Health In The Office

These days, many employers are concerned about maintaining their employees' health in the office. Too many used sick days equal low production. But how to keep employees healthy and motivated to come to work each day can be a problem...What is the solution? I have a few suggestions. Some have been used in places where I have worked. Others should be implemented.

The best way to promote health in the office is to develop an employee wellness program! Yes, employers need to show that they care about the shape their employees are in--physical, emotional, mental. It all affects their production which affects the companies finances. It pays to care about employees.

Of course, chair massage is great for each employee, at least once a week. If there are physical problems such as pain, carpal tunnel, etc., employees can benefit from 2 or 3 sessions a week until they are better.

Some companies genuinely care and realize the value of taking care of their employees with chair massage. They provide chair massage for stress reduction and relaxation at no cost to the employees. They do this because they understand that a $15 massage once a week makes an employee feel like the company cares.

Chair massage takes away stress and pain, resulting in an energized employee who wants to be productive and feels like he/she owes that to the company.

Spending $15 once a week is way cheaper than having to pay out $120 a day for a sick day because the employee felt too stressed out to come to work. Chair massage will boost health in the office and cut down on sick days big time.

Think about it. If more companies would do this, their production levels would shoot through the roof! Health in the office, along with a jump in production, which means higher profit margins, can be bought for just $15 a week per employee!

Better health in the office can also be obtained by developing a walking program. Consider installing a good walking track outside around the building and promote it.

Encourage employees to use it during breaks and lunches. Pass out a pedometer to each employee and have them track the number of steps they take each day, with the goal being 10,000 steps per day. Walking promotes health in the office by getting the employees in shape physically, helping them to lose weight in a safe and fun manner.

Set up a salad bar in your cafeteria to promote health in the office. Sell healthy snacks and fruits in the vending machines. Give away or sell cheap bottles of water. This encourages good health in the office instead of the employees buying sugary soda.

Add a wellness benefit to the employee health insurance package. Allow a wellness exam and appropriate wellness tests once a year for the employee and all family members. Some employers provide this benefit. Many do not. It is more cost effective to catch problems at the beginning than to try and fix them after it is too late.

Provide free mental health counseling over the phone for so many visits for the employee and all family members. Sometimes life gets too overwhelming and so many people do not have good friends or family in their lives who want to hear about problems. Sometimes it is too embarrassing to talk to someone we know about our problems.

One more idea is to provide employee sick days (which most companies now do). The twist is to actually allow the employee to use the sick days and not get penalized! Imagine that!

When the employee is sick, he/she can actually use the days to stay at home and get better, instead of having to go into the office or get written up. That way, germs are not spread from employee to employee in the office.

Do not put the employee on verbal or written warning for using one or two necessary sick days. Too many times I have had to go to work sick and feeling awful to prevent being put on warning, even though I had plenty of sick days. Too many of my coworkers have been terminated for daring to use their sick days more than once or twice in a calendar year. Sick days are supposed to be there for the benefit of the employee in the workplace, not to give the appearance that yours is a good company to work for!

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