Making your workplace a healthier one.

Did you know sedentary behaviour or inactivity is one of the most significant contributors to the global burden of disease? Time spent sitting each day, is considered a risk factor for health with studies linking inactivity to increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, increased chances of dementia, depression, and anxiety.

Not a happy outlook is it? Employers should have a vested interest in their staff’s health. Healthy staff comes with benefits. Who wouldn’t want increased employee engagement, productivity, and happiness, right?

So how to go about doing it?

Rewards play a huge role in successful habit formation. So why not reward your staff for trying to do something healthy? Offer free entry to a fitness challenge for your staff and arrange weekly training sessions at lunch time. Of course we’re going to plug our own event, but there are heaps of corporate fitness type events that warrant further investigation by you (the employer) as often larger teams are rewarded with cheaper entry or extra entitlements.

Change up your work environment slightly to help uproot unhealthy habits. Stop buying cookies to have with tea in the tea-room and get a fruit bowl instead. Invest in standing desks, encourage the use of the stairs and not the elevator with some cleverly placed posters.

You could do as we do in our small office and have mini breaks for lunges and stretching within your team.

The biggest reason employees fail to participate in corporate wellness programmes is the lack of time, so here’s a thought: why not offer time in lieu for those that have made an effort within your organisation to participate in your wellness activities? For example: Stadium Stomp falls on a Sunday, I wonder how many more people you’d get to join your corporate team if you offered them a day off to recover on the Monday provided they make at least 4 training sessions and do the event? In the grand scheme of things you’ll be getting a more engaged, productive and happy employee in return. Surely that’s worth a day off?

Remember, it costs money to replace and re-train staff. Look after the ones you have and they’ll reward you in turn.