5 Tips to Keep Employees Healthy and Happy
If you’re running a business, your main priority is to keep employees healthy and happy. Simply put, your business won’t be able to run properly if you can’t ensure the safety and happiness of your workers. Another problem you may also face is that the rest of the workforce may not be able to cope if the best employees aren’t in the office. So, to make sure your employees are healthy and happy at all times here are five tips to help you out:
1. Be consistent with compensation packages
One surefire way to help with employee retention is to be consistent with compensation packages. This package includes employee salary, salary bonuses, and other compensation benefits. Even if the employee isn’t earning much, salaries that are never delayed are more than enough reason to make them stay in the company.
Always have a contingency fund where you can use if you are short on resources, such as days with low sales or delayed receivables. This allows you to pay out your salaries on time and avoid a backlash from your workers. Additionally, you should give priority to giving raises for tenured employees. Remember that when employee satisfaction is compromised, employees won’t hesitate to leave your company especially if they have never had a salary increase for years. Ideally, a salary increase should be given to selected employees on an annual or bi-annual basis.
2. Promote healthy nutrition in the workplace
You likely have a dedicated pantry or cafeteria in your office, but you’ll never encourage healthy eating and living for employees if all of the dishes and snacks served are full of carbohydrates, sugar, and unhealthy fats. Although food lacking in nutrition is delicious (e.g. fried foods, instant/ready-to-eat food, pastries), they are very harmful long-term and create all sorts of problems for the human body.
What you should do is implement wellness programs for your workers. Specifically, remove all the junk foods and replace them with highly nutritious snacks and meals. Nuts, fresh fruits, whole grains, freshly prepared spreads, and protein bars are delicious yet affordable snacks you can replenish in the cafeteria. As for meals, partner with an organic seller or restaurants selling high-protein, low-fat meals. Remember, this isn’t something you shouldn’t force on your employees. Only offer these foods as an option which can also serve as an inspiration if they plan on living a healthy lifestyle.
3. Encourage physical activity
Speaking of a healthy lifestyle, physical activity complements greatly with the good nutrition you’re promoting in the workplace. If employees get involved in physical activities and eat a balanced meal every day, they will be prepared both physically and mentally to handle day-to-day office tasks. This is very helpful when work can be very stressful as it affects both the mind and the body.
Encouraging physical activity doesn’t mean forcing employees to do exercises before and after their shifts. You can start by organizing exercise activities during weekends which can also act as team-building activities. You can also organize light exercise activities (such as stretching for example) a few times during the week. Physical activity isn’t for everyone but it can change if the company culture is focused on promoting a healthy work environment.
4. Provide training opportunities
It’s not all about perks and salary increases when it comes to ensuring a happy workforce. It has also been proven that regular training opportunities help tremendously with long-term employee motivation. These opportunities are very helpful not just to increase skills but also to help forge a much stable career in the future. In this day and age, more companies are leaning towards hiring multi-skilled individuals that can easily switch from one department to another.
There are multiple avenues to train employees and shouldn’t just be limited to when new products and services are about to be introduced to customers. Training can also pertain to helping employees use different kinds of tools to improve their productivity. But remember, only implement training if it only helps the company become more efficient and hire an industry expert if you feel you’re not up to the task to conduct the training yourself. Employee recognition isn’t just about compensation but also giving them an avenue where they can improve their capabilities.
5. Promote a positive work environment
Even if the employee is a consistent performer, they won’t stay long if they’re constantly working in a toxic environment. This kind of environment pertains to employees as well as bosses who always complain and stick their noses in other people’s personal lives. This behavior should never be tolerated in any company and you should do your part in ensuring a high level of professionalism is maintained at all times. The longer this goes on, employee morale and employee mental health will be severely hampered.
Don’t be afraid to suspend or dismiss employees who cause trouble in the workplace. Even if they hold high positions, it shouldn’t become a reason for them to create divisions between colleagues which only results in unnecessary conflicts. By holding people accountable, operations will flow smoothly and eventually make people happier with their jobs.
In closing
Ensuring employees maintain a happy mood and live a healthy lifestyle can be tough but not impossible. The five tips listed above should help you tremendously, resulting in employees not only becoming healthier and happier but also keeping them convinced to stay in your company for the long haul.
