Healthy employees make good employees

By / Enterprise

Especially when running a smaller enterprise, every dollar that’s spent is of vital importance, and you can’t afford to waste money on an unhappy or unproductive employee. You need to keep your operations strong but your payroll lean and mean, which isn’t always easy.

One thing you can do to improve the productivity of your business is emphasize health and wellness. Simply put, a happy employee is a more productive employee, so it’s important to take measures to make sure your workers are healthy both physically and mentally. This goes beyond just offering health insurance, though that’s important – you also need to promote a healthy lifestyle that includes diet and exercise.

There are many ways to promote health in your offices. You can sponsor road races, bike rides or weight loss competitions for your employees. You can serve healthy foods for your workers’ lunches and snacks. You can offer gym memberships. All of these options will make your employees stronger people, which in turn will lead them to become more effective workers.

Health shouldn’t be ignored. Keeping your personnel in good shape is a fundamental aspect of managing your small business, and it demands your attention. Science Daily recently highlighted this principle, drawing on research from Iowa State University which found that healthy workers can have a profound effect on their companies.

“Americans spend a lot of time at work,” said Kayli Julander, a research assistant at the university. “If we can make it convenient for the employees to take a healthy lunch and learn how to improve their well-being or go for a walk during lunch, it’s a great opportunity for the employee as well as the employer.”

The Iowa State scientists found in their studies that diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension have all become serious problems in the United States, and employers must do more to prevent these and other ailments from cropping up among their workers.

If you begin to emphasize health at your company, there are many tangible effects you can expect to see. Here are a few.

Happier employees
Workers are happier when they’re healthier. If your employees are in shape and not distracted by health concerns, they’ll be able to focus better on improving their job performance. Encourage your personnel to diet and exercise because it will make them more content with their lives and better equipped to do quality work.

Stronger employees 
Being healthier is a mental challenge as well as a physical one. By encouraging your employees to change their diets and their exercise habits, you’re also pushing them to improve themselves as people. It takes dedication and perseverance to stick to a health plan, and an adept worker will be able to take these skills and apply them to their professional endeavors as well.

More productivity
It’s difficult to keep a business running smoothly when workers are constantly taking sick days or shrinking away from professional challenges because their health is getting in the way. If you can urge your employees to become healthier, they’ll also become more productive, which adds to your bottom line.

Lower insurance costs
The Independent Record in Montana recently noted that health insurance premiums are on the rise in America, not only because of people’s deteriorating health but also as a result of changing healthcare legislation. Obamacare has taken its toll on small businesses. You can improve your financial standing, though, by making your employees healthier. This will lead to lower insurance costs, and you can in turn put that money into other business endeavors.

Health is everything, both to an individual and an office. What are you doing to encourage your employees to be healthier?

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