Wellness shouldn’t have to be a luxury for that young adult who is just out of college, looking to thrive in his career and make a living out of his talent and passion. It shouldn’t be a luxury for that Millennial who’s a new parent and trying to balance their new way of living with their job, and neither should it be for that long-term employee or even business associate who is in love with his job. Wellness should be the norm and the bare minimum that every company should aspire to.
Yes, wellness is a shared responsibility with every individual, too… but as a company, we need to be sure that we are playing our part in the best possible manner. We want our people to be happy and healthy, genuinely care about their well-being, and want to impact their lives positively. If those affirmations are true to your company, you are already halfway there and have everything on your side to get there.
You need to remember that employees today are looking for a new kind of job, a new style of workplace, and a new way to improve their well-being, maintain their lifestyle, and integrate that with their jobs. People want to work at a place willing to adapt and create spaces for wellness. And much more the new generations entering the workforce.
As the older generation (who was raised to understand and appreciate the hustle) retires, the younger generation (who saw that in their parents) is trying to avoid that burn-out by prioritizing other things, such as having a better balance between work and life and putting their health first, both physical and mental, for equals.
So, investing the time and energy in creating a culture of wellness in your company is a win-win strategy. You can attract the top talent in your company’s area of expertise who wants to commit to a company that cares, and you can make sure that those talented people stay healthy and develop a sense of belonging and loyalty to your company that is looking after them.
But what can you do as a company to foster this wellness culture… There are some dimensions to cover, so let’s break it down. If we try to understand the whole picture, we might get caught up in the complexity of the construction of wellness. To make it digestible, it can be synthesized as Pfizer’s definition says, “the act of practicing healthy habits daily to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you’re thriving.”
For physical wellness
When thinking about having good physical health, there are a few things that could come to mind, but some of those that your company could attend more to create that very much-needed wellness culture are:
Nutrition
We can start by thinking about one of the activities we do at work at least once on a regular day. Eating at work is an almost unavoidable task that can quickly improve your general health or be detrimental to it. Some people like to prep meals on the weekends and cook healthy meals to bring to work during the week. Some others don’t have the time, discipline, or motivation to cook a whole week of meals on two days and prefer ordering in or going out to eat on the days they can’t cook.
We all know how important nutrition is for our health and overall well-being, but are your teams truly aware of those facts? When we are young and have a Superman complex, one might think that having an Oreo and some coffee for lunch is okay and won’t significantly impact our health, but how often does that happen? How do you feel after a long day? Do you usually get tired?
Your role as a company is to provide options and raise awareness. It would be best if you encouraged your employees to make healthy choices. And why not raise awareness of the importance of good nutrition? You can start by filling the office kitchen with more nutritious options. It’s not like you will eliminate the coffee machine or the sodas in the fridge.
But hey, you can bring some different-flavored tea bags or any other healthier beverage. Are they hydrating? Are you offering them a good water supply? You can try to have a graphic reminder on your board or just let them know it is there.
Regarding snacks, what options do your employees have at the office or nearby? How about putting some granola bars in the kitchen? Maybe a fruit bowl can be attractive for them. By decreasing the number of sweets and greasy options and increasing the number of healthy ones, you’ll be sending the message that they should make the healthy choice.
But what matters most is that they get to have a choice. Encourage them to rest and give themselves the time to stop eating since skipping their lunch break won’t pay off. Providing the spaces and promoting healthy choices is the wellness starter pack for your company.
Exercises
Healthy bodies are not solely achieved by having good nutrition. You can eat as the nutritionist said, but you won’t be at your optimal state if you don’t do any form of physical activity. This is more common than one might think, people choosing to eat healthy food but maintaining an inactive way of living, which in the end could be like getting brand new strings for a guitar that stays in a dusty corner in your room; the strings (the food you eat) can be excellent quality, but if you try to play it, the dust (the lack of physical exercise) won’t let it sound to its fullest potential. You have got to clean that guitar and tune it in.
You may be wondering how that relates to my company. Is there anything that could be done at the workplace to help? What role does my company play in all of that? For starters, think about your employees… How many of them spend the day in front of a screen? Are they working at a desk with little to no movement for long periods? Just think about how you contribute to that sedentary lifestyle and how you can improve their wellness in that area.
