Workplace Wellness

How healthy is your nine-to-five environment? Do something about it and help the country save millions.

Motivated, productive, enthusiastic and engaged? Or negative, inefficient, absent and unmotivated?
Which one of these sounds more like your staff members? If it is closer to the latter, perhaps it is time you considered a workplace wellness strategy. Undernourished, unfit and stressed-out employees can be a significant cost to your business, through high staff turnover, poor productivity and increased absenteeism. By contrast, a healthy workforce can improve the day-to-day functioning and productivity of your business tenfold.

A well-thought-out workplace wellness strategy can have benefit for every aspect of your business. The time and energy invested in a few core health and wellness strategies will be rewarded with noticeable improvement in terms of efficiency, engagement and reduced absenteeism. And with unplanned absenteeism alone costing New Zealand businesses an estimated $1billion per year, this is certainly worth considering.1

A wellness focus can be a real asset when recruiting new staff members. Health conscious individuals may specifically seek out workplaces where there is support for sound nutrition and physical activity. When base-salary and other employee benefits are similar to other companies, an employee wellness program can be a point of difference that not only attracts new employees, but helps to retain them.

As a business owner or employer, we may feel that it is our employees’ responsibility to look after their health and fitness. However, with long working hours and our increasingly busy lives, it can be difficult for people to find the time to include physical activity and sound nutrition in their day. As there are obvious benefits to the employer of a healthier workforce, it is in their best interests to encourage healthier habits. And one way to do this is to initiate change in the workplace.

In fact, workplace-centred lifestyle changes may be the best way to achieve sustained improvements in health. Integrating physical activity and good nutrition practices into the workplace makes change more achievable and increases motivation. Going it alone can be difficult, and sharing the journey with your colleagues can make the process a lot easier.

So, how healthy is your workplace? What steps is your business taking to protect your employees’ health and wellbeing? If the answer is none, perhaps it is time to take action.
There are literally hundreds of ways you can make your workplace more wellness-focussed and your employees healthier. It need not mean huge cost or significant overhauls. A number of simple, well-thought-out strategies can really make a difference. For example:
• employing the services of a nutritionist, personal trainer or counsellor to undertake staff assessments or provide seminars or workplace wellness
• establishing goal-setting groups for staff to get together and discuss their wellness goals
• encouraging healthier alternatives at workplace morning teas, e.g. fresh fruit, homemade muffins and sushi instead of sausage rolls and mega muffins
• creating an office sports team and join business-house sports leagues
• implementing exercise ‘snacks’ during the work day such as 10-minute walks, five minutes of skipping or star jumps
• actively discouraging staff from working through lunch breaks
• encouraging office-based staff to take regular breaks to reduce eye-strain and Occupational Overuse Syndrome
• looking at ways to improve productivity and manage employees workload to reduce the need for overtime
• offering alternatives to caffeine-based drinks such as herbal teas and grain-based coffees
• creating workplace quit smoking groups
• instigating a weight-loss challenge, with the biggest loser gaining some kind of prize or recognition.
The list goes on. There are as many different possibilities as there are businesses. The point is to make a change. Any change will be of benefit, no matter how small.

A healthier workforce is one that is more dynamic, more positive, and more loyal to your company. It is a workforce that is less likely to require sick leave, less inclined to low morale, less likely to seek work elsewhere. In short, a healthy, happy workforce may be the greatest asset your business can have. A slight shift in focus to a more wellness-based workplace can protect it. Perhaps it’s time to think about it.

Jessica Bell

1 Source: Southern Cross Conversa Global Research, July 2005.