The past year has brought many changes to the way Colorado businesses operate, and many local business owners are searching for ways to promote employee wellness in the workplace. Keeping employees healthy physically and mentally has never been so important as now, as we all strive to repair Colorado’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
What can you as the business owner do to promote wellness in your workplace? We have compiled a list of 10 tips that will keep your employees healthy and motivated.
1. Clean and Sanitize
This should be a given after a year of quarantines and general fear of germs. By providing a clean work environment that promotes washing of hands, coughing and sneezing into a tissue or your elbow, and providing hand sanitizer, you show employees that their physical health is your top priority.
2. Allow For Breaks
While the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment States that employees working over 4 hours a shift are entitled to breaks, the sad truth is that many employees are not encouraged to take advantage of this rule.
However, studies have shown that short breaks actually improve concentration and productivity. If you find that your team’s energy is flagging at points throughout the day, encourage them to take a break. A glass of water, a quick walk around the block, or just stretching (or even meditating!) at their desk can do wonders for their mental outlook, and motivate them to get more done when they get back.
3. Encourage Conversation
One fail-safe way to promote mental and emotional wellness in the workplace is by encouraging your employees to get to know one another. After a year of working from home or in small, socially distanced groups, more and more Coloradans are realizing the importance of face-to-face interactions.
By encouraging your employees to talk in person rather than always sending an email, Slack, Skype, or another electronic form of communication, you are filling a basic human need. Your office cohesion and teamwork will only be the better for it.
Read More: Why Socializing in the Office Is Important for Employee Morale and Productivity
4. Upgrade Your Break Room
Closely related to the previous two tips, upgrading your breakroom provides employees with a place to go on their breaks, and there is a reason why there are so many jokes about conversations at the office water cooler. Break rooms are often the hub of an office, where upper management and worker-bees interact on the same level. Providing a break room with easily accessible and great tasting water, great coffee service and snack options will ensure that your employees have a haven of relaxation, refreshment, and yes, even team-building.
5. Wellness Challenges
Corporate wellness challenges have become increasingly popular in recent years. Consistent engagement with wellness initiatives in the Colorado Springs and Denver area workplace can have the positive benefits of reducing stress and increasing productivity and morale (after all, who doesn’t like a little healthy competition?). And the best benefit of all for business owners? Healthier employees mean fewer sick days!
If you need help coming up with challenges, a quick Google search on corporate wellness challenges will give you a myriad of options. Some of our favorite suggestions are found in this article from Wellable.
6. Invest In Standing Desks or Walking Desks
If you really want to amp up wellness in the workplace, look into a hot trend in office furniture – standing desks. Studies have shown that sitting for long periods of time can be detrimental to our overall health. Standing desks can benefit your employees by making it easier to stretch and increase blood flow (especially beneficial after eating). When you combine a standing desk with a treadmill, you increase these benefits even more.
7. Employer-Sponsored Health Screenings
A great way to promote wellness in the workplace is to sponsor health screenings for your employees. By providing access to free and convenient screenings and even vaccination clinics, you are helping employees stay proactive about their health, and are demonstrating to your employees that their well-being matters to you.
8. Dedicated Sick Days
It is a sad truth that many employees go to work when they are sick, simply because they cannot afford to miss a day’s pay or sacrifice a paid vacation day to stay home.
But, sick employees are rarely productive in the office when they are sick, and you run the risk of these ones spreading their germs to workmates, causing more downtime. Providing even a few days of dedicated paid sick time will encourage employees to stay home when they are really ill.
9. Provide A Dynamic Benefits Package
One of the best ways Colorado businesses can promote wellness in the workplace is to provide a dynamic benefits package, starting with a great health, dental and vision insurance plan. If have procrastinated on this because you have a small business and believe you cannot afford to provide these benefits, you should think again. Licensed, independent group health insurance brokers can provide options that will fit any business and any budget.
In a post-pandemic world, providing employer-sponsored health benefits can help you recruit and retain the very best employees.
10. The Importance Of Proper Hydration
It is no secret that hydration is a key component of staying productive at work, getting enough sleep, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
You can keep your employees reaching for their water bottles throughout the day by providing them with pure, refreshing water at their fingertips. Clearly Colorado has been making this easy for businesses up and down Colorado’s Front Range for the past 25 years. Our family-owned and operated water delivery service in Colorado can help you promote wellness in the workplace too. Call us today for your free drinking water solution quote and to get information on our Price For Life Guarantee.
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