When you are spending a lot of time in the working environment, it can take a toll on your physical and mental health over time. A lot of stress, an unhealthy diet, and not enough sleep are some of the factors that may influence your employees to feel low on energy and to get sick quite often.
Improving the wellbeing of their employees should be every employer’s goal. If they are leading a healthy lifestyle, they will be significantly more productive and motivated, and that means a lot of success and happiness for both you and them. Although deciding to lead a healthy lifestyle seems like a personal choice, sometimes giving a little push helps people achieve their personal goals.
Having that in mind, we have created a list of 5 simple tips that everyone can follow in order to ensure their staff stays fit and healthy!
1. Create a fun break room
The break room may be one of the most important parts of the working environment. If you want your staff to be satisfied and productive, you have to provide them with a great space to have some fun and relax during their breaks.
There are so many ways to create such a space. For instance, the majority of your employees would like their break room to include a coffee machine. They will probably appreciate if the room also had some snacks, books, magazines or TV as well.
Decorations can play a great role, too. It doesn’t have to be anything too flashy, but it has to be different from the usual dull workspace. Considering things like wall art, interesting furniture and different wall colors can make a world of difference!
2. Encourage collective physical exercise during breaks
When you are involved in an office-bound job, it can be hard to stay fit. Spending your time in a closed space for at least 8 hours a day (in some cases even longer) and sitting down for three quarters of your working day is not the best recipe for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The first and the simplest thing you can do is to encourage your employees to spend more time on their feet instead of their chairs. Standing can lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes and can burn up to 300 calories on a daily basis.
Sometimes, employees feel reluctant when it comes to being more physically active since they are so used to sitting in their offices, and that is why you, as an employer, have to take matters into your own hands and get them out of their seats.
For instance, you should encourage them to spend their lunch breaks collectively out of their offices. Lunch breaks are a great chance for them to breathe in some fresh air and stretch their legs, however, less than 15% of employees decide to spend their whole one-hour break not working. Not taking a break can negatively impact physical health and decrease staff morale and productivity.
Another thing you can do is to implement standing desks. They are becoming more and more popular in working environments since they are an innovative solution, as opposed to just sitting the whole time. These types of desks are adjustable which means that an employee can stand up for a certain period of time and then sit down.
Ultimately, when you’ve succeeded in getting your staff out of their chairs and out of their offices, it is time to introduce some physical exercise! It certainly doesn’t have to be anything to really make them sweat, but some simple stretching and brisk walking should be a sufficient and fun way to stay active.
3. Office plants and good ventilation are your friends
Providing good ventilation is the basic requirement in any healthy office environment. Since the majority of people spendone-thirdd of their day at work, the first thing you need to ensure as an employer is that there is enough clean air.
Having a high-quality ventilation system and a few plants ought to do the trick if you want your employees to get fresh air. Not having proper ventilation and plants can cause harmful contaminants to build up and seriously damage your own and the health of your employees.
4. Organize sport-based team building events
People are not always so keen on exercising and doing sports. But combining fitness and team bonding might sound like a fun and innovative activity and possibly tone down the negative attitude towards participating in physical activities.
Spending a few days outside of the working environment with your whole team can largely contribute to establishing better communication and improving morale. That is why team building events have become so popular and they offer so many possibilities, ranging from playing soccer or basketball to circuit training or boot camps.
Determine what your employees’ preferences are and together decide on creating a team building event that everyone will enjoy and benefit from.
5. Stock up the office fridge with healthy food options
The best time to cut down on fast and processed food is right now. Reportedly, one third of our daily calories is consumed during working hours and that is why we have to make sure that we are consuming something nutritious and healthy.
Pastries, snacks and fast food are the most common on the “office menu” since they are cheap and, let’s face it, delicious. However, there are so many healthier alternatives that can be equally yummy, and you should consider stocking up the office fridge with them.
For example, fresh and dried fruits, nuts, dark chocolate, boiled eggs and whole wheat breads and pastries are just some of the options that everyone will easily embrace. Switching to a healthier diet means improved overall health in the long run and more energy.
To conclude, taking care of your employees means having a healthy and satisfied workforce which ultimately brings more productivity and less costs for an employer. That is why you should implement these steps as soon as possible and make them a daily routine as they are guaranteed to have only positive effects!
