These days, we are more aware than ever before of our health. We hear so much on TV, on social media, in magazines, and on the radio, that it is impossible to ignore what we should and shouldn’t be doing. Of course, all of this can be a little confusing too - are we supposed to eat five a day, or seven? The numbers keep changing!
To minimise confusion and to break it down into easier to understand chunks, health and wellbeing is just about living your healthiest life, and doing the best you can. It’s not about hitting targets and numbers, because that in itself stresses you out!
The biggest cause of stress, chronic pain conditions, and a sedentary lifestyle, can all boil down to the workplace setting. For office employees, sitting in one position for a long period of time, or being less active than someone in an outdoors, manual job, can cause risk factors for serious conditions over time. It is therefore vital that employers understand their responsibility in terms of employee health and wellbeing. This can be from looking into suitable office desks, to offering private health care for staff members. Health and wellbeing covers a huge remit, and that’s what we’re going to be talking about here.
What is Employee Health and Wellbeing?
Here at Calibre Office Furniture, we take the health and wellbeing of our employees very seriously, and we have a comprehensive program in place to encourage awareness of issues, and methods to help everything along. However, what exactly is health and wellbeing for employees in the first place? Let’s define both terms.
Health is the physical, e.g. maintaining a healthy weight, minimising risk factors for heart disease, diabetes development, etc, and ensuring the correct posture to avoid chronic pain conditions, due to sitting incorrectly for a long period of time on unsuitable office chairs. This is basically about staying healthy during office hours, and outside of them too. It’s about nutrition, exercise, getting enough sleep, etc.
Wellness is about feelings and emotional happiness. This all boils down to employee morale, because that directly affects the mental health of an employee. This relates to stress, anxiety, and depression, to name a few conditions under that umbrella, but also about feeling valued, and the knowledge that you have options for future growth, should you want them.
Combining the two ensures that employers can maintain a healthy and happy workforce over the long-term. The number of sick days a company experiences due to various illnesses can be staggering, but the most worrying thing is that many of the reasons a person is off sick can be prevented, with more awareness, effective office space planning, and general self-help.
Popular and Useful Employee Wellness Programs/Ideas to Consider
There are many different models in terms of programs and ideas to try in your business, but the number one way is to practice what you preach. We came across an interesting infographic (see below) by the American Heart Association, which stated that 55% of surveyed employees in the US believed their CEO should set a good example with their own health. That’s how simple it can be!
Here at Calibre Office Furniture, we’re always on the lookout for new employee wellbeing programs and initiatives to try, and we have found that the use of a breakout space in our office space is very useful indeed. This gives employees somewhere to go when they need some timeout, just five minutes to calm down, refocus, get their breath back, or simply a change of scenery. That is certainly something you could attempt to try in your organisation.
Here are a few initiatives and ideas you can try:
• Encourage cycling/walking to work - This is a great way for staff to get some exercise, but also saves cash on the cost of running a car and parking. You could make this a social event, by having regular ‘pick up’ points along the most common routes, so staff can walk or cycle together
• On-site yoga classes - Not that many offices have the space for an on-site gym, and in that case, yoga is a great addition instead. Yoga is calming and great for stress, but it is also a type of low impact exercise that everyone can do. Staff can also do this at an ergonomic desk!
• Try walking meetings - If it’s a sunny day and your meeting is comprised of just a few members of staff, why not head outside and have a mobile meeting? This brings the benefits of fresh air, nature, and exercise too
• Offer flexible working methods - More and more organisations are offering flexible working, such as working from home some or all of the time, part time, etc. Not all members of staff will take you up on your offer, but this has been shown to be an ideal way to take stress away from staff members who have several commitments to juggle, aside from work
• Offer cut priced educational opportunities - This is a great way to show your staff that you value them by investing in their future. Offering subsidies for those who want to further their studies benefits the business and the employee
• Think about nutrition - Offering healthy office snacks for your employees is a great way to cut down on snacking and helps staff see that you are looking after their nutritional needs too. If you have a canteen, offering healthy choices, and cutting out the unhealthy options, is also a positive step
• Offer private health care - Offering private health care schemes which are partly paid for by staff and partly paid for by the organisation helps staff to access the services they need to keep them fit and healthy
• Offer private counselling services - In addition to private health care, having an arrangement with a health service to offer free, confidential counselling for staff who might be going through a tough time is a great way to promote wellness, and also to reduce stress in the workplace
• Assess your mandatory training - What subjects does your mandatory, annual training include? Look at things like mindfulness, stress management, manual handling, and also talk about the importance of health in the workplace, e.g. nutrition, exercise, etc
• Make it easier for staff to attend important appointments – Full-time staff may find it difficult to schedule doctors or dentist appointments around their working house. Making it easier for them to do so, perhaps with flexi working hours in the mornings or later in the afternoon, is a good way to cut out that issue
• Organise regular social events - Bringing your staff together through out of office events is a great way to build a team feeling and increase morale. Have regular office get-togethers, and perhaps throw in a charity event, where staff can fundraise and do something fun and healthy together. Get everyone around the conference table and brainstorm ideas!
