More people are focusing on holistic wellness and mental health nowadays. Today wellness that works is a new norm for the people working at a workplace. The main reason for this is more prospective employees are currently entering the millennials and job markets. For sound reasons, such an employee is looking for a workplace catering to their wellness-focused and flexible lifestyles.
However, this concept of wellness is meant for everyone. Be it a manager or a low-level employee; everyone deserves wellness. In this way, both the job markets as well as people working are benefitted. This article will tell you about workplace wellness and why it's important?
Understanding workplace wellness?
What workplace wellness means varies from individual to individual and situation to situation. In general terms, it indicates a working environment conducive to all working individuals' well-being and health. Furthermore, a place with under-rated working conditions has been found to affect the productivity of working individuals.
This indicated the importance and vitality of workplace wellness. Moreover, employees also have the power to cultivate workplace wellness in their own place. Moving throughout the day, healthy eating habits, and developing mindfulness, mediation and yoga can help facilitate this idea. Let's get into why workplace wellness is important in the first place?
Why is workplace wellness important?
On average, an employee spends around 50 hours of their week's time at work. This time is about 1/3rd of the total time period in a person's life. At the same time, about 1/3rd of meals are consumed by employees at their work. It indicates that a workplace is like a second home for most individuals.
Thus, the comfort that we feel at our first home must be present in our second home too. An employee should work in an environment that feels valued, nurtured, and comfortable. Remember, your physical and mental health is badly affected if your work is only over-demanding and stressful. Other than this, an organization is affected badly too.
However, with changing times, the concept of workplace wellness has changed a lot in recent decades, and companies think twice about it for their business. Multiple companies are now building workplaces that reflect the awareness regarding wellness.
Nowadays, offices are brighter, open, and well-ventilated. Separate break rooms stocked with healthy foods are present. Relaxing and finding a quiet time has become easier in these comfortable spaces. These features have helped people understand the value of workplace wellness.
Achieving workplace wellness
1. Make a plan
Remember, many good things come after proper planning. Thus, gather information about your employees and start developing a workplace wellness plan that works for you and your employees. No worry if you start small. For instance, the least that you can do is offer healthy snacks during breaks or buy freshwater bottles or fruit juice for your employees.
Similarly, start small if you wish to develop an incentive program bringing some healthy competition. Developing teams and working together is vital too. Try handing out pedometers and seeing which team gets the most steps in a week.
After doing this, start taking things to the next level. For instance, you may invest in your workers' health and wellness teachers. They will really appreciate this as it's a great way to earn their trust. Mediation courses, pilates classes, yoga, health exercises, and other courses are a fantastic ways to motivate your staff.
2. Launch your plan
After developing a workable plan, it's time to launch it. Now, reveal your plan to the workers to know about their expectations. Furthermore, ensure the opinion of your employees is taken into consideration. Let your workers ask questions and see if there is more to add. In this way, your plan will prove a well-defined and clear one.
3. Ask for feedback
After the plan is implemented for a good time, assess your employees. Know what they think and how they have been feeling. Arrange a meeting with all the employees to know their opinions and create a survey. After that, you can scrap or add some more steps depending on how your workers feel. You can add additional incentives and programs to make the plan work efficiently with time.
How to promote wellness in the workplace?
Apart from the plan that you have implemented, some basic things can be done, including:
· Water bottles for promoting hydration
· Healthy and fresh snacks
· Yoga mats for yoga classes
· Buy paid fitness memberships
· Hire a health care professional
· Quiet places to rest
· Proper Seating arrangement
Workplace wellness activities
Depending on the type of work, you can choose any health-oriented activity for your employees. Some ideas that may help include:
· Cooking classes
· Mediation breaks
· Meditation classes
· Walking meeting
· Yoga classes
· Fitness challenges such as seeing who walks more during a week
· Education through experts
Summary
Bear in mind that workplace wellness is as important as the main work. Considered a second home, a workplace must be comfortable. Your employees are more productive when they work in a comfortable environment. Thus, develop a plan, implement it and reach your employees. This will certainly help both your company and employees alike.
