Are you paying attention to your employees’ health and fitness?
Your employees are one of your small business’ most important assets. After all, they take care of the day to day running of it, from providing products and services to dealing with customers.
Keeping your employees fit and healthy is better for them and better for your business.
Here are four reasons your small business needs fit, healthy employees, and what you can do to encourage that….
Less Sick Time
The obvious benefit of healthier employees is less sick time. That means less working hours lost and less money paid out in sickness benefits.
Less sick time is better for your employees, too.
Employees who feel good and get sick less are likely to be happier and more focused on the job at hand. Healthy employees are better placed to give their all.
Encourage your employees to look after their health by offering decent health benefits and eschewing the culture of “come to work no matter how sick you are.”
Employees who take a little time off when they need it will need less time off in the long run.
More Energy
Fit, healthy employees have better energy levels.
Regular exercise boosts energy and helps keep a person alert throughout the day.
Meantime, staying fit and healthy quite simply feels better. Your employees will be more energetic and have more of a spark.
More mental and physical energy means not only better job performance, but more capacity for generating new ideas and finding better ways to do things.
There are many ways to encourage your employees to stay fit.
You could provide gym membership benefits, start a lunchtime walking initiative, provide indoor or outdoor activity spaces, host an on-site yoga class or even put up maps of local walks.
Better Goal Setting
As the article, “Fitness Goal Setting” says, taking time to set proper goals is key to success with any fitness regime.
Keeping fit encourages dedication, focus, goal setting and commitment.
When you encourage your employees to keep fit, you’re helping to engender those qualities in them. The positives gained from healthy exercise will also become positives for your business.
Encourage healthy goal setting by offering fitness incentives, such as a small reward for taking part in a company fitness program, or offering benefits that can be redeemed against health and fitness related items and activities.
Less Stress
Exercise boosts endorphins and helps to lower stress.
Employees who are less stressed are likely to be happier at work, and more able to contribute positively to your team.
Reducing stress in the workplace equals better productivity as employees are more able to focus.
Less stress for your employees also equals a happier working environment.
A better atmosphere can lead to more team cohesion and a more positive and productive work environment all round.
As well as encouraging your employees to exercise regularly, why not make tackling stress part of your business culture?
You can hire a mobile massage therapist to treat your employees to a relaxing massage, or simply create quiet spaces where employees can go to recharge.
Keeping your employees fit and healthy is better for them, and better for you.
Encourage a workplace culture of fitness and healthiness. You’ll be investing in one of your most important assets.
About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a variety of topics including social media, how to build customer relationships, content marketing and how to keep your employees fit and healthy.