The Enlightened Entrepreneur Knows: Wellness Works

Are you a small business owner? Do you want to find new ways to create a healthier work environment for your employees and save costs on healthcare? Are you unsure of what wellness activities you should pursue at your company? Do you want to find the common causes of work-related mental disorders and improve the health of yourself and entire workforce and workplace?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, read on to get our top five pro tips for why health and wellness programs at work really do work – and how you can get started now!

Enlightened Entrepreneurs Know: Wellness Works

The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel, and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.

- Tony Robbins

Pay less in healthcare costs

Work pressures can account for more than a third of the stress an employee experiences in the office. That stress can lead to critical health issues—such as anxiety disorders, burnouts, mental breakdowns and heart attacks. But when you address the stress levels of your employees, then you end up ultimately paying less in healthcare costs. That’s something to note for both you and your employee.

Watch employee attendance improve

When employees are healthy and happy, they want to come to work and they want to work for the common good of the company. So incentivize being part of a corporate health and wellness program. Perhaps you gift a prize at the end of the year for all employees who participated or perhaps you add a bonus to their paychecks. Whatever you decide to do, you’ll notice that it has a ripple effect. Your employees will want to show up and participate because they feel healthier and happier while they are at work – where ultimately they spend most of their time!

Sitting is the new smoking

For a long time we’ve known that sitting at your desk is the “new smoking” – to the point of detrimental effects to your body. When you sit for a long period of time, it actually increases your chances for diseases and conditions such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. Avoid unnecessary risks to your health by getting up out of your chair periodically throughout the day and taking a walk. Also, consider investing in standing desks for your employees so they have the option of standing up and stretching while they are working.

Improved mental health

When you provide a wellness program for your employees and they participate, you are doing to see an improvement in mental health among your employees. That’s because exercise releases endorphins and makes you physiologically happier. In fact, research shows that about 50 percent of the time exercise can be just as effective as taking anti-depressants.

Increased productivity

Wellness activities at work can increase the productivity of your employees. That’s because when they exercise, they feel more energized. Many people falsely and detrimentally get into the habit of thinking that they don’t have time for exercise and that to be most productive, they have to work long hours.

But you actually do yourself a disservice when you do this. Instead, when you get out of your chair, take a walk, eat lunch, go to the gym during lunch, or do some type of small physical activity, you actually re-energize and redirect your brain.

You come back to your desk or to that meeting with renewed direction, inspiration and energy. Yes, it does take some practice to make this a habitual part of the work day, but it can be encouraged via a top-down approach. Encourage your employees to take an hour out of the day to exercise. It benefits your company in the long run because your employees are able to give more of their mental energy and productivity to you throughout the work day.

Ready to get healthy at work?

It can seem overwhelming at first, but remember that day by day, making wellness at work a habit will encourage a healthy lifestyle that benefits everyone.

If you’re ready to improve well-being at work and find health and wellness programs that produce real results, then keep this guide handy as you map out your own corporate course of action. There are many fun wellness activities at work that not only will decrease work injury but will create more productive employees and decrease the overall stress level of your workforce.

Best of all, when you deploy a wellness program in your workplace, you ultimately produce happier employees who stick around, decrease turnover, and save in healthcare costs for your employees who might have otherwise continued sitting, smoking and participating in other unhealthy workplace habits.