Your employees are one of your company’s most valuable assets. Your staff handles the day-to-day operations to allow you to focus on big picture tasks. Invest in your work family by keeping them safe and healthy (to the best of your ability). Here are five tips for encouraging employee wellness in the workplace.

Think Prevention First

If no one gets sick in the first place, you don’t have to worry about spreading contagious germs around the office.
Provide hand sanitizer stations and ensure that employees have adequate space from other people while at their desks. You should also encourage employees to stay home if they feel sick. Give full-time employees paid sick days, and consider expanding this benefit to all employees in your organization as well. Some businesses have even opted for unlimited sick days or flexible workplace arrangements that allow employees to work from home when unwell.

Provide Adequate Healthcare

It can be costly to provide high-quality healthcare to your employees—but it can also be costly to have high turnover rates, or increased downtime due to illness. While you can’t force your employees to sign up for or utilize their healthcare coverage, you can encourage them by offering tempting plans. Some generous employers even offer a discount on the monthly premiums to make coverage more accessible.

Check out the plans offered by True Texas Benefits to learn more about how we can get your company properly insured.

Encourage Movement and Exercise

Many people who work in an office sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen for hours at a time. Not only does this encourage a sedentary lifestyle, but healthcare professionals are beginning to see a correlation between amount of time spent sitting and heart complications.
Give your employees regular breaks, and encourage them to get up from their desks to move around throughout the day. You could even take it a step further and organize company events, such as walk/run challenges. Finally, consider offering gym memberships to your staff or installing exercise equipment on-site. Convert your office furniture to standing desks to allow for movement during the workday, too.

Provide Healthy Snacks

Most offices provide vending machines for employees to purchase a small snack when they feel hungry. Instead of offering chips and candy, fill the vending machines with healthier options, such as unsalted nuts or hummus and veggies. If you reward employees with a meal, skip the pizza and opt for lean turkey subs instead.

Tend to Employee Mental Health

Don’t neglect mental health in your employee wellness plan. When employees feel good on the inside, it will reflect on the outside.In order to promote mental health, encourage brief meditation during stressful moments. You can also take the time to congratulate employees on a job well done. A small word of recognition can really brighten up someone’s day. You can also get to learn about your different employees on a personal level so that you can identify warning signs and offer help when necessary.

There’s no better time to implement wellness goals than the new year! Take the next step towards employee wellness with healthcare and benefits plans from True Texas Benefits. Get in touch with us today to learn more.