8 Employee Wellness Ideas That Would Actually Work

culled from:jobs.aol.com

1. Provide easy access to healthy meals and snacks. Offices are often well-stocked with candy and chips, with a steady stream of cake and other sugary foods for birthdays and other celebrations. People tend to eat those foods because they're there, but many employees would be delighted to instead have a regular supply of fresh fruit or other healthy snacks. Employers could even arrange weekly fruit deliveries for employees to share or set up arrangements with local restaurants to make healthy soups and salads available at lunchtime.

2. Make it easier for people to exercise. Employers that really want to promote employee wellness could offer standing desks to anyone who wants one. Or they could install showers so employees who bike to work or exercise at lunch have a place to freshen up.

3. Stop the weight-loss competitions. Too often, companies focus on weight loss when they address wellness. Some go so far as to host weight-loss competitions, in which employees or teams compete to see who can lose the most weight. This can be hugely problematic, since not everyone needs to lose weight. Plus, some employees may struggle with eating disorders and would be harmed by this kind of competition. And, of course, weight is a poor substitute for addressing health issues such as cholesterol, high blood pressure and overall nutrition.

4. Offer great health insurance. Workplace wellness initiatives aren't going to ring true if an organization isn't doing its most basic part to promote employee health: offering excellent health insurance benefits. That's the first place employers interested in wellness should look. Do their plans offer free or low-cost preventative care? Do the lower the barriers for doctor's visits and medical attention? If not, the rest of their wellness efforts are unlikely to matter.

5. Discourage people from coming to work sick. Too often, companies say they want sick employees to stay home, but then subtly (or not so subtly) discourage people from using sick time. Managers should be clear with employees that they should be at home taking care of themselves when they're sick, not spreading germs to co-workers at work. Employers should also set an example by heading home themselves when they're sick, because no matter what the official company policy says, people are likely to take their cues from their managers for these cases.

6. Stop requiring doctors' notes for sick employees. Companies also should drop policies that require doctors' notes to use after a certain amount of sick time. It's insulting to employees when they're forced to go to the doctor when they have a cold or flu so they can get a note. This policy drives up health care costs by pushing people into medical offices when they just need rest and over-the-counter medicine, and it encourages people to come to work sick, since that's often easier than getting a medical appointment on short notice.

7. Provide reasonable amounts of paid sick time. Companies that don't provide paid sick time to employees can expect to have many workers come to work sick, thus infecting other workers, who in turn will also show up sick. No company that wants employees to take wellness initiatives seriously can afford to not offer sick leave.

8. Encourage people to actually use their vacation time. Too many American workers don't use all the vacation time they earn, either because they can't get the time off approved or because their managers and workplace culture signal that they would be seen as a slacker if they take time off. Vacation time helps people de-stress and relax, and that's a health measure employers have real control over.