Health And Wellness In The WorkplaceHealth And Wellness In The Workplace

Workplace wellness is in the process of evolving.

Early efforts to set up healthy workplaces focused on safety at the workplace and injury prevention for staff members.

More recently, programs are designed to assist  workers to choose healthier behaviors like being more physically active or stopping smoking. Campaigns to raise awareness, educational sessions to expand knowledge, opportunities to acquire new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for workers to make healthy choices are frequently included. This approach is taken because the workplace is a good way to reach individuals, since most adult Canadians invest a large part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are 2 aspects that contribute to the health of employees, workplace wellness is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation-the environment at work.

How the workplace affects health.

Increasingly, it is recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people’s health. When individuals are satisfied with their job, they are more advantageous and tend to be healthier. When employees feel that the environment at work is harmful, they feel stressed. Stress has a big impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified 5 components of workplace culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the company overall-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. The underlying idea is that corporations must genuinely care about the well-being of their employees.

Companies today who want to attract and keep great employees have leaders who understand the association between employee satisfaction and employee health and believe that workplace wellness is a employer plan.  Their management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving employees in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and offering support to balance work and home life.

Employers know that employees are looking for jobs that compensate well, have good benefits, are interesting, and include good health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more significant than ever for corporations to enhance job satisfaction and ensure that employees enjoy being on the job. Workplace wellness benefits both employers and employees.

How does workplace wellness profit the company?

A workplace wellness program can help a corporation to:

• attract and keep workers;
• lower the costs of disability, prescription drugs, and absenteeism;
• lower the effects of a stressful workplace;
• lower health expenditures or keep them contained; and
• better morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

How Do Employee Wellness Programs Profit staff members?

staff members of companies that have a Corporate Wellness Program are likely to have:

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to improve their health;
• a better (less stressful) workplace;
• increased protection from injury;
• improved health and wellbeing;
• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;
• increased productivity and performance at work;
• reduced personal medical care expenditures; and
• a more relaxed/flexible approach to health problems.

Both employers and staff members have a responsibility for creating a healthy workplace. Staff Members are expected to arrive at work in great health, and the company is expected to support an environment that allows staff members to maintain great health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the company’s success.

Workplace wellness is much more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about planning a “people first” approach to doing business. It’s about taking care of employees, implementing a beneficial work environment, and paying attention to the factors that keep employees healthy and happy at work. A good Company Wellness Program has an influence on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellness.