There’s a lot of concern regarding the health of the average American worker, with 35% being labeled as obese. Increasingly, American companies are realizing that they have to pay more attention to the health of their employees. Some organizations have even taken it too far by implementing unavoidable health screenings.
While you should never invade the privacy of your employees, knowing how to encourage healthy eating through diet meal plans and exercise via group exercise classes can pay dividends.
You are going to learn about why a healthier company is a stronger company.
Less Lost Work Days
Every single year hundreds of thousands of work days are lost due to illnesses like migraines. Furthermore, in most cases these illnesses could be avoided by becoming healthier in the first place. The common cold, for example, could be avoided through having a stronger immune system.
Work days are crippling for companies. You have to bring in extra help, or your existing staff members have to cover for the extra work. Not to mention the fact that it can put more strain and stress on the current staff, consequently weakening their immune systems and making it more likely that they are going to experience health problems later on.
Fewer work days lost means more money, less stress, and a happier workforce.
Improve Staff Morale
Do you know why a healthier company is a stronger company?
You are showing that you care about your workers. By taking an interest in how healthy they are you are demonstrating that you want to do your best for them. And that’s going to improve staff morale. When you care about your employees they are more likely to care about your company.
In the long-term, this is going to lead to better performance and higher staff retention rates.
Saving Money
One of the excuses that organizations give for not implementing wellness programs is that they say it costs too much. They just don’t have the space in the budget to manage it at the moment. It does require some form of investment, but in the long-term you are going to make that investment back many times over.
As you already know, the fewer workdays that are lost the more money it’s going to save you. You already know that higher levels of staff morale are going to improve your retention rates and make it more likely that your employees are going to stick with you.
But there’s the practical side that you have to think of. The chances are you have some form of health insurance policy. Covering medical bills for your employees can add up fast, especially when you consider the expensive medical system in the US. By keeping them healthy from the start, you can make sure that you don’t have to pay out anything more than necessary.
How Do You Start Creating a Healthy Workforce?
Creating a healthy workforce is about changing bad habits. You cannot force someone to do something they don’t want to do, and so you have to invest in education. Remember that many people will have to change the habits they have built up of a lifetime in order to get healthy. And you are always going to come up against some natural resistance.
For a start, you have to target healthy eating. Try to change the options available in the cafeteria. And follow through on your healthy eating preaching’s by doing it yourself.
Then you need to think about how you are going to get people moving. There are numerous strategies you can employ to get people moving, and it doesn’t have to involve working up a sweat. For example, you could implement walking board meetings. Have your meeting while walking around a nearby park.
You can even start some group exercise classes during the lunch hour. These are completely voluntary, but once you get one or two people moving the rest will want to join in.
Last Word – Getting People Healthy Takes Time
You have to lead by example if you are going to encourage people to improve their lifestyles. That means you have to make a commitment to yourself. Make sure that you do this in a way that isn’t pushy. You shouldn’t put anyone under an unnecessary amount of pressure to get healthy, otherwise, you could cause a backlash among your workforce.
This is ultimately a process that takes time and you are going to have to work at it in the long-term.
How will you get people healthy today?