How to Make Your Working Environment Healthier

Updated on September 2, 2020

Health and wellbeing is a huge contributing factor to an employee’s job satisfaction and loyalty these days. With many employees seeking roles that encourage or support it through the workplace, many employers have also started to see the benefits it offers them. Let us talk through them:

Create a healthy outdoor space

Having an outdoor space where employees can retreat to aids lower stress levels and helps them feel they can escape from work for a break not too far away. Just beware of which chemicals you use on any green space, as some people may ask the question: what cancer does Roundup cause?

Therefore, if you are trying to show your staff that you are committed to protecting their health, you want to try and use organic methods of looking after your outside area. A satisfied workforce means they are more likely to perform better and return to work punctually.

Provide healthy food options

Unhealthy food choices are often the cheapest and easiest to provide to staff and the fastest for busy employees to grab on the go. However, the benefits of providing healthier options to speak for themselves.

A healthier workforce can significantly reduce sick days, increase performance, and promote a positive image of your company. 

A couple of small ways you can introduce this to your staff could be through providing free fruit, striking up a deal with local greengrocers to supply your canteen with fresh vegetables for healthy meals, or investing in a fridge for employees to bring in home-cooked meals. 

Promote fitness and wellness

If you want to see the benefits of healthier colleagues within your workplace, you need to firstly champion it as a culture to start with. 

Try to promote cycle to work schemes, provide facilities for bike storage or gym kits, if you can, perhaps offer gym membership discounts as bonuses for high performance, or simply send a few emails around to see who wants to take part in a fun run. 

Have strategies for supporting mental health

1 in 5 US adults are reported to have mental health issues and work is one of the well-known triggers for exacerbating conditions such as stress and depression. Mental health is a leading cause of unemployment and health care costs. So, to reduce these, there are several things employers can provide for staff.

Firstly, they could simply introduce a well-being initiative, encouraging employees to take care of their mental health. Secondly, they could offer benefits such as counseling or simply creating quiet spaces within the workplace. 

Additionally, they can promote well-being by encouraging face to face contact within the business and providing training for staff to recognize mental health problems.

Have appropriate measures for tech

Technology enables businesses to achieve their goals more efficiently and is a solid fixture within the modern workspace. However, it must be used correctly to protect employees from any long-term health problems.

This means using the right settings on computers to prevent eye strain or providing ergonomic seating and desks – and some businesses nowadays are even utilizing stand up desks, which have been proven to lower the risk of serious health conditions.

The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.