Employee Wellness: 4 Tools Every Manager Needs to Assist Their Workers

Rachelle Wilber

June 30, 2017

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When your employees are healthy, they will be more productive. Employee health has a direct impact on your organization's bottom line. Everyone in the company's management, from direct supervisors to the CEO can play an important role in workplace wellness. Keep these four essential tools in mind for assisting your workers with health and well-being.

Using Healthy Employee Incentive Programs

Encourage your company to set up and maintain a healthy employee incentive program. These plans for health offer information, education and contests for employees to engage in healthy behaviors. For example, you could offer free step counters to your employees. Many step counters offer an app and social networking capabilities so that your staff could join teams. Consider a prize, such as a quarterly award for the most steps.

Employing a Social Worker for Employee Health and Wellness

Employing an in-house social worker for employee health and wellness could help with a wide variety of complex health issues. Employees who have stress at home could visit the social worker to get ideas on healthy coping strategies. The social worker could also conduct workshops for health and wellness topics such as stress, parenting, eating healthy meals while traveling for work and other issues.

Offering a Comprehensive Health Benefits Package

To keep your employees well, make sure that the company insurance benefits include preventive health services. When your employees can get preventive care such as an annual physical, an eye exam, and yearly flu shots, they will be less likely to miss time from work. The cost of preventive health services is less than the cost of treating a serious illness or injury.

Implementing and Enforcing Healthy Workplace Policies

Consider implementing and enforcing healthy workplace policies. For example, if your city or state does not already have smoking laws, you could prohibit smoking on company property. You could also require that employees use their annual allotment of vacation time so they can get a chance to take a break from working, rest and relax. Swap out the vending machines of soda and junk food and replace them with healthier options.

By making a small investment into preventive health and wellness, your organization could receive big returns. This investment will be noticed by employees. A happy employee is likely to remain loyal to your organization, which further boosts your investment. These four tips can all be implemented in order to improve the mental and physical health of everybody who works at your company.