Modern workplaces are more fast-paced and pressured than ever before, and the stress levels of many employees are through the roof. This stress not only makes productivity suffer, but it can have serious health consequences in the long run. As a leader, it’s important to encourage your employees to stay healthy, whether it’s protecting themselves from viruses, lowering their stress levels, or living a more healthy lifestyle. It’s important to ensure that you maintain the highest standards of hygiene in your business, but your duty of care as an employer goes far beyond this.
Healthy and happy employees are better for your business too. So, for your own as well as your employees’ sake, read on to learn 7 ways to encourage your employees to stay healthy in 2022.!
Monitor Overtime and Working Hours
Long working hours and too much overtime can catch with your employees at any time, leading to increased levels of stress and eventually burnout. So, monitoring your employees’ working hours and overtime is crucial to encourage good physical and mental health. Monitor each of your employees individually and encourage them to take leave as needed.
Another thing you can do is give your employees multiple breaks during their working day. It doesn’t have to be too long – 10 to 20 minutes is more than enough. All of these measures show your employees that this business cares about them and their health and so encourage them to be healthy.
Encourage Employees to Wear a Mask
Despite the daily headlines, some people continue to underestimate the severity of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Wearing a mask can significantly reduce the chances of catching and spreading the virus. So, encourage your employees to wear a mask during work hours.
Organize a staff meeting once a week and use the meeting to remind your employees of the importance of wearing a mask. In the beginning, wearing masks can be a little difficult for some people, but they will get used to it eventually and it will become second nature.
Hire a Laundry Service
There are many reasons why your business may need to hire a laundry service, whether for uniforms, tablecloths, or sheets and towels if you run a hotel, for example. At any time, hiring a professional laundry service like PHS Besafe is the most efficient and effective way to keep these items in tip-top condition. However, at times when hygiene is particularly important, a laundry service also plays a critical role in health and safety, making sure the virus and bacteria are eliminated from uniforms and similar.
Reserve a Space to Workout
Sitting for the whole day behind a desk can cause serious health issues, especially combined with a sedentary lifestyle outside of work. Experts recommend we exercise at least three times per week. However, after working eight hours per day or more, your employees might not have the time to work out, especially if they have a long commute on top of their work schedule. By the time they get home after a long day of working and commuting, it’s not surprising that your employees just want to sit in front of the TV, but this lack of exercise can be very bad for their health over the long term.
One way to encourage your staff members to exercise is to set up a small workout corner in your office. This makes it easy for your employees to work out before or after work or during a break. Not only will this greatly improve their mental and physical health, but it will make them more focused and productive at work too!
Give Employees Time to Get Vaccinated
Given the importance of vaccination at the moment, encouraging your employees to get vaccinated will increase the safety of your workplace. One way you can motivate them to get vaccinated is to offer paid time off to go and get their shot. You can even take things one step further by providing paid leave for your staff members to go to other medical appointments and checkups – this will encourage them to prioritize their health.
Arrange Meditation Classes
To keep your employees healthy, you need to encourage them to take care of both their mental and physical health. One thing you can to promote better mental health is to arrange meditation classes. Or at a minimum, encourage your employees to do breathing exercises. Either way, your employees will be calmer, less stressed, and have better emotional wellbeing.
Provide Social Support
In the past two years, the pandemic has remarkably changed our social lives. Even though people still stay connected through various online social platforms, it is not the same as meeting someone for lunch or dinner. The same applies to your employees and their families.
Arranging social gatherings is the best way to overcome social isolation. With such get-togethers, your employees and their families will receive much-needed social time. It will greatly improve the mental health of your employees. Of course, keep in mind that gatherings should be held in accordance with COVID-19 safety protocols.
If you are willing to apply the above approaches to your workplace, it will encourage your employees to stay healthy. This is not only part of your duty of care to your employees, but it will also mean they’ll be more productive and take less sick days, so it’s good news for your business too!
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
