Improve productivity and happiness at work by improving employee health.
Employee health includes everything from physical health to mental and emotional health. The health of your employees directly impacts their productivity and happiness at work.
A good employer recognizes the importance of employee health and sets up initiatives such as a wellness program and regular employee challenges to increase productivity, health, and happiness.
This article will explain in more detail what employee health is and why it matters. We’ll also provide actionable tips to help you improve the health of your employees at work.
We will cover:
What employee health is and why it matters
The consequences of poor employee health
How to invest in the health of your employees at work
What is employee health?
Employee health is more than just physical health, such as workers taking sick days. It also includes mental and emotional health.
To put it simply, employee health is more of a broad term to describe how an employee feels at work, both in terms of productivity and overall health.
For example, poor mental health may impact the employee’s ability to work effectively. Physical health issues may cause increased sick days and also reduce work capacity and productivity.
It’s your job as an employer to provide your employees with the right tools to improve their health and wellbeing.
What are the consequences of poor employee health?
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost to depression and anxiety each year, costing $1 trillion in lost productivity.
Furthermore, there are added sick days, poor retention, increased absenteeism, and, unsurprisingly, increased hiring costs.
The health of your employees can also impact health insurance costs, too.
Why should you invest in employee health?
Investing in the health of your employees can help create a more productive and happy workforce.
You can help alleviate stress and poor health at work, reducing the risk of burnout and making your workplace more productive and a better place to work.
Implementing a wellness program can also build a sense of community, helping coworkers to make friends. 58% of workers said happiness is more important than their salary, as stated in a 2021 Friends in the Workplace survey by Wildgoose. A further study by Gallup found that employees who have a best friend at work perform better. It also reduces safety incidents by as much as 36%, resulting in 7% more engaged customers and 12% higher profits.
5 ways to invest in the health of your employees
There are numerous ways to invest in employee health, from modern wellness programs and challenges to simple behavior changes—continue reading to find out more.
1. Introduce a wellness program
By now, you’ve likely heard of wellness programs. There are many different types of wellness programs at work, but they all attempt to do the same thing: improve employee health and wellbeing for improved productivity.
At FitPros, we host a platform called FitPros LIVE. Employers can join LIVE, and their employees can access 500+ annual on-demand wellness sessions, from yoga to meditation to health talks and cooking demos.
FitPros LIVE also allows your team to host wellness challenges from the app—more on this below.
2. Organize employee wellness challenges
Wellness challenges at work can help your employees build healthy habits for improved productivity.
Example wellness challenge ideas include:
Movement challenge
Sleep challenge
Hydration challenge
Running/cycling distance challenge
Meditation challenge
As you can see, there are lots of different challenge ideas. We constantly introduce new challenges in the app for your employees to try, competing against each other for prizes and against themselves.
Wellness challenges are a great way to get your remote employees involved in your wellness activities, too. You can track progress in the app, leave comments on each other’s activities, and receive reminders to attend daily workout sessions to stay accountable to your goals.
3. Prioritize mental health support
Not enough is done to support mental health at work, despite the days lost due to poor mental health.
And it’s not just from a productivity standpoint. Happy employees are often healthy employees—they’re fun to be around and make work a better place to be.
To reduce the number of sick days each year due to poor mental health infrastructure at work, there are various things you can do:
Upskill managers and company leaders—teach leaders the skills to identify signs of poor mental health and burnout.
Focus on outcomes vs. hours worked—your employees are not machines and shouldn’t be worked into the ground.
Increase mental health awareness and education— provide actionable advice on how to get better sleep, set healthy boundaries, the impact of nutrition, exercise, and more.
For more help on how to prioritize mental health support at work, you can read our mental health in the workplace guide for employers.
4. Show your support
This is simple advice, but it goes a long way. Show your support to improve employee health and well-being!
For example, you may choose to introduce an open door policy, share a personal story that shows your vulnerability, and showcase your efforts to make a better place to work for your employees.
Showing your support also includes setting healthy boundaries and advocating for a healthy work-life balance—more on this below.
5. Advocate for a healthy work-life balance
We’re all guilty of saying we’ll work less, but we often get sucked into longer hours and overtime. And if you’re a manager, it’s easy to drag others into the spiral with you, whether an accident or not.
The key to having a healthy work-life balance is to set clear boundaries. If you’re a part of upper management, set these boundaries from the top and lead by example. This will make it easier for employees to do the same.
Below, you will find a few tips with little things you can do to improve boundaries:
Don’t send emails on weekends
Don’t send emails or Slack messages out of work hours
Don’t set unrealistic expectations
Don’t expect your employees to work as hard as you—especially if it’s your company
Don’t work outside of company hours
Key takeaways
Employee health is a holistic term used to describe everything from physical to emotional health at work
Poor employee health can decrease productivity and happiness
Investing in a wellness program can increase community, productivity, and happiness
Introduce an open-door policy to show your support
Advocate and lead by example for a healthy work-life balance
FAQs
What is employee health and wellbeing?
Employee health and wellbeing covers everything from physical and mental health to financial education and overall wellbeing. It’s a holistic term used to describe the overall health of your employees.
Who is responsible for employee health initiatives?
Often, human resources is responsible for employee health initiatives, including wellness programs and challenges. However, this does depend on the company.
What are some symptoms of poor employee health and wellbeing?
Symptoms of poor employee health may include reduced productivity, increased stress and anxiety, burnout, removal from social situations (meetings and team building activities), increased absenteeism, and dissatisfaction with their achievements and day to day work.
Want to find out more about wellness challenges at work? Read our blog post: Workplace Wellbeing Challenges: Benefits & How to Set Them Up.
Looking for more? Contact a Wellbeing Manager to discuss your organizational wellbeing needs.
We provide workplace teams with mindful practices, personal and professional wellbeing growth, fitness instruction, and opportunities for social connection. We aim to inspire the highest potential in people at work, in life, every day, so they can show up healthy and at their best.