Aug 8, 2017
It is of crucial importance to maintain healthy working conditions for a smooth functioning of a business and carrying out the activities and tasks to be performed effectively. These days, where employees are stressed because of the burden of their work, rising prices, and family and peer pressure, it has become even more important to improve the working conditions not only for the betterment of the employees but also for the increased productivity of the firm.
Here are some tips on how to maintain healthy working conditions:
1.Maintaining Structural Consistency is necessary because employees generally feel less anxiety if they know what to expect day-to-day as often as possible. Don’t be afraid to shake things up from time to time, but a steady and reliable work environment can counteract stresses that employees feel at home.
2.Offer Community Engagement Opportunities, a great way to connect the dots between work time and out-of-work time is to offer community engagement activities that are meaningful and beneficial.
3.Create a positive workplace culture: The kind of culture you have affects your workers’ performance to a significant degree. An atmosphere where people feel comfortable, safe, and cared for leads to a healthy, thriving business. Remember that you need to lead by example so you can influence positive behaviors among your staff. Create situations where your employees can build strong friendships with their co-workers. This fosters a team atmosphere.
4.Create a Designated “Quiet Space”: Every employee has a bad day from time to time, so it’s nice to have a space for employees to go to when they just need to step away for a moment. Create a designed quiet space in your office where employees can take a mental break when they need to. This space should be uncluttered and free of all company materials. Instead, filling it with luscious plants and flowers, comfortable seating, some light reading material, and perhaps some soft music to distract the employees and help them provide piece of mind.
5.Encourage healthy snacking: Employees in general often take snacking for granted by choosing the wrong foods. Processed carbohydrates are often the choice of many since they find them more palatable, comforting, and tasty. However, the pleasurable experience of eating poor quality snacks is only temporary. It won’t be long until a person experiences mood swings and sluggishness. The reason for this is that refined carbohydrates can cause unstable blood sugar levels which lead to more unnecessary cravings.
6.Provide good health coverage for all employees, even part-time – Ask your employees what they would like to see improve about their health and life insurance coverage, and act on it. Take your employees’ health and wellness seriously, and they will return the respect.
7.Allow Schedule Flexibility: Not every business is well-suited for a virtual workforce, so don’t compromise the productivity of your company if you need your employees to arrive at work in-person. However, it is another thing entirely to give your employees the option to work remotely when they really need to because of an emergency that requires them to make up time later.
8.Encourage Vacations: Many companies stick to the old standard of two weeks of vacation per year, but studies and surveys have shown that 14 days off per 365 days in the year simply isn’t enough to achieve a work-life balance. Employees who work at small companies and growing start-ups often feel the most pressure to work every day without regard to personal time and self-rejuvenation.
9.Identify workplace distractions that ruin your productivity at work: In a busy work environment, there are a lot of factors that negatively affect an employee’s productivity levels. A common distraction that we are all too familiar with is noise. Sources of noise include chatty co-workers, keyboard typing sounds, and office machinery. Although we’ve been used to noise, little do we know that these do more harm than we think it does to our work.
10.Encourage Short Breaks Throughout the Day: On a smaller scale, it’s important to workers’ mental and physical health to take frequent breaks throughout the day. The human body was not designed to sit still and stare at a screen for eight hours, and doing so can lead to a wide variety of health issues. Taking breaks at work also makes employees better at their jobs because they are more focused, less burned out, and more productive in the long-term.
11.Be a Good Model for Balance: No one likes to take life advice from a hypocrite, so make sure that your words and actions are in line. If managers in your company are responding to emails while on vacation, it sends a message to employees that they are expected to do so as well. Be sure to respect the balance and privacy of your employees and avoid contacting them after normal work hours unless it is an absolute emergency.
By making a deliberate effort to promote health in your corporate environment, you are creating a win-win situation for everyone. You are doing your staff and your company a favor by choosing health. When employees feel good, they can perform much better. This creates a sustainable business you can be proud of.