Offices around the country are plagued by presenteeism, where people are physically at work but not productive. Poor health is a significant contributing factor to this, contributing to the $3,900 that each employee cost American businesses in 2019.
Despite the prevalence of presenteeism, it’s often overlooked because many indicators of poor health are now seen as normal. After all, who doesn’t shuffle into the office, yawning and bleary-eyed in the morning? Who doesn’t have an energy slump in the afternoon? Who doesn’t visit the coffee pot and vending machine for a pick-me-up throughout the day?
These energy drinks and chocolates may offer temporary relief, but longer term they’re making the problem worse. The energy boost they provide disappears quickly, leading to a ‘crash’ that sends the person rushing back for another energy fix. Due to the overstimulation, they struggle to get a full night’s sleep, setting them up to repeat the cycle the next day.
To break this cycle, the underlying issue needs to be addressed.
By promoting heart health in the workplace, you can provide your employees with the education needed to make healthy choices in the office and at home, resulting in natural energy, mental clarity and renewed motivation.
Workplace health is not just about decreasing sick days, but also improving the productivity of your workplace. In 2019, illness-related absences and lost productivity cost American businesses more than $500 billion. In this article I’m going to share some ways you can promote heart health at work.
Ideas for improving workplace health
A typical American workday looks like this:
Wake up, eat cereal, sit in the car to commute, sit at a desk under artificial lighting, sit in meetings, sit for lunch, then sit in the car back home again. All the while under artificial lights drinking coffee and sodas and eating fast food or snacks throughout the day.
This isn’t promoting health. In fact, it’s destroying it. But it doesn’t have to be this way; it’s straightforward to promote healthier habits and simultaneously boost happiness and productivity.
1. Encourage walking
It’s not always feasible for people to walk to work, but as walking is an easy and effective way of promoting heart health it should be a priority throughout the day. Exercise is incredibly important when it comes to heart disease prevention, as it strengthens your heart and improves the entire cardiovascular system. Plus, studies have shown that walking positively impacts creative productivity. Here are easy ways to encourage walking in your workplace:
- Offer incentives for walking or cycling to work
- Create walking or running clubs during lunch or after work
- Implement walking meetings
2. Reduce stress
The modern workplace can be stressful, and stress can be a significant factor in heart-related illnesses. While it may not be possible to eliminate work-related stress, striving to reduce it will improve workplace health. There are many ways of doing this but ultimately it comes down to hearing staff, respecting their time and work-life balance, and recognizing the need for downtime and restoration.
Some examples include:
- Quarterly Massages
- Mental health support
- Flexible working hours
- Encourage employees to talk about any issues
- Don’t contact employees outside of working hours, including emails
- Create a positive environment where staff feel heard and appreciated
3. Promote healthy options
It might sound obvious, but simply offering healthy options is a quick and effective way to promote workplace health.
I’ve already mentioned walking, but you could also consider:
- Lunchtime or after work exercise classes
- Subsidized gym memberships
- Healthier options in the vending machines, offering snacks like fruit, nuts, and jerky
- Alcohol-free social events. Alcohol is fine in moderation but if you find that all your socializing or work outings involve alcohol, it’s a good idea to consider other entertainment options.
Educate with heart health training
Promoting heart health in the workplace is important and can go a long way to boosting productivity and helping employees become healthier.
But most of the changes are only effective during working hours. That’s why I also suggest business leaders provide heart health training as well. This educates the team on what metabolic health is, what simple decisions they can make to reach their desired weight, feel great, and significantly reduce their risk of heart disease.
Best of all, this education empowers people; they’ll be able to lead by example and help their friends and family make improved decisions too.
As a metabolic health coach, businesses around the country hire me to train their staff and boost their health, happiness, and productivity.