Four Ways Managers Can Encourage Excellent Employee Health
Managers know that they need to cultivate a healthy work-life balance, but what about their employees? Too often, team leaders and business owners focus solely on productivity. They want results, and they ignore the more important aspects of generating success. If your employees are not healthy and happy, your business will fail, so how can managers encourage excellent employee health? Here are four ideas to consider.
Offer Healthy Snacks
Snacking is a common habit, but isn’t necessarily bad. The only issue is what people snack on. A bag of chips and candy bars is not ideal, but fruit and other fiber-rich foods can be more beneficial.
If you have several snackers in your office, you can encourage them to eat better by providing healthy snacks. This can include all the standards like apples, oranges, and bananas, but you can also provide smaller snacks that offer a quick but efficient pick-me-up. Replacing unhealthy snacks with healthy alternatives gives your team no choice but to eat better.
Provide Fitness Benefits
The modern employee rarely looks for monetary benefits and houses – although no one can legitimately say they are not still appreciated. Instead, employees look for experiences and benefits that improve their lives.
One popular benefit is a gym membership or personal training options, including opportunities to empower their careers. If this sounds like something that would improve your employees health and career prospects, feel free to check it out here to get an idea of what options they have. The healthier your employees are, the more efficient and satisfied they will be, and this will directly benefit your business, clients and customers, and the employees themselves.
Incentivize Activities
Employees also love incentives. It’s not enough to suggest they do something; they want a reason to do it. When considering how to improve health, incentivizing activities is a superb way to get them moving.
A little healthy competition never hurts anyone, so challenging your team to walk, run, cycle, or swim a specific number of miles in a month with a prize for the winner will give them a reason to exercise. You can also introduce a bike-to-work program for those who live close enough, which also benefits the environment compared to driving every day.
Recognize When They Are Burning Out
It is not just their physical well-being you need to consider. Employee mental health has become a significant topic throughout many industries, s it’s important to recognize when your team is burning out and working too much.
The signs of burnout include reduced efficiency and increased irritability, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Burnout can take many forms, including depression and anxiety, as well as absenteeism and cynicism. If you want to cultivate a healthy and positive office environment, you need to give your team a break. There’s nothing wrong with working hard to complete a project, but expecting this at all times without considering personal lives veers too close to authoritarianism which can negatively impact productivity and employee satisfaction.
Healthy Office
Healthy employees are vital for encouraging a successful business. If they are burned out or unfit, there is a risk of significant problems for your company, and employee turnover could cause further havoc. Therefore, it’s imperative for any business owner to focus on employee health and well-being.