Workplace Wellness: Healthy Employees Can Be a Huge Benefit to Your Business
Posted by Amelia K. on Thursday, January 15th, 2015 with 18 Comments
Now that we’ve entered the new year, workplace wellness – and wellness in general – is probably a hot topic around your office. With so many people trying to get in shape and worrying about the quality of the food they’re eating, there’s really no better time to start building a workplace wellness program at your company. But if you’re still not sure that bringing some healthier options to your office is the right fit or are lacking some incentive to make this a priority, we can help. Below, we’ve compiled some research that shows why encouraging your employees to make healthier choices is in your best interest as a brand, and how it can have a profound impact on your bottom line.
Offering workplace wellness, like group fitness classes, can spark healthier habits among employees and lead to great cost benefits for your business.
Image Source: Flickr user USACE Europe District
Sick Days
When your company has healthy employees – meaning, individuals who are making better choices in terms of the foods they eat and the level of activity they adhere to – they’re typically less sick. This requires them to take fewer days off on account of illness or injury. Based on research done by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), overweight individuals miss over 50% more work days than their normal weight counterparts. And those who are obese miss 141% more work days due to being sick or injured than their average weight co-workers.
Helping your employees to have a more well-balanced lifestyle by giving them the tools and information they need to live healthier can be one way to support their efforts to get on the right track with their health. Because individuals who are equipped to make healthy choices are also more likely to have a healthier family, it creates a type of domino effect. Not only do you help spur healthy employees, you help them create a better, more informed environment for their families at home. Ultimately this means your employees miss less work due to illness and injury of their own, while also needing less time off to care for sick family members. This can save your company money from both the immediate implications missing work has on your brand, as well as your long-term healthcare costs. It’s a win-win!
Job Satisfaction
For your staff, knowing that you care about their health and wellness (and supporting that with internal programs that are being paid for out of the company’s pocket) can be a huge boost to employee morale. Although your end goal is to likely benefit your brand’s bottom line, bringing a workplace wellness program to your office shows that you are a caring employer. This ultimately makes your employees happier to come to work, more engaged with the work they do, and less stressed as they try to fit everything in throughout their day.
When your employees are happier in their jobs, they’re more likely to remain working for your company. This means you don’t have to spend as much money on hiring and training new people to take over old positions within your company. Wellness programs can also be used as a recruiting tool as your business grows, because the best talent has become more fixated on company culture and unique benefits, as well as working for a company that sets a good example from the top down. Because of this, a strong workplace wellness program that includes lifestyle seminars, workout options, and healthy meal choices is certainly in your company’s best interest moving forward.
A Better Workplace Includes Healthy Employees
Although it might seem like a trendy concept, the idea of living healthier isn’t something that’s going to go away in the next ten years. In fact, we’re more likely to see even more of a push for work-life balance in the form of support for healthy employees through both company sponsored exercise programs and businesses offering healthier meal choices for their staff.
As you’re developing the right programming mix for your company, remember that you don’t have to go it alone. Just like a fitness coach can help you set up some awesome workout programs for your employees to partake in, Waiter.com can help you build awesome meal options for your staff through our delicious corporate catering service and our spectacular virtual cafe – both of which are quickly becoming corporate favorites around town. Ready to get started? Fill out this short form – we’d love to help you support your team’s wellness goals in 2015 by helping you offer healthier meal choices every day!
When it comes to feeding employees and coworkers, make your company's food program really count! If your workplace dining plan needs to take it up a notch — or if you don't have one at all — Waiter.com is here to help. From Virtual Cafeteria Service to diverse menus to local takeout & delivery, Waiter.com offers customizable dining solutions for every business and budget. Contact us today to get started!
What suggestions do you have in terms of creating incentives for employees to participate in these wellness programs? Often, I find it is not enough to offer these to the employees for free.
That’s a great question! It really depends on how big your staff is and the laws around this topic in your state. But I do find that offering more information on why a healthier lifestyle is beneficial can really help.
I worked somewhere that has an overall wellness program, but the food was so expensive there was no way I could afford it – at least not any of the healthy options. Now, I am “normal” weight at 5’9″ and 140 lb so I’m not trying to lose weight, I’m trying to maintain, and I need to eat a lot to do that because I work a physical job. If the choices are between a $7 wrap that I could eat 5 of or a $1.50 slice of pizza that I could eat 5 of or 5 McDonald’s dollar burgers, guess what wins? I never did spend $35 on wraps for lunch, that’s for sure, I couldn’t afford it. As good as these programs are, they have to consider the cost of the food at how much someone’s actually going to eat and make sure it’s affordable. Hungry employees aren’t effective either.
That’s a great point, Anne! Thanks for bringing it up. In some cases, employers bring in the food for their employees. Others, they offer some healthy options that staffers can choose based on their own likes and budget.
A healthy workplace environment does wonders for a company as well as it’s employees. If wish my company would take the initiative to do something beneficial for us.
The best companies to work for – or at least, the ones that are voted as the best – all seem to have some sort of wellness program to do something great for their employees.
I have to agree with this post. Having people who miss work and perform poorly in a job can really affect the way a business runs.
That’s true! And there are tons of ways that employers can help to support a healthier work environment.
I worked for a company that offered a wellness program and you are right it does make a huge difference in the health and well being of the employees. There were far less people calling out sick and the overall happiness of the workers was far more noticeable.
This is a great testimonial to this post – thanks for sharing!
I wish that more people took sick days. It would keep lots of other people from getting sick in the long run.
Thanks, Kirk. Is this something you see a lot of at your office?
This just proves the point that employer-employee relationships should be cultivated in order to receive benefits in business. You can’t forget about your employees and expect good things to come later! Great post, thank you!
It is true: that’s the best way to retain great employees!
I worry that when employers read something like “overweight individuals miss over 50% more work days than their normal weight counterparts”, it’s just going to make them less likely to hire overweight people, rather than creating health incentive programs. Still, I think it’s a great idea for employers to take an interest in their employees’ health. If they do so, everybody wins.
That’s certainly a valid point, many employers do seem to recognize the need for more health-related materials and support throughout their offices.
I wish this was available at my job. Not only do we dont have any wellness programs but we have a break room stocked with unhealthy food. Who should i talk to at my job about starting something like this?
Hi Chelsea,
I would try talking to your manager or the office manager about some new ideas, depending on how large your company is. Phrase it positively, that will get you the most traction. Good luck!