How to support employee health instead of sapping It

Over the past decade, technological advances have enabled us to work at all hours, often at great expense to our sleep. And we’ve become more sedentary, as tasks requiring movement have quietly disappeared. Many companies are taking steps well beyond the usual corporate wellness programs to foster employee well-being. Here are the some of the […]

Over the past decade, technological advances have enabled us to work at all hours, often at great expense to our sleep. And we’ve become more sedentary, as tasks requiring movement have quietly disappeared.
Many companies are taking steps well beyond the usual corporate wellness programs to foster employee well-being. Here are the some of the most intelligent workplace practices I’ve encountered recently.
— Facilitate physical fitness. Studies have found a direct link between physical movement and mental agility. We have clear evidence that regular exercise improves concentration, memory and creativity — not to mention mood. Many companies now offer their employees access to standing desks, on-site gyms and even company bicycles. It’s a welcome trend.
For companies seeking more affordable methods of promoting exercise, The Calvert Group provides an alternative worth considering. The Washington, D.C., based mutual fund firm offers employees who walk to work a $120 voucher toward a new pair of shoes. It’s a relatively inexpensive way of signalling that exercise is not only valued, it’s rewarded.
— Make healthy eating easy. Providing healthy, catered lunches is not an option for many workplaces. It can be pricey, but it’s hard to think of situations where offering employees healthy snacks like nuts, fruits and vegetables would be a bad investment.
Not only do healthy foods keep us energized, research indicates they facilitate higher-quality work. Consuming fruit, for example, has been shown to elevate mood and creativity by providing our bodies with the nutrients they need to produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays a pivotal role in the experience of curiosity and motivation.
— Foster mental growth. As human beings, we have a psychological need for growing our competence. Our engagement peaks when we’re being challenged and acquiring new skills. How do great workplaces ensure that employees are growing on continuous basis?
Motley Fool, a financial services company, invites workers to purchase any book they want (nonfiction or fiction) at the company’s expense, empowering them to explore new ideas. Ontraport, a software developer, has created an apprenticeship program that allows employees to shadow those in different departments, where they can learn more about their co-workers’ areas of expertise and identify new roles in the company they can fill in the future.
— Pay employees to stop working. Intelligent workplaces recognize that taking time off is not a luxury. It is essential to top performance, an optimistic mindset and full engagement. For leaders who are genuinely interested in preventing burnout and fostering productivity, there is a useful alternative to unlimited vacations: providing a set number of vacation days and incentivizing people to actually use them.
Among the early adopters of this approach is the RAND Corporation, which pays workers what amounts to a small bonus for going on vacation: On days when employees are on vacation, they earn time and a half.
Culled from New York Times