Do You Have A "Wellness Workplace"?

We all are familiar with the rising healthcare costs at a record pace, and the manner in which they are placing a huge financial “pinch” on the employers. Different conditions, for example, diabetes, and high blood pressure not only demand a large sum of money for their treatment but also lead to productivity-related costs and high absenteeism.

High blood pressures, stress, obesity as well as other illnesses are all strongly associated with lifestyle choices. As wisely said “Prevention is better than cure”, primary prevention of any disease is far less expensive as compared to its treatment and when we talk about employees, effective prevention begins with healthy lifestyle choices.

Now, the question is how do you promote and encourage healthy lifestyle choices in your organization? You could probably do this by creating a “wellness workplace”.

What Do You Mean by a Wellness Workplace?

A wellness workplace can be described as a place where all individuals are conscious about their everyday choices that impact their health and act in ways that support their own as well as other’s health goals. Workplace Wellness programs at work results in both healthy ROI and healthy employees.

Below are six great ways by which you can create a” wellness workplace”

1. Promote Good Nutrition

You can provide healthy eating tips to employees on a daily and weekly basis. Also, you could sponsor on-site educational sessions every 3 months with along with a nutritionist to guide employees as well as their families about healthy diets. It is advised not to contradict your own advice by stocking your vending machines with varieties of unhealthy snacks.

2. Encourage Employees to Make Physical Fitness a Part of their Routine Lives

One amazing way to do this is to build a jogging or walking club for lunchtime. It will not only give your employees the much needed fresh air and exercise but also will help foster teamwork and creativity.

3. Persuade  Employees  in  Proactive  Weight Management

Individuals who are overweight incur higher health costs and have a high probability of developing Type 2 diabetes. To aid employees to stay healthy, fit and Type 2 diabetes-free, you could organize a weight loss program at work. You could even go for some friendly weight loss competitions where employees can be divided into different teams and work together to lose most pounds in set time duration.

4. Help Employees Quit Smoking 

For the employees who are addictive towards smoking, you could build a support group and smoking cessation program for them to help quit smoking. After all, it’s a lot simpler to break an unhealthy habit together with someone, than on your own.

5. Introduce Free On-Site Health Care Screenings

Employee a registered nurse for the health checkup of your employees every quarter. This practice can prove to be very helpful in alerting employees regarding early signs of any type of “silent” disease and also can help employees chart their progress towards their wellness goals.

You may be interested in the Pre-employment health screening of employees.

6. Reward employees

Build a rewards program for all the employees who proactively participate in a workplace wellness program. Rewarding employees will encourage them to stick to their healthy habits and perform better in the future.