• Focus on ergonomics - Within the office itself, ensure that all office furniture is ergonomic and supportive for staff. This helps to reduce chronic pain conditions from developing. There are many office furniture in London choices for you to consider
• Have an open door policy - If staff know they can approach their manager with any issues or worries without fear of judgement or being scared to do so, employee wellbeing and morale will be on the rise
As you can see, implementing health and wellbeing into the workplace doesn’t have to involve a huge investment in terms of cash, and is more about tweaking things and thinking outside the box.
Companies Who Take Employee Health and Wellbeing Seriously
More and more big named companies are jumping on the importance of employee health and wellbeing. This video really shows you why, and it also highlights some of the options we mentioned above.
Some of the world’s biggest; most recognisable names know how employee morale, health and wellbeing all fit together into one huge jigsaw. For instance, Google and Apple are first on the list with their all-singing, all dancing office spaces and on site facilities. Gyms, health centres, included health care; you name it they offer it.
Fitbit get staff healthy by using their own device - free of charge! Asana are also big on making sure staff get enough sleep and giving them enough breaks throughout the day, by allowing them to make use of their relaxing ‘nap rooms’.
Draper have regular 10 week weight loss challenges, to encourage staff to become healthier but also to bring teams together to increase morale. Another big name is Microsoft, who are all about health care education and offering free screening to all members of staff.
The results speak for themselves, as these are some of the most powerful, most successful companies across the world.
The Benefits of Employee Health and Wellbeing
We see the benefits of increasing employee health and wellbeing every day. Calibre Office Furniture’s Digital Marketing Manager, Aarti Ohri, states, “We have certainly noticed a huge increase in productivity and overall morale in our workplace since we implemented different employee health and wellbeing initiatives. We’re always on the lookout for other ideas and ask our staff regularly for their input”.
To really highlight the advantages of implementing health and wellbeing initiatives into your business, the following are known to be common benefits.
• An improved approach and attitude to health - Having more information at hand on what you should be doing to increase your health and wellbeing means you’re more likely to adhere to it. Health and wellbeing programs give staff information that they might not otherwise been privy to. This means their behaviours, e.g. eating, exercising, stopping smoking, etc, are likely to be more positive as a result. This increases their health and wellbeing, benefiting them first and foremost, but you also. By encouraging staff to look after themselves properly, both at home and in the office, you reduce their chances of developing adverse risks and chronic disease
• Reduction in health risks - Following on from our previous point, health and wellbeing helps to reduce some of the biggest risk factors around, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic pain conditions, depression, anxiety, stress, etc. All of these are seriously damaging to health, and any reduction in risk factor can only be a good thing
• Better productivity - Not only at work, but at home too! Having more energy is a side effect of being more focused on health and wellbeing. Feeling better in yourself makes you want to do more, you feel more able to concentrate, you can handle bigger tasks and overall you feel alert and confident. Someone who isn’t looking after their basic health, e.g. perhaps smoking or not getting enough sleep, isn’t going to be as productive as someone who places their health as a first and foremost thought. Productivity brings extra revenue into your business because jobs are finished on time, deadlines are met, new ideas are created and collaboration is on the rise
• Increased morale - Another big benefit of health and wellness programs is increased morale. This really works hand in hand with the productivity benefit we just mentioned, but feeling better in yourself makes you have a spring in your step. In addition, knowing that your workplace is putting a high amount of emphasis on your health and wellbeing makes you feel valued, and that is a direct increase in morale right there. Having a team working for you who have a high amount of morale overall gives you extra productivity, and they’re much more likely to want to go the extra mile to get the job done to a higher standard. This is all beneficial to your business
• Less lost sick days - By protecting your staff’s health and wellbeing they are much less likely to be off sick. Overall, you will notice a major decrease in the amount of sick days that you experience over the year. Of course, you’ll know that having a member of staff off sick, any member of staff, is damaging to the running of the business on that particular day. The longer the absence goes on for, the more damaging it becomes, and productivity is impacted in a major way. By creating a healthier and more focused workforce, you’re reducing sick days almost instantly
• Improved retention of staff, and recruitment of new talent - Having a reputation of being focused on your staff’s health and wellbeing will help you to recruit new talent to your organisation. In addition, this will help you retain the current staff you have, who are highly trained and know your business ways inside out. You only have to look at huge businesses like Apple and Google to see how this helps with direct business success.
