Health and Wellness at Work
Discover the path to well-being with our Health and Wellness at Work blog. Elevate productivity and employee happiness.
“To keep the body in good health is a duty… Otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” ~Buddha
This quote may seem cheesy to some and overlooked by others, but to truly live our best life we must take care of our body and minds. I have heard so many people say, “I didn’t know I felt bad until I felt great.” It is easy to get ourselves to believe we are fine the way things are, that we don’t have time for exercise, or that we don’t have the money to eat healthy. All excuses I guarantee we have probably all said once in our lives.
Prioritize Health
One of the best pieces of insight I was ever given was that, “Time is an illusion.” We find time for the priorities we set and say we don’t have time for the rest. Don’t get me wrong, we definitely don’t have time for everything and we do have to pick priorities, but don’t you think running at 100% should be a priority? Getting the most and best out of ourselves should not be negotiable. Looking at it from a business perspective, getting the most and best out of your employees should not be negotiable either. We could all be moving towards the same goal of health and it could result in multiple different outcomes from an increase production, an increase in profits, an increase in energy, a decrease in sick days, and so much more. If we personally run at our best we can serve our companies better, serve our families better, and serve ourselves better!
Invest in Health
There are so many negatives that go along with not investing in our health and our employee’s health. We are seeing decreases in production per employee, employees taking more time off, and health care costs going up. Stress related illness is one of the leading causes of employees missing work and/or being unproductive. Studies have shown that, “Stress-related absences cost employers about $3.5 billion each year.” Research proves if we take care of ourselves physically – mental health will follow. Finding ways to promote a healthy lifestyle for your employees will increase morale, increase production, and save you money in the long run.
What We’ve Done
At Barracuda we take health and wellness very seriously. Some of the things we have incorporated our stand up desks, exercise balls instead of office chairs, weekly wellness emails, exercise challenges, and meditation months. We try to balance mental health, physical health and nutrition. We started this back in January and now internal employees are taking their own initiative to do things like organize company 5K’s and to quit smoking. It is by no means a quick fix but slowly incorporating these small things have allowed us to open up a dialogue about health and wellness throughout the office. Our culture now includes a place where we can talk about health and wellness and get encouragement from each other about our individual goals and maybe even get some ideas on how to continue to improve from a perspective we hadn’t yet considered.
I strongly encourage you to take a look at what you’re doing within your organization to promote health and wellness. It does not have to be a big expensive plan; little things can go a long way!
Want to learn more about how Barracuda can help you? Contact us today!