness into the workday.

When employee health and wellness increases, so does productivity and positive attitudes. On the other end of the spectrum, unhealthy employees are more likely to be unhappy and require more time off.

In fact, the national average for sick leave in the United States is roughly 3 days (72 hrs) a year. Anything more than that costs most employers big bucks. How much? Try $220 billion annually to be exact.

The Pros and Cons of Being Fit for Work

Because the advantages of having healthy employees far outweigh the disadvantages, let’s get those pesky cons out of the way first. Unhealthy employees are more likely to:

·  Underperform

·  Suffer from stress

·  Require more time off

·  Affect workplace morale

What are cons without the pros?

As promised, here are a slew of pros associated with employees that are fit as fiddles or any other instrument. Healthy employees are more likely to:

· Enjoy their work

· Increase productivity

· Be more time efficient

· Naturally reduce their stress levels

· Positively affect workplace morale

· Need less time off

· Go above and beyond with everyday tasks

Ways of Integrating Health in the Workplace

When it comes to increasing employee health and wellness, there are a few ways to keep employees happy as well as healthy. It’s important to remember that health doesn’t always mean physical fitness. Mental health and wellness are just as important as low blood pressure and a fit physique.

Extended Breaks

It’s a great idea to implement extended lunch breaks and general breaks into an employee’s daily schedule. This gives the employee time to decompress, relax, and maybe even go on a brisk walk to raise their heart rate.

Extended breaks won’t necessarily hurt the bottom dollar and will almost always result in increased performance. So, give a little more in terms of employee free time and get a lot in return.

Health Insurance Discounts

Encouraging employee wellness through health insurance discounts is another great way to get employees on a healthy track. Incentives like health insurance premium deductions and good health bonuses will please both employees and employers, especially if the health insurance plan is in-house.

Workplace Fitness Centers

What’s better than running to the gym on a lunch break? Running downstairs to the workplace fitness center. Workplace fitness centers not only provide employees a convenient way to stay in shape while staying on task, they promote health and wellness throughout the entire office: the good kind of contagious!

So, whether it’s treading lightly while filing papers or rewarding employees for low cholesterol, implementing fitness into the work environment is a must.

Not only will employees be in a better mood, they’ll be so happy to work that they’ll forget to water their money tree.