Most employers know that keeping their employees healthy during cold and flu season is important. However, for employees to work at their maximum efficiency, their year-round health should concern you. Sick employees cost employers plenty in terms of lost work. Fortunately, employee health programs cut down these costs and are fairly simple to implement. Here’s a look at three simple things you can do to support your employees’ health throughout the year.
Keep a Clean Work Environment
Most workplace illnesses are caused by the spread of germs, a full 80% of them. Keeping the workplace free of germs helps prevent employees from getting sick or getting each other sick. Cleaning and disinfecting common items like door handles, telephones, and the printer (or any shared equipment) helps cut down on the spread of germs. Provide hand sanitizers, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, tissues, and other items for employees to keep at their desks so that they can prevent the spread of germs as well. Remind everyone they are part of keeping a clean office.
Wellness Programs
Wellness programs keep employees both healthy and engaged. If your business isn’t big enough to offer in-office yoga or sponsor a fun run, you can still offer employees gym reimbursement or other wellness perks. Be sure to ask your staff what it is they want and would use. Don’t forget to look at the office itself. Standing desks? Chill out space? Pilates ball? All of these things can help support employees being able to do what they need when they need it.
If you’re in charge of creating an employee wellness program, but don’t know where to start, then take heart. There are a wide variety of fun wellness challenges that can be adapted to workplace cultures to suit the needs of individual businesses and employees. A quick internet search or phone call to a local hospital or health department will net you plenty of workplace wellness ideas that will appeal to several employees.
Mental Health Days
Allowing employees to take mental health days or work remotely some times is important. A well-used mental health day prevents illness, burn out, and other stressors that can compromise a healthy immune system. Working employees to the point of burn out is bad for business. Replacing an employee who has quit to repair their health can cost a company thousands of dollars (and feels crappy as a boss)
Healthy employees are productive and engaged employees. They also cost your company less money in lost work and employee turnover. Implementing employee wellness programs, keeping common areas clean and offering mental health days go a long way toward keeping your employees healthy and thriving. Best of all, many are easy to implement and offer you a great return on their costs.
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