Blogging yesterday about the benefits of making workplaces healthier and the impact that has on the corporate bottom line as well as the...erm, employee bottom line is nothing new to me. It's what I do in my day job but it's always great to see the message being spread elsewhere too. I read this article last night and it completely backs up everything I wrote in my post.
More and more companies, both large and small are finally realising that they need to address the problem of their staff health. Its fine to expect staff to work hard and deliver for you but that can come at some cost if they feel burnt out and stressed. So much absenteeism is as the result of musculo-skeletal damage and stress from working in highly pressured environments and sometimes dysfunctional atmospheres. This can be addressed in different ways depending on the exact needs of that company. For example, some of the clients we work with in highly pressurised industries have wanted us to teach their employees how to relax & focus their minds during the day and unwind after work (yoga/relaxation sessions). Others have opted for a broader approach to health and wellbeing in their workplace and we've run nutrition workshops and food diary analysis alongside group fitness courses which help their staff eat and feel better. This always raises energy levels and morale but staff loyalty increases too and so staff turnover drops.
Read the article if you get a moment but this particular comment I felt was worth mentioning.
Ben Wilmott from Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says"Employers shouldn't try to get into the leisure industry, it is about communicating the message and providing opportunities."
This is absolutely right - workplaces are for working but without offering an opportunity for staff to recharge and unwind, productivity will only ever decline.
Photograph by meyshanworld (Flickr)
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