Health Risk Management is an emerging focus area in companies. Health like other employee-related behaviors cannot be incentivised in any way, so how do you encourage employees to live a healthy lifestyle?
One of the most effective ways to do so is by instilling healthy habits in the workplace.
There are 3 ways in which you can do that:
Physical Exercise: Companies have partnered with gyms to provide their employees with group discounts, but what if employees choose not to go to the gym simply because they don’t like it? In such cases, you can come up with creative ways to make them physically active like
-Stick some motivating quotes or funny images in the stairway-this will encourage employees to take the stairs instead of the elevators
-At any time of the day employees can initiate a simple exercise and others need to follow-this will add the element of surprise (you can have a small bell in your office. The employee who wants to initiate the exercise will ring the bell and do so. The others will get ready when they hear the bell go)
-Employers can invest in standing desks or foot peddlers that will stimulate some forming of standing or moving about.
-Water filters should be kept away from desks so that employees will at least take the initiative to walk till there.
Healthy Menu & Pantry Facilities:
-Always Include a salad in the menu
-Avoid too much oil
-Say no to carbonated drinks & choose fresh fruit juice instead
-Weekly once you can include a millet in the menu (Ragi, jowar or bajra)
-Fill the pantry with healthy & nutritious snacks like baked instead of fried foods & add green teas
-Have a refrigerator so that employees can store home cooked food or fruits
Sleep Habits: Poor sleeping habits or sleep-related illnesses can hamper productivity to a huge extent. Employees who fail to get 7-8 hours of sleep face problems like lack of concentration, irritation, making bad decisions, forgetfulness & sleeplessness.
Well, of course, we don’t expect companies to have sleeping bags, but there are major tech giants like Google that have sleeping pods for employees to grab a wink or two during work hours. Companies can encourage employees to take breaks in between and create & follow work schedules in ways that employees will not be burdened and can enjoy a healthy work-life balance.
