Tips for keeping employees healthy

There are many things managers need to worry about when running a business. But whether they realize it or not, the health of their employees will play a major factor on the way their overall business is run, from day to day operations to the impact on your bottom line.

Your employees' health matters for many reasons, including:

• Productivity. When employees are frequently ill, projects get put on hold or they lack in quality. This causes missed deadlines, potential unhappy customers, and a loss of business. Employees who smoke also frequently take smoke breaks, which really add up in a loss of time.
• Costs. Health insurance costs are typically higher the more visits to the doctor, hospital, or specialists that employees make. Healthier employees, in turn, tend to mean lower health care costs for everyone.
• Energy. An energized, healthy office typically means higher morale, better concentration to complete projects, and alert, healthy minds as well.

What you can do
There are a number of things you can do to keep your employees healthy. The following are some tips for keeping employees healthy:

Offer incentives.
You might be surprised at how far a few attractive incentives can go. Set up some challenges like weight loss programs where everyone makes goals and tries to reach them, or making it a point to stop smoking, or dropping cholesterol a certain number of points. When the goals are reached, prizes like cash, movie tickets, gift certificates, an afternoon off, or any number of things can be rewarded. Often, incentives are the push needed to keep things going.

Make it easy.
There are many things you can do to keep your employees healthy, and one of these things is to make it easy for your employees to be healthy. For example, offer flu shots on-site, or have a wellness fair where cholesterol and body fat are measured and advice is given on exercising. You can have a gym set up in the office for employees to exercise, or you can reimburse employees for their joining a gym somewhere else. Get rid of the candy jar and swap it for fruit instead. Or, for lunches skip ordering pizza and opt for something healthier. Little things, like putting out hand sanitizer and encouraging employees to use it, will make it easier for employees to be healthy. The easier it is for employees to be healthy, and the more resources they have to help them, the more likely they are to stay healthy.

Offer encouragement.
A little encouragement often goes a long way with people. Be encouraging to your employees in their efforts to be healthy. You can do this by being a good example, or by noticing and complimenting them on their efforts.

Make it a group effort.
It's easier to be healthy when you have a support system. Use programs like Biggest Loser or something similar for healthy lifestyles, or have office teams for sports like softball or volleyball. Get your employees together and train to run or walk a 5k for a good cause. These are just a few things you can do as a group to be healthier.

Healthy employees are an important part of a productive, successful work environment. These are a few tips that are not hard to do that can help keep your employees healthy.