Wellness workshops
In order to ensure employees are looking after themselves, it can be a good idea to give them the opportunity to learn more about their own wellbeing. An American trend, that’s making headway on this side of the Atlantic, is that of wellness workshops.
These generally involve an expert offering advice on relevant health issues; anything from posture to stress. Of course, you don’t want to be prescriptive and tell employees how to live their life - so make sessions voluntary and you won’t run the risk of them feeling like an obligation. This is something we’ve introduced here at Genie, and to great effect – with 100% of staff saying they’ve found at least one workshop really useful.
Do the right thing
Another way to improve the mental health of employees is to look at what else your company can be doing in the community: Charity work and volunteering can really boost mental wellbeing (and physical if it involves a bit of effort), it also helps establish your business as part of the community and is obviously great for those on the receiving end.
A charity day, volunteering with a local organisation for example, can be a great idea; it takes the classic ‘teambuilding’ day and transforms it into something where staff can feel like they’re giving back to the community. It’s much more constructive than a boozy afternoon at the pub (and we all know the negative effects of alcohol on physical and mental health anyway). Although, a drink at the end of a hard day’s volunteering is certainly permissible!
Fruitful offerings
What better way to take care of employee wallets and waistlines than to offer free fruit? It can certainly boost happiness (who doesn’t enjoy free food?), while also offering an alternative to often-unhealthy office snacks!
It’s also an opportunity to further immerse your business in the local community; many farm shops or local groceries are happy to drop off produce at the office (for a small fee) – so why not look local with your fruit delivery?
Appoint a wellness officer
Of course, getting all this done can be a fair amount of work, but work that can pay dividends in the long run. So, it could be beneficial to appoint a ‘wellness manager’; it doesn’t have to be a new hire (unless you’re taking it ultra-seriously) but a volunteer from within who boasts a keen interest in wellbeing could be a good person to manage things.
Ultimately, happy staff tend to be productive staff (and they also tend to stick around) – so any steps you can take to bolster this could be hugely beneficial; a well-managed wellness programme can be an important step.
www.officegenie.co.uk