Wellness in the Workplace - 1 of 14 Tips

After a recent Divisional Review meeting, we challenged each other to think of ways to more actively introduce wellness (a holistic approach, not just diet and exercise) to our business. I found 14 potential methods, and I’m posting each one on LinkedIn for us (and you) to think about.

#1 – On-Site Fitness Programmes

Immediately you think that this is the realm of Google and other huge international blue-chip companies, but all solutions are scalable. For the larger companies it could mean the creation of a bespoke facility, but for small and medium sized businesses, the solution might be less expensive. So what might these solutions be?

Walking Route – Pre-planned walking routes which might take 30 minutes to an hour. Using some of the commonly used phone apps (MapMyFitness, Strava, etc.) you can create exercise or walking routes starting and ending at your office’s front door. State the distance and create a league table of best times, times completed, etc.

Cycling Facilities – Making the statement that “You are encouraged to cycle to work” and some simple adaptations like providing space for secure bicycle storage may be the first simple steps to enabling people to cycle to and from work.

Shower Facilities – possibly the greatest impact. The conversation (and potential upgrade) of one or more of the toilets into a shower/changing room enables staff to combine their commute to work or lunch hour with some high value exercise, not matter the weather.

Recreational Room – Can a space be set over for an in-office gym. The provision of simple equipment like a running machines, static bike, yoga mats, Swiss ball, etc. affords people the choice of what to do. Do you have someone in your business who takes a yoga class? Could you employ this person to offer a class every week? Could someone outside of your organisation be employed to do this?

Dietary & Healthy Cooking Classes – We all love food and talking about food. Our television schedules are full of cooking and baking shows. Why not get a dietitian to run a series of cooking classes and publish a series of recipes which make for healthy lunchtime bring-to-work meals? Publish healthy recipes and dietary tips on your Intranet page. Use the power of social media to share people’s successes and images of their beautiful fresh healthy lunches.

Inspirational Talks – Think of the TEDTalk programme and how effective other peoples stories have been in changing the way people think about issues, life styles, opinions, mind-sets. Invite people into your business to talk to your teams about the successes they’ve had in turning their lifestyle around and achieving wonderful things.

Example – “Lead by Example” like all other behaviours, get your senior leadership team to consider the way that the staff see them approaching fitness and diet.

What I’ve learned about Fitness Programmes in the Work Place is this. If you are business with 50 employees, they can’t realistically expect you to build a gym and swimming pool at your premises. But think “reasonable and practicable” and create an offering which adds value to their employment at your company. Make it a bit of fun, and allow people the time to participate and try out new things.

Take a look through my other LinkedIn posts for the other things I discovered.