It should be obvious that businesses need employees to succeed, and yet, even today, physical and mental well-being is a secondary concern for employees over the almighty profit. What many employers fail to realize is that careless ignorance (or worse, malicious abuse) of employee well-being spells doom for the bottom line.
While it’s impossible to squash external stress factors such as personal life, disaster, or economic downturn, the workplace is very capable of becoming a place of safety for employees. There may be problems outside of work that affect them, but it is the business’ responsibility that internally, there’s no reason for them to become stressed unnecessarily.
Time Off
Sometimes, the simplest solution for a stressed-out employee is some time away from work. Don’t be stingy with paid leaves. When people need time to recharge, they should be given said time without much fuss. A lot of the time, employees may work hard, but not at 100% due to lack of rest.
Even worse, they may not even have time for themselves, making them resent work. Time off gives them the time to do important personal things, whether it’s to do their laundry or just spend a day catching up with their family. Whatever it is, time off lets them mentally and physically reset for work.
Indoor Gym/Team Sports
For office jobs especially, physical fitness becomes too much of a low priority. Even if they just sit around all day, this is no reason not to be as healthy as they can reasonably be. Sitting all day while stressed leads to unwanted weight gain and hormonal imbalance. Oftentimes, the reason why people don’t work out isn’t that it’s inconvenient to do so.
If they don’t have gyms near their home or the office, then many just let go of themselves. An indoor gym solves this problem. It’s convenient and can be done before work starts or right after it ends. Alternatively, one could schedule bi-weekly team sports gatherings on company funds. This also has the side benefit of being a great team-building exercise.
Open Communication
It’s important to be supportive of your employees verbally as well, and this can’t be done without honest and straightforward conversation. Ease them in with a personalized video from corporate, explaining what they can feel safe to talk about with the management or HR. If they have thoughts on the business, they should be allowed to voice their opinions somehow.
This isn’t necessarily following whatever it is they say, of course, but you never know what ideas they might have that they genuinely wish to use to improve their work. Positive change to their work environment also reflects as major stress relief for most employees.
Health Benefits
For your contracted employees, health benefits are a must for their well-being. If the worst happens and they get into some sort of accident, they shouldn’t be worrying about their financial future so roughly. Health benefits are a basic human right in the modern world, and for all the work they do for the business, the least that can be done is they get taken care of at their worst.
This isn’t just for physical health either. Check for mental health programs and make sure that your employees have easy access to expert therapists. Mental health is often an ignored aspect of wellbeing, and it’s more out of ignorance than genuine malice. Most people don’t think they need help until others tell them that they do need it.
Tangible Rewards
One of the best ways to keep employees motivated is by recognizing their efforts. Don’t just limit it to “thank yous” and “good jobs” (though you should do that regardless), make sure the team feels appreciated when they do extremely well. For example, once a major project is finished, treat the team to a free dinner sometime that week.
If a certain employee has been paying their dues through effort and longevity, then a promotion might just be what they need to get back to 100%. The key thing to remember here is to emphasize how important they are. After all, the business wouldn’t be spending dinner or money on them if they weren’t being helpful. This is simply an effective way to raise morale.
Company Trips
Traveling and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be rough with a constant work schedule. Businesses can kill two birds with one stone by inviting employees on a company trip. Whether it’s the beach or going hiking, company trips are not only a great team-building exercise but also a major stress reliever.
Time away from work while paid for by the company is a tempting offer for anybody. For employees who are particularly cautious about expenses, this solves any worries they may have had.
Conclusion
Employee well-being should be treated as the most important asset a company has. A single unhappy employee could very well be the domino effect that shatters the bottom line. Regardless of the business outcome, keeping the human beings who work for you healthy and happy should be a given, not a luxury.
»Best Strategies to Improve Employees’ Health and Wellbeing«