UK businesses lose millions of pounds a year in employee sickness leave. Not only is it lost through sick pay but also hours of productivity lost. How can businesses help to improve the health and well-being of their staff to prevent excessive sickness?

1. Promote Regular Fitness

It’s well-established that physical activity boosts overall health. Regular exercise helps to control weight, reduces risks associated with heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. It also helps to strengthen bones and muscles, helps mental health and encourages a healthier lifestyle in general. While no business can enforce physical activity, there is nothing wrong with support and encouragement. Why not consider investing in some gym equipment in a room at work, offer discounted gym membership or incentives for cycling or walking to walk. There are loads of imaginative ideas you can implement to help get your employees moving more.

2. Healthy Eating Options

Aside from regular exercise, eating healthily is another key factor in maintaining health and well-being. Sweet treats and junk food available every day won’t be doing your staff any favours. You could think about banning doughnuts, cakes and biscuits and doing a deal with a local greengrocer to deliver fresh fruit a couple of times a week. Nuts and granola bars are another idea for the office kitchen area to promote a healthier alternative for the mid-afternoon tummy rumbles.

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3. Keep it Clean

If you don’t currently have a regular cleaning company come and clean your workplace, then you should seriously consider one. Everyone deserves to work in a hygienic and clean environment where the risk of spreading viruses is kept to a minimum. Kitchens and toilets are especially important, as are desks and any shared telephone sets. A bug can spread quickly around an enclosed work place so make sure you book a cleaner today. For Cheltenham Office Cleaning, visit http://intocleaning.co.uk/services/office-cleaning/

4. Make Healthy Choices Fun

For those persistent indulgers in all things naughty, you’ll need to work a bit harder to make healthy choices enticing. One way of doing this is to incentivise your staff by turning it into a competition. Be imaginative and come up with ways of rewarding those who complete the most consecutive days of exercise for example. It can be either team or individual based, whichever suits your workplace and doesn’t single anybody out. Motivation, incentives and tangible rewards often work surprisingly well in inspiring employees to get moving.

Health in Your Hands

The health of staff is a vital issue and will become increasingly so as we have an aging workforce and obesity is more common, for example. Many of these health issues could be prevented and avoided, whether through employee education or incentives to get staff thinking about improving their health. Your ultimate goal should be a workforce that is well, happy and of course, productive!