Mahatma Gandhi – “Health is the real wealth “.
Your company’s health directly depends on your employees’ health. Your company suffers if your employees health suffer .. Providing good health care once employees suffer bad health is a reactive approach and affects your organizations in loss of productivity and increased health care cost. Disease or bad health symptom appear at much later stage but process for this sets in much before when your employees follow certain bad healthy life style.
You need to take a proactive or preventive approach for optimal health of your employees. Implementing a good employees wellness programs is the most effective approach. This is not one time event or program but needs to be consistent focus. So need of an hour to build a good health culture.
Below is a list of fifteen no or low cost wellness programs.
1. Prepare and distribute a list of healthy dining options in 2-mile radius of your office
Your employees travel to your work place from different places. They may not be aware of good place to eat around the work place. You can prepare the list of places within 2 kilometres distance which provides healthy food choices.. If your provide details of menu available than employees will have to spent less time while visiting such places.
2. Provide discounts for health foods sold at work
Provide option of healthy food in your canteen or cafeteria . Providing discount on such food will encourage your employees to make such healthy choice.
3. Review the catering menu and make recommendations for healthy options
If your organization provides canteen or cafeteria facilities than you can instruct your contractor to provide healthy food in menu which employees can choose .
4.Encourage healthy holiday or festival gifts
If there is a tradition of providing any gifts during holidays or on festivals or on a special occasions , you may provide health promoting gifts like health watch, exercise accessories, yoga mats are few examples.
5. Facilitate delivery of fresh fruits and veggies to break room
Promote eating of healthy fruits, snacks and drinks during conferences, meetings or during brake times.
7. Provide bike racks and promote “bike to work” habit and also provide promotional materials
Encourage employees to commute to work place on bikes . This will help employees and reduce carbon foot prints which helps our environment.
8.Organize stair case challenges
You can organize and encourage employees to take staircase than elevators. Also you display promotional material at strategic locations
9. Negotiate corporate discounts for health club memberships
You can discuss with local health clubs or gyms for bulk corporate discounts on behalf of your employees and their families,
10. Promote standing working and walking meetings
You can help and train your employees to work while standing and held meeting while walking.
11.Tobacco cessation
You can organize training and workshops on how to quit smoking and tobacco chewing. Provide incentive for successful employees
11. Yoga Fridays
Yoga is a great way to keep one physically fit and flexible. Organize special events on Friday or any day for experience of employess.
12.Observe Health-Related days for awareness
Health-related days are celebrated to raise awareness about various diseases and vital body parts. These include days like
- World AIDS Day (On 1st December)
- Mental Health Day (On 10th October)
- World Heart Day (On 29th September)
- World Cancer Day (On 4th February) and more.
13. Allow Flexible Work Hours
Providing flexible working hours employees in organizing their other administrative responsibilities better which in turn improves employees productivity.
14. Walking steps challenges
You can organize competition to complete particular number of walking steps by employees on a particular day. This can be easily tracked and monitored through health apps
15 . Health talks
Organize one hour onsite or online talks on various health topics like physical exercise , nutrition, stress management etc periodically
Conclusion
Employees Wellness at workplace is not limited to providing employees with health insurance or free medical checkups or health care treatments. These are post disease reactive approach . While having wellness culture helps organization create a healthy work force which helps business in performing better and growing.
Do you have any more cost-effective workplace wellness ideas that went missing here? We would like to hear them out in the comments below.
In case of any further assistance you may contact us.