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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.
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.
Maintaining healthful eating habits can be difficult at work. The most common pitfalls to avoid include:
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.
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 is a key ingredient of personal wellness. Our bodies need water to:
Employees should drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day.
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:
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:
Employees should keep a record of their activities, and reward themselves at special milestones.
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.
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:
Psychologically, employees can suffer from these conditions:
To compound matters, stress can lead to problems on the job:
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:
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 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:
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.