Billet de blog

Corporate Wellness: how to encourage a healthy lifestyle amongst your employees

Hugo Martin

Regional Sales Manager

An office worker will spend most of the working day sitting down whether it’s in front of their computer, in a meeting or in the canteen at lunchtime and, over time, this can cause many problems both physically and mentally.

As an employer, part of your duty is to care for your employees, helping them to be as productive and healthy as possible. In fact, a growing number of companies are pushing for wellbeing initiatives in the office, even if it’s just something simple, such as encouraging group lunchtime walks or offering free exercise classes.

By offering these initiatives, companies will not only see an improvement in their employees’ professional performance, motivating them to continue growing and developing, but they will also improve their employees’ satisfaction rates and overall employer brand.

Here are five of the most common practices to help promote health and wellbeing in the workplace:

Desk exercises

Small simple tricks when sitting at a desk can help to improve posture.

Focus on stretching and straightening the back every time you’re sat down so that your muscles are not straining more than required. Always make sure that you’re not resting your head on your hands and ensure you’ve set the computer at an appropriate height to avoid neck pain.

Technology can also help to encourage activity. Smart watches or wristbands usually have activity sensors that can alert the user when they have not moved for a while. This can also become a fun team activity. The owner of the wristband alerts the rest of the team that it's time to do some exercise and together they can perform arm stretches, torso rotations, squats or neck stretches.

Gym fees

Offering financial help to pay for gym fees or offering flexible compensation plans can also be a great way to get your office employees moving more, as well as encouraging team building within departments.

This idea fulfills two objectives: the first, to encourage the most reluctant of workers to go to the gym and be active and, the second, to create a relaxed work environment.

Including physical activity in employees’ day-to-day helps them to keep in shape, as well as relieving work stress, helping them to rest better at night.

Mindfulness

Wellbeing isn’t just about physical exercise. One of the biggest trends that has increased over the years is the practice of relaxation or mindfulness exercises.

As with physical exercise, there are several mindfulness and relaxation initiatives you can offer our employees. Some offices might hire a professional to come in and give wellbeing sessions, others might implement a corporate wellbeing plan that encourages employees to attend relaxation, mindfulness or yoga classes on a weekly basis. These techniques can help employees better deal with daily problems, improve concentration and learn to face challenges, without too much pressure, stress or self-demand.

Physiotherapists

We have already talked about the postural problems caused by sitting at our desks but let’s not forget that there are also many workers whose day-to-day work involves a lot of physical activity or standing up for long periods of time which can cause many muscle and joint problems.

Companies can help their workers improve their muscle or joint problems by hiring a physiotherapist that regularly goes to the office to treat employees. Or, working with a clinic near the office, so that staff can make appointments when they need it.

Healthy diet

How many times have you heard that the best accompaniment to exercise is a healthy diet? This is one of the key points to consider if you want to launch an effective corporate wellness plan for your company.

If there is a shared canteen in the workplace, try to make the menu as balanced, healthy and adapted to dietary needs as possible, including healthier options that are less calorific.

If there isn’t a canteen, companies and offices can also hire dedicated food companies that prepare healthy food menus to distribute in the office. So this can also be an option.

You can also organise talks on healthy cooking, what to eat at what time of year to make the most of seasonal food, how to adapt diets to allergies, etc.

Although there are lots of initiatives out there, it’s important that you tailor these to your workplace needs. Ask staff what they want to get out of their workplace before incorporating any big changes. That way, you’ll have expectations to work towards, as well as improving the relationship between you and your employees.

Ressources similaires

Vous souhaitez continuer à apprendre ? Découvrez nos produits, les témoignages de nos clients et les actualités du secteur.

Le lien indéfectible entre gestion des performances et engagement des collaborateurs

Billet de blog

Le lien indéfectible entre gestion des performances et engagement des collaborateurs

Existant depuis le début des années 90, le concept d'engagement des collaborateurs a été présenté pour la première fois dans l'article « Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work » de l'Academy of Management Journal.

Planifiez un entretien personnalisé

Discutez avec un expert Cornerstone pour savoir comment nous pouvons répondre aux besoins spécifiques de votre organisation en matière de gestion du personnel.

© Cornerstone 2024
Mentions légales