It is not only about comfortable chairs and an adequate desk height. Certainly, occupational health and safety are essential to consider since they are the first line of action when taking care of your employees. All those aspects can increase their quality of life since using a mousepad could prevent severe issues like carpal tunnel. But after we have that covered, let’s take it further…
Incorporating exercise during a long day of work can be a challenge. But once again, it is possible to foster those spaces. You could try to create regular workout sessions with a trainer for the people at your company so they can sign up and spend time with their teammates while changing their routines and doing something new.
At Freelance Latin America, we offer a monthly online training session so our freelancers can virtually gather from wherever they are and train with a fitness coach. This promotes their physical wellness, sends the message that it is something to pay attention to, and encourages them to take care of it.
Some other things you could do for your teams include showing them different exercises they can do at their desks, like stretches, leg lifts, and more. You can put together a little presentation or document with all the info about how they can incorporate active pauses into their work routines and send it to them via email or mention it during a meeting.
But let them know that it will benefit them and that it is not that hard if they do it daily. You could encourage healthy competition within teams and award the one that accumulates the most steps through the week or jogs the most miles, whatever might be realistic and motivating for your teams.
For mental well-being
Caring about physical health can directly impact mental health, and so is true the other way around. Your energy can be drained pretty fast for an emotional problem. Conflicts and tension at the office can also interfere with your work and personal life.
So, what should you do to preserve your team’s mental wellness, and how can you make that happen? If we try to condense it into smaller parts, we could find different ways to reduce stress and anxiety, maintain healthy relationships, or maintain a good and sustainable work experience.
For starters, what about promoting healthy boundaries? Sure, we need to keep delivering high-quality work and be as efficient as possible, but can Nancy stay so many extra hours at the office to recheck the details of next week’s project? Respecting their time and boundaries also creates efficient teams.
If you work by goals and they organize their own time, then your part as the company is to ask for things with humanly possible time frames to achieve, and so on. You want them to do their best, so they must be at their best. So, why don’t you play a role in helping them create a routine that includes time for themselves and their personal lives? Whether they are integrators or segmenters, you need to help out by having them respect their time to themselves.
And what about cooperation? You can make miracles by investing in a good HR team that creates workshops to improve team dynamics. Fostering cooperative teams that support and complement each other is a way to ensure high-quality results, constant growth for your team, and healthy relationships between them.
You can create the space for group dynamics to strengthen it or create opportunities for cooperative competition. But always remember that Team means Together, and everyone achieves more; at least, that is true for us.
Another vital point is socialization and communication. Maintaining human interaction is critical to preserving mental health, and since remote work is becoming the standard practice, socialization has been limited. So, create the spaces for it to happen. People who know each other can work together as a real team.
At Freelance Latin America, we have our freelancer of the month ceremonies and clubs where freelancers can bond with others who share their interests. Two people who like to read or watch movies could form a reading club. They could improve their relationship by saying more than a hi on the stairs and spending more time getting to know their friends from work.
Caring about psychological safety and overall trust makes any workspace a healthier one. Imagine your team feels comfortable sharing ideas, asking for feedback, and giving suggestions to improve. This is not utopic; it could be your company’s reality if you are willing to put in the effort. Achieving that is not a piece of cake, but honesty and transparency are solid first steps.
We want resilient teams, and we are sure that the key to resilience is recharging, so why don’t we create some spaces to improve and promote that our employees rest and take care of themselves? Having places to unplug, take some fresh air, and relax for a second is an essential part of recharging and a small thing that can make a big difference.
This can be a lot to take in and do all at once, but creating a workplace culture of wellness will make all the effort worth it. Finding a place to start doesn’t have to be complicated; your teams can help you find it if you ask them the right questions to determine where improvements can be made and where action needs to be taken.
You have to listen to the need and get to work towards meeting that need. Valuing health and wellness is valuing life. Being a company that cares about building a wellness culture ensures a long, complete, and productive life because preserving health makes the work sustainable… We know working hard gets nowhere if it is not sustainable, so we prefer working smart. And tell us, what are you waiting to do that, too?
See more articles by Laura Navarro.
