There are many elements to maintaining a healthy and productive work environment. While this is a complex equation, the result is not – motivated and engaged employees who look forward to coming to work.
Let’s take a look at how to have a productive and health-conscious work environment without compromising on any other aspects of the company.
The Importance of an Ergonomic Work Area
Do you feel like your work area is optimized for your health? An astounding 60% of workplace illnesses can be pegged down to injuries sustained while on the job.
While you may be thinking that this only applies to people who are physical on the job – you’d be wrong. A lot of these workplace injuries occur while sitting at your desk. This is because many companies still lack the ergonomics to support their employees back and posture health successfully.
From repetitive motion injury to musculoskeletal disorder and repetitive straining injury, all of these conditions have one thing in common – the modern American workplace. This is because there are many office chairs out there that don’t support your neck and back the way you need it. This leads to poor posture, which may turn into a chronic back condition.
When you’re sitting at a desk all day in the same position, you need to be able to have access to a chair and a desk, and perhaps an ergonomic under desk footrest that promotes good posture and the overall health of your back. Otherwise, you could be looking at
How to Promote Wellness at Work
The ergonomics of your work area Segway’s nicely into our second tip for creating the optimum working environment to ensure employee satisfaction and production.
Lisa Evans talks about the benefits when companies implement wellness programs. They see higher productivity, a reduction in lost working days and an overall reduction of health care costs.
Let’s take a look at some ways a company can turn this into reality:
- Encourage Exercise: offer employees discounted gym memberships or bring the gym to the workplace.
- Hunger Options: provide employees with healthier snacks that are available close by.
- Mental Health: you may want to think about implementing an employee assistance program for those who have symptoms of depression, anxiety or who are currently dealing with excess stress.
- Preventative Care: there’s a lot to be said for preventative care – it helps to reduce the number of sick days employees take off and saves on healthcare in the long run. Try offering on-site flu vaccinations at the beginning of the winter season, as an example.
- Focus on Education: bring experts in this type of field to talk to employees on a regular basis to help stress the importance of being healthy.
- Behavioral Resources: provide employees with management programs, empowering your employees to make a noticeable change that lasts.
Empowering the Members of Your Team
Having empowered team members is key to having a healthy, productive work environment that fosters good work relations, according to Kevin Daum.
Let’s take a look at how to successfully empower employees to have a healthy environment at work:
- Open Communication: just like in any relationship, having open communication is key to ensuring the overall wellbeing of everyone involved. This allows each employee to know they can be open about their feelings should they be relevant in a given situation.
- Reward Self-Improvement: provide employees with a tangible plan for growth and stagger the rewards along the way.
- Define Roles Clearly: ensure that all employees have a crystal clear idea of their established role and responsibilities so that there’s no room for confusion.
- Encourage Failing Safely: there can be a lot of pressure in the workplace, that can lead to unnecessary levels of stress on employees. Encourage your company to have a safe failing area where employees can feel comfortable when making mistakes and learning to fail without putting anyone else in danger.
- Be Firm on Accountability: ensure that your employees what is expected of them when it comes to workplace roles and responsibilities – and hold them to this. It’s also important to let an employee know when they haven’t met expectations as well.
- Education: educational incentives are used by many different industries to empower their employees and help them feel valued. Offer incentives for this education and offer to pay for it as well.
- Positive Recognition: being public about recognizing an employee in a positive light can make a big difference to both their own personal morale and the morale of the employee body as a whole.
- Bonuses: it’s no secret that most employees will respond positively and productively to bonuses, as well as other financial incentives. This will encourage them to increase their production levels while managing their health and wellbeing simultaneously.
- Amenities: the nicer the workplace, the more likely it is that your employees enjoy coming to work. It also encourages them to do a better job, and be more productive overall. Having office amenities like a café and a gym can do wonders to employees production levels and general morale.