The benefits of implementing health and wellness into your business as a main focus are far-reaching. These are just the main ones, and with more and more methods coming to the fore, the benefits will just keep multiplying. For instance, a simple way is to look at how the office is planned out. You could incorporate new seating methods, such as booth seating, to encourage collaboration. There really is no downside at all.
How to Create an Effective Employee Health and Wellbeing Program
We’ve talked about some of the initiatives and ideas to put into place, but where do you start? If you don’t currently have an employee health and wellbeing program in your company, then now is the time to implement one. This section is going to show you the dos and the don’ts of this process.
Before you start however, you need to ask yourself what you want your health and wellness program to really achieve. Do you want to raise awareness, or do you want to involve staff in large events? Do you want a more subtle approach? What is going to suit your particular workforce best? Is it about providing your staff with different modular office furniture choices and ways of working, or do you need to go further towards the health education route? Every workplace is different, and it really depends on what you already have in place.
It’s worth mentioning that some staff members are a little more resistant to change than others, and that includes trying new things. For instance, if you have a quite mature workforce, it could be that new ‘walking to work’ initiatives might be met with a roll of the eyes. You need to find items, which are going to suit the needs and attitudes of your staff members, but also be able to encourage them to try, by educating them on the whys and wherefores.
Dos
• Focus your program towards your staff’s needs
• Ask your staff what they would like to see, and involve them in the process of designing and implementing the program, e.g. do they want to see new office furniture in the space you have? In that case browse office furniture online together
• Be sure of what you want to achieve and ensure everything you choose to do meets that aim
• Make sure everything is accessible for staff, e.g. nothing which his going to cost them money, or involve contracts, e.g. to gyms
• Promote your program in a light and positive way
Don’ts
• Implement initiatives which aren’t going to be used, this is just a waste of time and resources
• Push staff to do things they don’t want to do or aren’t ready for. You must encourage your staff and make this an option, not something they are forced to do against their will
Brainstorming and perhaps arranging a focus group of employee wellbeing ideas is a great first step towards designing and implementing your program. This is a great way to boost morale too! Ask staff what they would like to see, perhaps mesh office chairs in a breakout space? Gain a list of ideas and then work through them and go with the ones, which are doable within your budget and remit. You can always expand your program at a later date, so start with something small and work upwards. Continue to consult with your staff periodically, to review what you’re offering.
Science to Back up The Importance of Employee Health and Wellbeing
There are two main theories we can mention here, to back up what we’ve said so far about employee health and wellbeing. These are:
• Social Cognitive Theory (when applied in a workplace situation)
• Carol Ryff’s Model of Psychological Wellbeing
Let’s look into these in a little more detail.
Social Cognitive Theory
The social cognitive theory is mainly based around the fact that we learn from watching other people, observing how they go about their business. You might remember the infographic we mentioned earlier, when many American employees agreed that their CEO should be setting a good example in terms of health and wellness. This is the social cognitive theory in proof!
We learn by observing a model, and that means that employers have to be a role model to their staff, showing them the right way to be, and what they should be doing. This isn’t only in the work situation, but also in terms of their health, their exercise, diet, etc. Over time, this theory tells us that the learning of new things, e.g. health and wellness, will become self-regulated. This means we will do it ourselves and it will take on a personal feel. You will change it to your needs and tweak it to fit in with your lifestyle.
Having your employer set an example isn’t only in terms of how they live their lives, but also in terms of the initiatives and ideas, they put in place to help their staff. For instance, promoting a new smoking cessation program means that you are showing others that this is the way to go. From there, they will observe how passionate you are about it, and they will follow on from you.
Carol Ryff’s Model of Psychological Wellbeing
The idea behind this particular scientific model is focused more towards wellness than health. Remember we talked about the definition of the two terms at the very start of this article, with health being more physical and wellness being more mental?
