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Wellness programs provide a variety of activities and resources designed to help employees better balance their work and home lives. Wellness encompasses all programs designed to assist employees with problems at or outside of work, which do not directly apply to the company’s business. These can include mental health services, counseling services, support groups, fitness facilities, smoking cessation classes, health screenings, and nutrition courses. They provide many benefits, including improving employee health, boosting energy, managing weight and stress, and giving a more positive mental outlook.
Healthy employees who feel well are safe employees because they can focus better on the job, the surroundings, and what they’re doing. Maintaining diet, physical fitness, and mental health helps employees feel good at work and at home.
Diet
A good diet is vital to personal wellness. Programs can encourage employees to eat a balanced diet, one that combines the right foods to provide all the vitamins, minerals, and protein their bodies need.
Healthful habits
Maintaining healthful eating habits can be difficult at work. The most common pitfalls to avoid include:
- Skipping breakfast,
- Morning doughnuts and coffee,
- Lunch at a fast food restaurant,
- Afternoon snack of a candy bar, and
- Eating late at night, especially for workers on second or third shifts.
Encourage employees to replace these bad eating habits with good ones, such as bringing snacks of fruit and vegetables to eat during breaks, and bringing a healthy lunch instead of going out for a high-fat meal.
Vitamins
Even if employees eat properly, they still may need to take dietary supplements in the form of vitamins or minerals. In fact, some vitamins and minerals may be helpful to counteract specific workplace hazards. For example, vitamins B6 and E help strengthen tendons and muscles, and may help resist illnesses such as carpal tunnel.
Water
Water is a key ingredient of personal wellness. Our bodies need water to:
- Process the nutrients we eat,
- Cleanse our bodies of toxins and impurities, and
- Replenish us after exercise of physical exertion.
Employees should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day.
Exercise
In addition to diet, exercise is the other major ingredient necessary for good physical health. Exercise boosts energy levels and mental capacity while reducing stress and the risk of disease. It also improves flexibility, sleep, and overall sense of well-being.
Exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous or overly time-consuming. Basic guidelines for good physical fitness include exercising for 30 minutes at least three times per week. This can include jogging, bicycling, swimming, or walking.
Employees beginning an exercise program should start slowly and increase the duration and intensity as they become more fit. Employees should consult a doctor if they have any health problems or if they’ve been inactive.
Tips to encourage employees to get started and stay with a program:
- Choose activities that are fun, not exhausting.
- Add variety. Don’t rely too much on one activity, but try several that you enjoy to prevent an exercise program from becoming boring or routine.
- Wear comfortable, properly fitted footwear and clothing that is appropriate for the weather and the activity.
- Find a convenient time and place. Try to make exercise a habit and part of a daily routine, but be flexible. Make up a missed session by working activity into a schedule in other ways, such as walking the dog or cleaning the house.
- Use music to provide entertainment.
- Involve co-workers and family.
Encourage employees to surround themselves with supportive people, and to decide what kind of encouragement they need to maintain an exercise regime. Do they want others to:
- Remind them to exercise?
- Ask about progress?
- Participate with them regularly or occasionally?
- Allow them time to exercise by themselves?
- Try not to ask them to change their exercise routine?
Employees should keep a record of their activities, and reward themselves at special milestones.
Mental health
Poor mental health can make it difficult to function in day-to-day work. Things such as stress, dependencies, and mental illness can also affect physical health and well-being.
Stress
Typically, an employee’s greatest source of stress is on the job. Stress is a physical or mental response to the pressures of an event or factors of living in general. Though generally regarded as negative, stress can be either a positive or negative experience.
During stress, the body releases hormones which accelerate breathing and heart rate, increase blood sugar levels, and improve blood clotting. This can be a good thing because it provides the energy and mental agility to get the job done.
If stress goes on for prolonged periods, however, the body can have adverse reactions. Medically, these conditions can occur:
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Cancer
- Breathing trouble
- High blood pressure
- Digestive disorders (i.e., ulcers)
Psychologically, employees can suffer from these conditions:
- Impatience and worry;
- Lack of self-confidence;
- Poor listening;
- Anger, frustration, and irritability; and
- Violence, alcohol, and drug abuse.
To compound matters, stress can lead to problems on the job:
- Lost priorities - Goals are often lost when employees are under stress. They tend to spend hours working on small details, and feel as if they aren’t getting enough done.
- Rushing - When the workload is heavy and deadlines are looming, employees push themselves and may take shortcuts.
- Competition - If employees don’t believe that co-workers have the same goals, they won’t cooperate, choosing to isolate themselves and begin doing other people’s tasks. They believe that if they don’t do it, the task won’t get done. Co-workers may respond with hurt feelings, and eventually this attitude can affect the company’s overall goals.
- Obsession with quantity of work - Stress can bring on a preoccupation with quantity or work or “numbers.” However, relying on numbers can cause problems because employees may assume that failure was a result of not working hard enough, or they may feel that their co-workers are not working hard enough.
- Anger - If allowed to build up over time, stress can lead to outbursts of anger over frustration regarding the circumstances of a work situation.
The first step in handling stress is watching for the warning signs. Encourage employees to become aware of when they’re under stress, or when something could trigger stress. The next step is to manage stress by:
- Taking breaks and learning to relax fully.
- Releasing stress with exercise.
- Maintaining proper rest and diet so they can deal with stressful situations.
- Practicing deep breathing to relax the body and mind.
- Managing time by setting priorities.
- Building self-confidence by analyzing strengths.
- Sharing work or asking for help.
- Sharing stress with others by talking to someone (family, co-workers, supervisors, counselors) about what’s on their mind.
- Limiting changes that can be overwhelming or that limit them from doing the things they enjoy.
- Avoiding medication or alcohol to temporarily eliminate stress.
- Laughing and crying to ease tension.
- Having fun by scheduling time for recreational activities with family and friends.
Dependencies
Drug and alcohol abuse problems can seriously take over a person’s life. The dependent person can lose sight of all other activities except obtaining more of the thing on which he or she is dependent.
This type of problem is very difficult to deal with because dependency can change the personality, reactions, and judgment of the person involved. It can also make them potentially dangerous in the workplace. Most dependent people need help to overcome their addiction.
Employees with such problems should be encouraged to seek help, even if they don’t recognize that they have a problem.
Mental illness
Mental illness may be difficult to recognize or deal with, but it is not an uncommon problem. Mental illnesses include a wide range of disorders, which can be mild to severe, depending on the individual. Many mental illnesses can be treated, and many of those afflicted can function normally in society.
Millions of people suffer from mental illnesses. Some common mental illnesses include:
- Depression
- Paranoia
- Schizophrenia
If you think an employee has a mental illness, encourage him or her to seek treatment. These problems almost never go away by themselves. Your company may offer help for these and similar problems through and Employee Assistance Program.