Lately, the news has been reporting quite frequently on health and well-being in the workplace. I
n fact, new guidelines and standards are being incorporated more and more into buildings where people spend large amounts of time, like home school, and yes, work.
Many of these guidelines relate to toxicity in certain materials, others relate to flexible work hours so employees can have more personal or family time.
According to Delos, the founder of the WELL Building Standard, The WELL Building Standard® (WELL) is the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness. It marries best practices in design and construction with evidence-based medical and scientific research – harnessing the built environment as a vehicle to support human health and well-being.
It is interesting as the following article; “How Well buildings are getting healthier” notes that helping the people who spend time in them gets healthier, too.
With seven concepts incorporated into this standard, it is clear that all components effect well-being.
The seven components are as follows:
- Air
- Water
- Nourishment
- Light
- Fitness
- Comfort
- Mind
What Can You Do?
As a small business owner, you can use this as a guide for creating your own healthy environment in your office space.
Think about each component and see what you can do. Some may be more feasible and cost-effective, like installing a water cooler, rather than replacing all of your older carpets with environmental sound hard wood floors.
Some other viable options are things like:
- Provide a refrigerator so employees are encouraged to bring healthy snacks and lunches;
- Try to incorporate flexible hours so employees can get in an early morning workout and stay at the office a bit later, or if you have space, get a treadmill or some yoga mats;
- As far as comfort goes, respect your employees request for chairs with good lumbar support or desks of particular heights. Also, let them dress comfortably, but appropriately, maybe dress down when not with customers;
- As far as the mind goes, try to keep your office clutter-free, and well organized. Have regular meetings if you can, but keep them relevant, short and worthwhile. Treat your employees with value and respect, they in turn will show drive and productivity. All of these components will help the mind settle and stay focused.
Whether you are going for a WELL Building certification or not, there’s a lot you can do to make your small business location a work space that also provides a healthy mind and body for everyone there.
You may not be able to incorporate all of the WELL requirements, but the concept itself is one worth modifying to use in your workplace.
With consideration of your space and employees, you may be able to make some small changes that make a really big difference.
About the Author: Heather Legg is an independent writer who covers topics on small business, social media and general well-being.