If you are responsible for the welfare of employees, there are many ways to create a workspace that helps them stay healthier and happier. Today, we’re examining some of the most effective workspace health initiatives, which have been successfully employed by organizations across the globe.
As providers of quality office rental space in Bangkok, we understand the importance of creating a positive work environment and have much experience in this field. Some workspace health initiatives cost little or nothing to implement, while others may involve a significant investment. You will also find some much easier to implement than others if you are working in a temporary office space. For best results, we recommend trying new initiatives one at a time and monitoring staff productivity closely after introducing each one. This way, you can identify the happy workplace initiatives that work best for your organization and employees.
Benefits of Employee Health and Well-Being
Every weekday, many of us commute to a workspace in town, where we perform our daily duties to the best of our abilities. When we’re in good health, we are happier and more productive, which is good for us and good for the companies we work for. But when we are unwell, we perform poorly or, worse still, are unable to come to work, which is bad for us and our employers. A program designed to improve employee health and well-being therefore offers several potential benefits:
- Improved Productivity
- Less Sick Leave
- Increased Staff Retention
- Improved Staff Morale
- Greater Organizational Resilience
- Fewer Workplace Injuries
- Improved Performance
These are the primary benefits of implementing a new workspace wellness program aimed at improving both physical and mental health. You may enjoy additional benefits related specifically to the industry in which you operate.
Key Components of a Wellness Program
When designing a workspace health and well-being program, you need to consider both physical and mental health. By taking a holistic approach to employee wellness, you can look forward to achieving more impressive results than would otherwise be possible:
Physical Health
Physical health can be divided into two broad categories: diet and exercise. Whether you focus on education or the provision of healthy snacks and sporting facilities at work, it’s important to tackle both aspects of physical health at the same time. While it’s possible to lose weight by exercise or diet alone, only by tackling both elements are you likely to see significant improvements across the board.
Diet: Healthy Eating and Nutrition Tips
Encouraging workers to adopt a healthier diet is the single most effective way to improve employee health. It’s often best to focus on education as only one meal a day (lunch) is part of the normal daily workplace experience. However, if there is a staff canteen and/or snack machines present in your community office space, you may certainly consider adding healthier menu options as part of your wellness program. Whichever approach you take, the following tips should help:
- Reduce total calories to lose weight
- Include a mix of colored vegetables in the daily menu
- Bake or grill instead of frying
- Use plant-based oils instead of animal fats
- Drink mineral water and fruit juices instead of carbonated beverages
You may also wish to offer 1-2-1 counseling sessions to employees who encounter significant difficulties when trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Exercise: Encourage Physical Activity
After diet, the most effective way to help employees improve general levels of health and fitness is to encourage them to do more aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
Mental Health
One of the most effective ways to promote better mental health is to create a happy workplace where employees feel free to express themselves. There are also a few other ways in which you can encourage employees to take their mental health more seriously and make meaningful improvements, including:
- Instigating Employee Wellbeing Days
- Offering Mental Health Counseling
- Encouraging Employees to Ask for Help
- Holding Mental Health Training Sessions
It may take a little longer for workers to embrace the mental health portion of a new wellness initiative owing to misplaced embarrassment, but it is worth persevering as the results can be impressive.
The Role of Ergonomics
Ergonomically designed workstations and chairs may help reduce the frequency of repetitive strain injuries for workers in either a permanent or temporary office space. Smart workplace features such as keyless entry and motion sensors linked to HVAC equipment are also useful, and while easier to install in permanent workspaces, they may already be present in some office rental spaces.
Flexible Work Schedules and Breaks
Many organizations have found that employees respond enthusiastically to flextime initiatives, together with a more creative and flexible approach to break times. When employees feel more in control of their work schedules, they often respond positively. For this reason, flexible schedules and breaks are often one of the first changes introduced by organizations keen to create a happy workplace for their employees. In many cases, performance and productivity improvements are seen shortly after the introduction of more flexible working policies, but not always.
Access to Wellness Resources
As mentioned earlier, it can be very helpful to provide employees with access to various wellness resources, such as mental health counseling and educational courses on diet and exercise. Whether these resources are made available in your workspace or provided by 3rd-party specialists outside of working hours, they could make a big difference to the results you can achieve.
Reap the Benefits of Investing in Employee Health
If you want to reap the many benefits of investing in employee health, we recommend creating a happy workplace with the introduction of flexible working hours and breaks, providing wellness resources for educational purposes, and installing ergonomically designed furniture to reduce the incidence of repetitive strain injuries in your workspace.
If you are looking for temporary office space in Bangkok with everything you need to create a healthy, happy workplace, check out our range of services and prestigious service locations in the city. We specialize in modern office spaces designed to encourage healthier, more productive lifestyles.
