Many benefits flow from healthy workplaces for both employees and employers including higher morale, increased productivity and simply happier staff. It certainly pays to invest in promoting a healthy workplace and we present a few simple ideas to consider.

A clean and comfortable workspace

Whether you operate a factory, warehouse or office, a clean, organised and clutter-free workplace will likely produce more productive staff. Lighting and temperature control must be appropriate for the type of work activities. Equipment and furniture must be safe and comfortable. Be sure to have a cleaning roster in place if you do not have a regular cleaner and consider a kitchen/lunchroom cleaning roster as this is an area that gets utilised frequently and all day long. Providing a clean and comfortable work environment shows you care about your staff’s wellbeing and in turn can boost productivity.

Work/life balance

Have a good look at your business’ culture – are staff expected to work significant overtime or through lunch breaks? It is one good indicator of your business’ attitude to work/life balance. Look at your staff turnover rate. Is it higher than your industry standard and if so, why? Set some standards that might encourage a better work/life balance like: limit access to email communications while on leave, impose an end of day limit on after-hours business communications such as emails, phone calls and texts.

Promote healthy activities

The essence of a healthy workplace is healthy employees. Whilst not for everyone, try offering healthy snack alternatives and support lunchtime walking or running groups. There may be a local gym who would like to team up by offering discounts to your staff or run in-house training sessions. Make subtle changes to your business’ culture by scheduling meetings away from your premises and possibly even walking meetings.

Support mental health

Statistics tell us that 15 – 30% of employees will experience mental health issues which may result in stress, burnout, fatigue and illness. A healthy workplace must be all encompassing, supporting every aspect of health including: emotional, mental, physical and spiritual. Mental health is every bit as important as physical health. Improve your business’ attitude to mental health issues by reinforcing positive attitudes to mental health, act on bullying and discrimination, run information and awareness sessions.