Healthy Workforces Means A Healthy Bottom Line

What can you do in order to create a healthy workforce? Having a healthy workforce can increase productivity tremendously. When employees are ill, they are unable to perform their job duties and they will end up taking time off work, leaving their co-workers to pick up the slack. Sick leave days cost employers billions of dollars a year and it can take awhile before you are able to get your staff healthy again and to get things back in business. One a illness strikes an office, it can spread through the entire company like wildfire and can really cause a lot of issues for your organization.

How can employers focus on employee health and start getting their staff members healthy again? There are several things that employers can do in order to make the workplace a healthy place and we will talk about issues that your organization faces and what you can do in order to improve their health:
- Stress - one of the biggest issues plaguing companies is stress. Employers do expect a lot from their employees and it is not always easy to understand when you are putting too much pressure on your employees. Too much stress will lead to a decrease in employee health and it can cause your employees to have a reduced performance but it also makes them vulnerable to illnesses as their immune system breaks down. When one person starts to slow down, it can lead others to down and you are dealing with a lot of frustration in the workplace.
- Ergonomics - are your employees practicing the right office ergonomics? Not sitting up straight and having employees that are not practicing good ergonomics will mean that you are dealing with backaches and many other issues. You need to focus on teaching proper office ergonomics to your employees in order to prevent them from dealing with aches and pains that cause short-term and long-term discomfort.
- Cold and Flu Season - when the weather starts to change it is common to have a handful of illnesses go through the office. You need to focus on keep the office as clean and germ-free as possible to prevent the spread of illnesses. Encourage your employees to get their flu shot or even consider making it a mandatory thing each year. This helps to reduce the likeliness of illnesses that can occur in the office. Keep antibacterial wipes around the office and make sure your employees are wiping down their desks, keyboards, and other areas each day. This will reduce the spread of germs and can really keep your employees healthier.
- Workplace accidents - one of the things that can really hurt your staff is workplace accidents. You need to make the workplace as safe as possible in order to prevent workplace accidents from occurring as they can quickly lead to a decrease in morale as the employee has to miss work and others need to fill in for them. Injuries are something that must be prevented at all costs. Proper safety training and providing your employees with the right type of safety equipment and protected machinery can help to reduce the likeliness of workplace accidents.

It is a good idea to go over the workplace policies that you have in place pertaining to sick leave. It is important that you provide sick leave but that you make sure your employees are not abusing it and using it as vacation time. If this happens, they could end up coming into the office when they are actually sick and it can become very frustrating for employers and co-workers to deal with.