Carol Ryff came up with the idea that wellbeing isn’t about being happy per se, it’s about having what she called optimal psychological functioning. In order to reach optimal levels, six different domains were identified. These are:
• Self-acceptance
• Positive relations
• Autonomy
• Environmental mastery
• Purpose in life
• A sense of personal growth
Can you see how these items can all be ticked off by having a high level of morale in your workplace? This means that wellness can be ensured by giving your staff a sense of being valued, that they are able to build positive and useful relationships with their colleagues, they have the tools and environment in which to work comfortably and effectively (perhaps office partitions if they need to concentrate), they are excited and involved in their work, and they have options for further development, should they choose to take them.
These are all parts of an effective health and wellness program, and many of the suggestions we mentioned earlier will tick these boxes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Health, and What is Wellbeing?
Health is the physical, and wellbeing is the mental. That’s really the easiest way to explain it. Overall, however, health and wellbeing creates a sense of total harmony in the body and mind. By focusing on health, you are cutting out risk factors, which could lead to serious illness and disease in the future. By focusing on wellness, you’re creating a happier life overall, but you’re also reducing changes of anxiety, stress, and depression-related conditions.
Why is Employee Health and Wellbeing Partly an Employer’s Responsibility?
Of course, health and wellbeing is the employee’s responsibility mainly, but it is the responsibility of the employer to promote this and to give the employee methods and initiatives in which to improve their health and wellbeing.
For instance, not having access to private healthcare doesn’t help an employee if they have a particular issue, which isn’t covered easily on the NHS, or if it has, a long waiting list attached to it. In addition, a member of staff may find it difficult to stop smoking, or not be motivated to stop in the first place, if the organisation doesn’t promote smoking cessation services. You have to give your staff the tools to move forwards, placing the initiative in their hands.
What Are The Negative Effects of Not Focusing on Health and Wellness?
By not utilising health and wellbeing programs within the workplace, a business runs the risk of failure. That might sound dramatic but it is the truth. An unhealthy workforce is prone to sick days and low productivity as a result. Low morale affects productivity in a huge way, and that can be the crux between success and failure. In addition, you’re not going to attract new talent if you don’t have the programs in place; there is always another company who can lure that top new prospective employee away, if you don’t offer something beneficial and different.
Why is Morale so Important?
A happy, healthy workforce is more likely to go the extra mile. They will want to come to work, because they feel valued, they enjoy their surroundings, they’re challenged sufficiently in their job and excited by the tasks they are given, and they have a team of colleagues around them whom they get on with well. This is always going to be a better picture than a workforce of staff who are miserable, don’t feel listened to, don’t feel valued, and don’t really want to be there. A team with high morale is going to work harder, smarter, and more effectively, and is also going to come up with new ideas, which could take the business to the next level. There is no downside to that!
How Does Health and Wellness at Work Affect Productivity?
Exactly the same reason we just covered on the morale subject. Focused, happy, and happy employees will work much harder and more effectively than staff who are the total opposite. This means deadlines are met, new ideas are invented, and everyone is keen to push the business forward to greater success. Productivity is in direct correlation with profits, so it’s a must do to have productivity levels high as a very basic need.
Conclusion
From this extensive article, you can see just how important employee health and wellbeing is, and the overwhelming benefits for both the employee and the employer. It’s about thinking outside the box and coming up with unique ways to promote health and wellness, both directly and indirectly. The great news is, many of these ideas are very easy to come up with and put into place.
Here at Calibre Office Furniture we are great advocates of employee health and wellbeing in all guises, and our methods have worked very well, e.g. private health care, and having an overall high morale culture, with collaboration encouraged. We’re always keen to add new ideas to our roster too.
There are countless ways you can incorporate all of this and more into your own business. It might be useful for you to read some of the other articles we have published on the same subject, such as unique ideas on how to incorporate wellness, our guide to staff wellbeing at work, and our tips on how to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace too. Having a thorough overview will help you develop your own bespoke program.
How do you feel about what we’ve talked about in this article? Do you have any other ideas or questions you might like to ask? Get in touch and let’s push forward this hugely important topic. Remember to share this article on your social media channels, in order to really increase awareness on just how important employee health and wellbeing is.
In addition, please also get in touch with us if you require any assistance with your office design and office furniture solutions.
Top tip: let’s create an ergonomic work environment for our workforce!