People are more concerned with living healthier lifestyles than ever before, and that’s largely thanks to insights learned during the height of the global pandemic. On the back of this shift in society, employers are being held accountable for providing environments geared toward health and well-being. With this in mind, we take a look at six ways to encourage healthy lifestyles in the workplace.
Create a Culture of Health and Wellbeing
If you can successfully integrate health and wellness into the fiber of your business, you’re well on your way to nurturing healthy lifestyles. To do this, we recommend living by these pillars of health:
- Diet and nutrition
- Being active
- Sleep and relaxation
- Personal development
- Alternate perspectives
Provide Healthy Meals
A great way to integrate healthy lifestyles into the workplace is by providing healthy meals during lunch breaks. After all, a healthy and well-balanced diet has been proven to boost productivity. If your team operates remotely, it doesn’t mean you can’t make provisions for healthy meals. For example, you can include a healthy foods card as part of the benefits package, which means they can add more healthy meals to their diet.
Host Regular Team-Building Activities
Part of living a healthy lifestyle involves having overall positive mental health, and socialization makes up a large part of this. Therefore, you should promote togetherness by hosting regular team-building events. This can be anything from virtual quizzes to physical events like paintballing. When a healthy team spirit runs deep within your team, you’ll see productivity levels rise. For example, NYC company outings are an exciting opportunity for teams to bond outside of the office, explore the city’s dynamic attractions, and strengthen their professional relationships while enjoying the vibrant atmosphere.
Encourage Employees to Take Annual Leave
Your employees have annual leave hours to take, but many Americans fail to take all of their annual leave. Naturally, this means they’re working hours that they’re not necessarily being paid for, which can harm their overall mental health. Therefore, you should encourage your team to take their annual leave. A great way to do this is to request that at least half of their holiday days are booked before the beginning of Q3, and then chase down the rest at the end of Q4.
Run Exercise-Related Charity Events
Interacting with charities is a great way to build consumer trust in your brand, but it also presents the perfect excuse to get your employees moving. A great way to do this is by hosting a sponsored charity event, like running a marathon. If your team knows that their actions are contributing to a valued charity, they’re more likely to get involved. Even if not everyone finishes the challenge, at least you’re providing opportunities to move.
Encourage Healthy Habits
Poor habits like smoking are never good for anyone’s health, which is why you should start encouraging healthy alternatives. For example, you can have a zero-smoking policy anywhere on site and provide support for those struggling to quit. Additionally, you can provide referrals for anyone facing problems with addiction.
Living a healthy lifestyle can be challenging, which is why employers should strive to support staff with the strategies outlined above.
