As an entrepreneur and small business owner, there are numerous benefits in having healthy staff members. Healthier employees are likely to take less time off due to sickness, have more energy, and remain focused at work, making them more productive and useful for your company. As an employer, you cannot force people to change their lifestyle, but you can set them up for success by encouraging a healthier lifestyle, which in turn brings benefits to all involved.
Creating a healthy environment is not that challenging, and the potential rewards far outweigh the effort and energy expended to set things up. The critical thing to remember about these suggestions is that everything health and fitness-related revolves around habits.
In much the same way that we can learn bad habits, like constantly checking social media feeds, the same applies to good habits. Developing good habits require a lot more focus and determination to make it a part of your everyday life.
Switch Out The Candy And Junk Food For Healthier Options
However determined people are to eat healthily, in times of high stress or towards the typical 3pm slump, it is easy to give into cravings for an unhealthy snack. Some desks even have a small dish of candy. Although you cannot dictate what your employees consume, you can provide healthier alternatives such as fruits or nuts at the company’s expense, or nutritious enough to help provide a boost of natural energy to help your employees get through the day.
Novel Coworking locations carry healthy options including low-fat yogurts, granola bars, and water bottles for all our private office, coworking, and dedicated desk clients.
Encourage Your Staff To Drink More Water
Increasing the amount of water that you drink is one of the easiest ways that anyone can improve their health. A staggering 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and increasing your intake of water can provide many health benefits.
Keep in mind that soda, tea, and coffee do not count towards your daily water intake. An excellent way of encouraging your team to increase their daily water intake is to supply team water bottles that will keep the water cold. Some of the most common symptoms for people who are dehydrated include lethargy, lack of focus, concentration, and headaches. The water bottles also provide a physical display to the rest of the office that you are taking your health seriously, so lead by example and make a note to drink water yourself.
Move Your Meetings Outdoors
Clearly, this option will be dependent on your location and the weather, but if the sun is shining and there is a suitable location, then take the meeting outside. Even a walk to the park, a plaza, or cafe can help brighten the day. The chance to enjoy the fresh air, get out of the office as a team, and enjoy the different scenery is also helpful in stimulating ideas and new concepts. Having the chance to get some extra sunlight and Vitamin D during the day will always be appreciated by staff.
Offer Subsidized Gym Membership
Gym memberships can be a costly expense for employees, leading to many people choosing to neglect their fitness in favor of saving the money and putting their paycheck towards other bills. If you have a gym close to your office, look into a possible company discount or subsidize the cost of a membership to encourage and support your staff’s physical fitness. Not only will this be beneficial for physical health, but could also make employees feel valued and cared for by their company, and could increase their loyalty.
Evaluate Your Office Environment
The vast majority of your staff will spend nearly 40 hours a week in the office. How healthy is the environment you expect them to work in? Do they have ergonomic chairs to sit at? Are those chairs able to be height adjusted to match the size of the desks you provide? When was the last time you had the quality of the air checked? And what about the lighting, is it fit for reducing eye strain? Take a step back and evaluate the office as a visitor might. You will be surprised at all of the little things that you have missed, and which would not take much time, effort, or expense to rectify to make your employees feel more comfortable.
Burnout syndrome is real and can affect your employees’ productivity and health. Read more about the dangers of burnout here.
At Novel Coworking, we design all of our offices to help foster the most productivity from staff. We are determined to provide our clients with the best working environments possible. We continuously evaluate and assess our buildings, updating them with new technologies and amenities. Visit a location near you today.