Business leaders worldwide have emphasized the importance of a healthy workplace and how it affects employee motivation. There are notable improvements in Human Resource procedures and plans by implementing minor changes to encourage employee satisfaction and motivation.
A healthy workplace is an indicator of commendable revenue and returns on investment. However, neglecting the importance of a healthy workplace leads to high labor turnover, which is expensive for the company and affects its overall image.
Research proves that ensuring a healthy workplace helps retain essential employees and attracts better talent. A healthy workplace encourages productivity, reduces wastage of resources, and allows employees to become market leaders.
Following are some of the ways companies can bring a healthier workplace for their employees.
Encouraging a Good Work-Life Balance
Understanding that your employees have a life other than their work is the first step towards finding a good work-life balance. A good working environment can only exist if your staff members are well-rested and have healthy habits. You could do this by allowing flexible hours to your workers whenever possible, along with paid maternity/paternity leaves.
Living through a pandemic, you must take all necessary measures to ensure cleanliness at all times and instill a work-from-home policy. If there are still people present at the office, installing a well-stocked fridge or a wending machine will help keep workers happy.
Allowing your employees to take breaks after every 3 hours helps prevent laziness, which encourages them to work harder and be more productive in their tasks.
Allow Meditation Time
Several businesses have benefitted from facilitating meditation for employees in their firms and allowing separate time for them to wind down. Having some quiet time to self-evaluate helps employees be calmer during stressful work hours.
It is a known fact that business activities can pressure human minds, which is unhealthy, and realizing it before you lose essential and valuable employees is critical. Meditation allows the mind to relax, which is like restarting the brain and enabling cognition – this, in the long run, helps resolve complicated problems and take meaningful decisions to help overcome challenges.
Growing businesses require employees to have an excellent memory. Since stressful situations can cause the human brain to be forgetful, meditation is a perfect way to enhance memory and retain information. Overall, it is a healthy habit that your employees can engage in, and in groups, it is even better.
Go Green
Green is the color of creativity and energy, and these are significant indicators of a healthy workplace. Going green means instilling environmentally friendly practices throughout your organization. You can start simply by adding a few indoor plants. Plants do a great job at purifying the air and making office rooms more breathable, providing employees a feeling of calm and tranquillity.
Greenery reduces the likelihood of your employees falling ill due to germs and infections that can spread through trapped air. It is a scientifically proven fact that plants and a good view help uplift the mood and keep the employees happier, leading to better productivity and low absenteeism.
A greener workplace also means defining smoking areas and limiting the use of plastic – which are healthy habits that improve the health of your employees and increase efficiency in their work.
Improve Desks and Workstation
People working long hours in enclosed spaces tend to get sick and tired soon, and one of the primary reasons behind that is that they have to sit for too long. A healthy solution to this is installing standing desks, an innovative workstation idea that allows workers to move their desks around and fix them to a height of their choice.
Standing desks allow employees to work while standing, and if they feel like they need a break, they can sit too, since the desks are adjustable. This trick comes in handy in organizations that require lots of typing or writing work since these jobs tire out the muscles too soon.
It gets better because standing desks are cost-effective and keep employees active, increasing their efficiency and productivity. If you look at it in the long run, these expenses and changes benefit the company itself.
Recognize and Reinforce
Giving your team a safe and healthy workplace also includes recognizing and appreciating their work. Many workers find themselves stuck in a toxic work relationship with their company because they feel their work isn’t appreciated.
Showing zero appreciation towards employees leads them to have a negative attitude towards the company. It lowers productivity and increases the labor turnover rate, which is expensive and adverse for its reputation.
If you’re a manager or an owner, remember that it is your responsibility to recognize your team’s efforts and motivate them accordingly. You could praise their work in front of their colleagues or give them a small badge to appreciate their efforts. This act of kindness boosts their self-esteem and makes them more inclined to work harder.
Conclusion
It is essential to keep your workplace happy and healthy, and a considerable part of it depends upon the relation your employees have with each other. Remember to negate unnecessary competition in your organization, reduce politics and invest in your HRM department to improve labor policies. All of this will help you build a healthy workplace.