In today’s “always on” culture, employees are stressed, burned out and disengaged.
And there’s data to back this up. Recent stats gathered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that only 1/3 adults achieve the recommended amount of physical activity each week, and more than 80% of adults don’t meet the guideline for cardio and muscle-strengthening activities.
It’s not a new idea that exercise can help reverse and prevent mental and physical ailments, but many workplaces are upping the ante in their benefits offerings to try and address growing workplace issues.
In fact, many companies are making it easier for employees to exercise by providing gym memberships, on-site exercise facilities and group classes. Some even pay employees to exercise.
These initiatives illustrate how the trend of improving the overall health and well-being of employees is top of mind for many. Offering well-being perks can greatly improve your employees’ mental and physical health.
With so many obvious benefits, it’s important for HR professionals to think about offering well-being benefits or, if they already do, to properly and frequently communicate these benefits to employees.
And it doesn’t stop there.
In order for employees to feel comfortable taking advantage of and actually using these benefits, leaders should think about how they’re creating a workplace culture that supports employee well-being. Flexibility and letting employees know it’s ok to take a 30-minute gym break during lunch can help increase benefit utilization. Even if you don’t have an onsite gym, leaders can encourage their employees to take walking breaks, encourage walking meetings and even do group workouts together off-site to improve teamwork and morale.
There are so many ways organizations can help support employees’ well-being. By being mindful of creating a workplace culture that supports health and providing many different options employees can use to improve their well-being, organizations can help reverse and improve mental and physical issues may be hindering performance.
Start today! Check out my video about cardio vs strength workouts and share it with your employees. It explains the benefits of both and how you can encourage your employees to work smarter, not harder in the gym for better results.
If you want to learn more about how employees are feeling at work and how to help, check out our e-book below.