Employee wellness checklist: Are you doing these 7 things?
The outbreak of COVID-19 this year has forced employers to sit up and take notice of the general health and hygiene processes in their workplace. This is in addition to the flu season which affects employers and employees every year.
Indeed, employee wellness is an issue that employers should be concerned about, regardless of the outbreak of a pandemic. It should be something that is dealt with as a matter of course.
Your staff is your most significant asset. You need to protect this asset by taking care of the health and wellbeing of your employees. The best way of doing this is by implementing some form of a wellness programme.
The wellbeing of your staff is vital. You are likely to benefit from a healthy staff complement by way of an increase in productivity, and reduced absenteeism and downtime.
Employee wellbeing has both a physical and a mental component. It’s important to focus on both, accepting the fact that mental issues will probably have to be dealt with by mental health practitioners.
So what can you, as the employer, do to create employee wellness?
- Pay attention to ergonomics. Look at your operation critically and identify those issues hampering people from operating effectively. Consider your workplace design and layout
- Identify issues that cause stress and pressure and take corrective measures
- Educate employees about healthy eating habits. Is your vending machine or tuck shop at work only supplying so-called junk food? If so change this and dispense or sell healthier varieties of food. To be healthy, we need to follow a balanced diet.
- Conduct a check to establish noise and air pollution levels. Both of these environmental factors could hamper employee wellness and productivity.
- Get employees active by encouraging them to take a walk during their lunch break. A radical idea could be to introduce a five-minute aerobic session during the day. A few simple star jumps and running on the spot can do wonders.
- People working in offices can jazz up their workspace by putting up posters and pictures and changing the position of their desks from time-to-time.
- Arrange for staff to get annual flu vaccinations.
Employee wellness requires a holistic approach. As an employer, you should have in place:
- A policy and approach to HIV/AIDS
- A policy and process dealing with drug and alcohol abuse
Needless to say that you need to be compliant as far as the Occupational Health and Safety Act is concerned.
Ideally arranging for regular medical checks will identify employees with potential problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Presenting talks on healthy living and eating well should also be a feature of your approach.
In the absence of your own medical personnel doing this, there are providers who are available to do this. Prevention is better than cure!
