Workplace Wellness
Tips for Small
Businesses

As a small business owner, it’s easy to understand that the health and wellness of your employees should never be taken for granted. However, while health insurance alone can provide small business employees with a sense of financial security, there’s still more that business owners can do to foster a healthy and productive work environment.

Wellness, in short, refers to the well-being of an individual as the result of their combined mental, emotional, social and physical health. An individual’s work-life balance, mental state and level of satisfaction with their job all factor into overall wellness. As you can imagine, companies that strive to improve employee wellness may see increased productivity and a more supportive work environment.

With this in mind, what can small business owners do to improve employee wellness and create an environment where employees thrive?

1. Promote Healthy Lifestyle Choices Around the Office

Catering to your employees’ physical health while on-site is an excellent first step towards creating a wellness-forward workplace. Try implementing the following changes:

• Provide Health-Conscious Snacks: Offering snacks like fruit, nuts or other low-calorie and low-sugar alternatives can help your employees fuel their working hours without any crashes or digestive complications.
• Implement Wellness-Focused Screenings: Health-related screenings such as physicals, blood tests and vaccinations can give your employees the opportunity to monitor and maintain their health without the need to take time off for a commute to their physician’s office.
• Support Health-Focused Activities and Fundraisers: Workplace fitness challenges and fundraisers (such as 5k or marathon signups) can go a long way towards keeping your employees in peak physical shape in and out of the office without taking time away from their daily responsibilities.

2. Treat Employees with Professionalism and Respect

It may sound cliché, but treating your employees with respect and care on a daily basis enforces the most basic aspects of a wellness-focused workplace. A healthy, professional and respectful relationship between employers and employees doesn’t just mean smiling and saying “hello” each morning; to keep your employees’ mental and social well-being at the forefront, you will need to reinforce a supportive environment that pushes everyone to thrive while respecting each person’s boundaries.

While benefits and compensation ensure that employees can sustain themselves outside of your office walls, the dignity and comradery of healthy interpersonal relationships ensures that their days are filled with encouragement and companionship, pushing them to be the best versions of themselves.

3. Provide Creative Breaks Throughout the Day

When it comes time to step away from your workspace and stretch your legs for a few minutes, there’s plenty that can be done instead of just staring out the nearest window. Turning breaks into opportunities to promote communal wellness doesn’t have to distract from your daily workload or break your budget. Instead, consider taking a breather with your employees with some of the following suggestions:

• Trivia and Games: Short breaks in the afternoon or after a long stretch of meetings can be made more fun with a round of online trivia. Gather your employees and crowdsource answers to all sorts of questions, from sports to pop culture to literature and everything in between.
• Expand Your Beverage Options: Setting up a coffee or tea station in your kitchen or near the water cooler can give employees a place to congregate and chat throughout the day, promoting social wellness and enriching their beverage options in one fell swoop.
• Enjoy the Outdoors: If your office is located near a park or forest preserve, try organizing post-lunch walks to avoid the usual afternoon sluggishness. If you work in a building with common spaces and other amenities, make use of these new areas to change up your surroundings.

4. Organize Health-Conscious Team Outings

Wellness-conscious team outings are an excellent opportunity to get to know colleagues and employees better outside of the office and promote their well-being through productive, exciting excursions.

There are many ways that business owners can organize these outings with their employees, from community service projects or companywide bike rides to post-work nature walks or wellness retreats focusing on meditation, mindfulness and relaxation after a long week of work. Just remember to plan any outings well in advance and schedule them during times that will not detract from their workload or cause any undue stress.

5. Implement In-Person Wellness Classes

You don’t always need to leave the office to give your employees an escape. In-person wellness classes and workshops can serve as an oasis of reflection and recuperation in the middle of a stressful week, transforming the office into a space for more than just work.

Yoga, meditation, therapy dog visits or even simple breathing exercises can let your employees know that you have their best interests and health in mind, even when the stressors of a busy work week start to pile up. For more individualized wellness solutions, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) can give your employees the opportunity to address more specific or serious concerns related to their overall well-being.

Conclusion

To holistically promote wellness in the workplace, small business owners need to successfully intertwine growth strategies with employee health and well-being by following the five tips above. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to improving the mental, emotional, social and physical health of your employees all at once, the strategies above can help small business owners more effectively cater to the needs of their workforce and foster an environment that prioritizes wellness and gives employees the space to thrive.