As a company owner, you should care about how your employees are mentally and physically. Not only is it a legal obligation to make sure you’re treating your staff well, but it’s a win-win situation when your staff are happy. When employees feel good, they’ll work better, won’t miss work as much, and stay in their jobs longer, which benefits them and you. If you look after them well, they’ll do their work with more energy and creativity and generally work better for you, so everyone benefits. You might not have considered your office staff specifically as they work in a relatively safe and comfortable environment (as opposed to, say, construction or warehouse work), but there are some considerations here, too. Here are some ideas!
Provide Wellness Programs
As an employer, one thing you could do is consider offering wellness programs that cater to different areas of health. This could include things like gym memberships, yoga classes, mental health seminars, nutrition workshops and more. This dentist who does one of the best dental implants in Newmarket ON also suggests partnering up with local health professionals for annual health checkups for your employees. These initiatives are a fantastic bonus to the role and show that you care about your employee’s well-being. Because office staff spend a lot of hours sitting down, offsetting this with wellness perks that they can use at their leisure is one option. Health checkups like corporate health screening are another way to ensure employees’ health is maintained and means you’re doing your part as the boss.
Promote Healthy Habits
When you provide healthy snacks and food options for your staff, you allow them to eat well at work. Even if you don’t have on-site catering, things like vending machines can be filled with healthy or even ‘better’ food and snack options, which can benefit your employees. Encouraging walking and cycling to work by making it easy. Set up places to park and lock up bikes and somewhere to take showers when they arrive into work. Make a fun challenge to bike more by giving rewards like flexible time or wellness perks.
Have Mental Health Support on Hand
It’s well established that mental health is as important as physical health, so don’t overlook this when it comes to taking care of your employees. Providing access to counseling or therapy services and promoting a culture where discussing mental health is normalized and encouraged can all be helpful. It’s well known that office culture can be toxic if it’s done wrong- a supportive and positive work environment promotes employees’ mental health, so encourage open communication and teamwork between your staff. Show appreciation for your employees’ efforts because their overall well-being will improve when they feel valued and respected.
Prioritise Work-Life Balance
Having the right work-life balance is a huge factor to consider when you want to improve the health and happiness of your staff. When covid hit, and businesses were forced to have their staff work remotely, many benefits to home working were discovered. Even now, years later, many businesses have maintained a remote or hybrid workforce due to its positive effects. Having the option to work from home, even some of the time, can lead to happier employees, and when it comes to office staff, this is much more easily done compared with other sectors. They can save time and money on their commute, freeing up more hours and doing the same work using a computer at home. They can organize their work for the day and do it in an environment where they feel comfortable and have more control over their workload, leading to better results.
Set Up Ergonomic Workspaces
Sitting uncomfortably for forty hours a week can lead to some significant health problems for your workers. Provide ergonomic furniture and work setups to minimize the risk of physical discomfort and repetitive strain injuries. Proper chairs that support the neck and back and adjustable desks (including standing desks for those who can and want to use them) are good additions.