Being Healthy at the 9 to 5

If you're a CEO you're looking for ways to get maximum productivity for minimal price. It's hard to do that if people are calling in sick often; or even during those pivotal season shifts when the flu and colds seem more common than specials at your favorite fast-food place. Depending on the size of your company and the construction of the workspace there are a number of ways to create a healthy working environment for you and your employees. I've thought of a few that I'll list below:

1. Institute scavenger hunts at work. If your space can accommodate this, this would be a fun way to not only promote health and wellness but just have some fun at work! If you have a workspace of multiple floors this could really get interesting! Make it fun, incorporate teams, even go outside if you have the manpower to organize it. Couldn't you imagine most of your office looking for specific items strategically, and possibly running throughout the office like children looking for Easter eggs? Fun!

2. Have seasonal flu shot or vaccination days at work. Save your employees the hassle of booking an appointment with their doctor weeks out or even going to the local establishment to get a shot or vaccination by having them in the office on certain days. Having professional staff who can handle this may cost you a little up front, but you'll save a lot more on the back end by having people available to work especially if your company has high seasons and all hands need to be on deck.

3. Health club memberships as an employee perk or benefit. If your office doesn't have one already, then consider providing free (or discounted) health club memberships for your employees and their family. Yes, the family too! People are more inclined to join a health club when they don't have to pay anything. Some people may not have the accommodations to house gym-like exercise apparatus so the only way to do certain exercises would be to join a health club. A fit employee is an employee that is able to work more days than miss.

4. Employ an EXCELLENT janitorial staff. This is an area that is often overlooked. If you have a staff that can clean and purify the air and make sure surfaces are sanitized, you'll eliminate more germs and sicknesses than from those who just do surface stuff. A good janitorial staff is just as important as the people who are doing the actual work of the company. Those who take care of the building, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the closets, workspaces, cubicles - those are the ones who have the major assist in making sure people stay healthy. Clean environments help keep things away from people that cause sickness. Sure, there are plenty of other reasons people aren't healthy or aren't well, but if you can eliminate airborne stuff or the "invisible" stuff that causes sickness you're a step ahead of the game.

5. Offer filtered/purified water at work. This can be a simple fix. If you don't already have a refrigerator that has a purified water outlet, invest in one. Or invest in one for your sink where people can drink clean fresh water. If neither of those are options, consider a water delivery service such as Hinckley Springs, Ice Mountain, Culligan, etc. We need to drink water anyway throughout the day, let it be purified water if at all possible.

6. All-company meetings dealing with health/wellness. People are ignorant without knowledge. Some people just don't know what it takes to keep themselves healthy for a number of reasons. Be a company that's concerned about the health and wellness of your employees. Offer workshops that encourage it and explain it in a way they can understand.

7. Establish a health and wellness group at work. Perhaps have a focus group at work who researches information and comes up with strategic ways to keep people in the company healthy. Give them license to come up with creative ways to infuse people with resources they need to do their jobs better and stay healthy.

8. On-site nursing staff and pharmacy. This would be major if you could have it in your company. I couldn't think of anything more valuable than having people ON-SITE that help with sickness, injuries, ailments and the like. I'm not saying have a hospital as a wing of your workspace, but have certified people who can diagnose a situation and then offer medication or antibiotics or whatever as needed. It'll save on emergency room costs for your employee, possibly time off-work for you, the employer.

9. Dedicate a space in your workplace for sleeping/napping. Sometimes lack in productivity is simply due to the fact that people are bone-tired! They come to work sleepy and then leave sleepier and haven't been very productive at all. This makes for a stressful environment. I'd suggest (if you can) have a room or two with couches that people can reserve and take power naps. A half hour of sleep on the job may save four or five hours of drowsiness trying to stay awake and being only half as productive as you can be.

10. Replace vending machine items such as pops, chips, and candy with healthier items such as fruit bars, teas, and yogurt. Vending machine items are full of junk usually. Whether it is sugary carbonated beverages, or bags of snacks with saturated fat and calories, they're usually the quick fix to a greater need - real food. Imagine if you replaced those things with healthier canteen options. Those snack-times could actually charge your employee instead of setting them up for a crash later.