5 Ways To Foster Wellness At Your Office

By Audacy

  According to a recent study conducted by financial analysis firm Sageworks, between the years 2014 and 2015, the average US small business had a profit margin of 7.2 percent. With such slim margins, startup founders operating in a hypercompetitive marketplace like San Francisco need to keep costs low and profits high. One time-tested way to achieve that goal is to promote good physical and mental employee health. Here are five ways employers can foster a company culture of health and wellness.   Launch an On-Site Exercise Program According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37 percent of the US population can be considered obese. Due to the increased healthcare costs, absenteeism, and lost productivity associated with the ailment, US industry loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to obesity. Consequently, small business owners can save a lot of money by making on-site exercise a part of their workplace culture. To be clear, this doesn’t mean installing an entire workout facility in the office. It just means doing things like leading your team on optional activities like pre-work runs, lunch hour power walks, and after work yoga sessions. Making physical activity a part of the workplace culture will not only promote healthy living among your employees, but serve as a great opportunity to bring employees together with a social activity. A Leeds Metropolitan University study found that in addition to making employees healthier, on-site exercise also makes workers more productive and improves job satisfaction.   Promote Healthy Eating In addition to an inactive lifestyle, one of the leading causes of obesity is poor eating habits. As Authority Nutrition notes, maintaining a diet that includes lots of processed foods, large portions, and sugary drinks has a direct correlation with being significantly overweight. To combat the unhealthy eating epidemic, small business owners should promote better eating at the office. One easy, inexpensive way to do this is to make only healthy meal and snack options available in the workplace. Another is to make literature concerning healthy eating available in common areas. Lastly, you might want to invite a dietitian or nutritionist into the office for a seminar on healthy eating habits.   Incentivize Healthy Living Employers can also improve their employees' well-being by incentivizing healthy living. This means rewarding your employees whenever they hit certain health milestones. For example, you could give an employee who has managed to stop smoking for a month a gift card. You can similarly acknowledge another worker’s efforts to lose a certain amount of weight. And you could provide an incentive for the entire office to get healthier by offering gym discounts to your entire team.   Make Time for Workplace Meditation Another important measure owners should take in cultivating workplace wellness is to help their employees keep their stress levels under control. In addition to having a higher risk factor for serious ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer, workers with high levels of stress are also less productive than their more relaxed counterparts. As numerous studies have shown, regular meditation is highly effective at reducing stress. Hire a meditation expert to instruct your team on the basics of the practice and subsequently allowing them time to meditate daily. Afterward, you can expect increased morale, reduced interpersonal conflict, and improved productivity.   Practice Mindful Leadership Small business owners can also reduce their employees' stress by practicing mindful leadership. Having an open-door policy, allowing for flexible scheduling, and taking special care to acknowledge the individual contributions of all your employees, will allow you to cultivate an environment of compassion and fulfillment among your staff. Taken together, these wellness initiatives will have the cumulative effect of making your workforce physically and psychologically healthier. And where there are happy and healthy workers, there are high profit margins.   Canopy Health is a community of caregivers creating an integrated healthcare experience where quality care and coverage are provided by an alliance of top caregivers throughout the Bay Area. They offer refreshingly clear, human care that is achieved by making each unique member’s journey predictable, transparent, and cost-effective. For more tips and inspiration for small business owners, visit Small Business Pulse SF Bay Area.