August is National Wellness Month: Let’s Make Well-Being a Priority All Year Long

Create a culture of well-being.

Companies with a robust culture of well-being know that it’s about more than offering a meditation app or an onsite fitness center. A true well-being culture includes support for multiple aspects of employees’ lives, including mental health, family and caregiving responsibilities, financial wellness, social connections, and chronic condition management, among others. After all, organizations can’t operate at their best—let alone innovate or grow—when their employees are struggling.

Organizations that place a priority on employee well-being reap the benefits. Research shows that there’s a strong, positive correlation between well-being and organizational performance.¹ And, WebMD Health Services’ research recently found that employees who feel their organization cares about their well-being tend to be stronger performers who are more engaged in the workplace and less likely to leave.

How to help employees with well-being.

First, it’s important to acknowledge that well-being is not a one-time event. It’s an ongoing practice of small, daily acts that allow people to manage stress, be more productive, and feel happier and healthier. And, most importantly, it’s about creating a corporate environment that openly supports employees taking time to look after their health and wellness.

Here are some ideas for how to infuse well-being into the workplace.

Embrace a self-care mindset.

At its core, self-care focuses on getting enough quality sleep, eating a healthy diet and moving our bodies. It’s also important to care for our mental state by actively managing stress, practicing self-compassion and engaging in mindfulness or meditation. There is now widespread acceptance in the wellness community that practicing self-care isn’t a selfish indulgence but rather a necessity for our well-being. It’s even more important for caregivers, who must take care of themselves in order to take care of others.

Let employees know that the organization supports them spending time focusing on their own well-being. Perhaps most important, make sure managers and leaders visibly practice self-care themselves. That way, employees can see the organization truly cares about well-being and may be more likely to take the time to focus on their own self-care, too.

Encourage employees to engage in physical activity during the workday.

Exercise has traditionally been something employers expected workers to do on their own time. Now, we realize that incorporating bursts of movement during the workday is essential. If possible, it’s even better for employees to step outside the office for the activity. Offer ways for employees to move more at work, including walking meetings, lunchtime strolls, steps challenges or rewards for not using the elevator. Remote workers should also be encouraged to take a movement break during the day for at least 20 minutes to refresh before jumping back into productivity mode.

Make sure the physical workplace reflects a commitment to wellness.

As many employees head back to the office, employers should ensure that the workspace has kept pace with what’s now important to people. For example, layouts designed for collaboration as well as focused work, ergonomically friendly workspaces, and a relaxing atmosphere with greenery and natural light are key to supporting employees who are returning to the office after a long period away.

Offer more support for caregiving.

Increasingly, employees cite family and caregiving responsibilities as a significant contributor to stress in their lives. Evaluate your caregiving policies and determine whether you can provide additional support through onsite childcare, stipends, and/or leave.

Provide help for financial wellness.

Finances are also a significant source of stress. Consider ways to alleviate some of it by implementing financial wellness benefits that help with student loan debt repayment, monthly budgeting, or saving for a significant purchase. Alternative pay cycles—like those that allow people to be paid daily or weekly—can also help.

Encourage water consumption.

Staying hydrated has many benefits, from improving the look and quality of skin to keeping the body functioning at optimal levels and controlling calories. Make it easy for employees to drink water throughout the day with conveniently located water coolers. You could also host a wellness challenge around increasing water consumption and give a free water bottle away as an incentive. For employees who work remotely, consider subsidizing a monthly water service.

Lean into meditation.

Meditation trains the brain and body to relax and focus on the present instead of all the “chatter” in our heads. Even five minutes a day can be helpful. But meditation can be daunting for employees to start on their own. A discounted subscription to a meditation app can help. If space allows, transform a vacant spot in the office into a meditation space for employees to use throughout the day. If you have a dispersed workforce, consider sending calendar invites that allow people to participate in a virtual company-wide meditation together.

Make it easier to focus on nutrition.

Your employees likely have good intentions about eating better, but the busyness of life can interfere. Some suggestions for helping employees focus on nutrition include healthy grab-and-go dinners from the cafeteria, a discount on a meal kit service, a lunch-and-learn session about how to meal prep on the weekend, or even a voucher for a local fresh produce market or monthly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share.

Incorporate stretching.

We all need to stretch to counteract the effects of the day, whether we’ve been sitting at a desk for hours, working on our feet or simply trying to overcome all the stress we’ve taken in. It may feel silly at first, but if you’re holding a long meeting, build in some group stretch breaks. Or, as part of a wellness update, suggest stretches and yoga poses employees can do on their own time. Better yet, offer a free yoga class virtually or in-person to reap the centuries-old benefits that yoga offers—calming the mind, lowering blood pressure and slowing the heart rate.

Give permission to disconnect and set boundaries. 

Technology makes it possible to work anywhere at any time, but the downside is that many employees don’t take the time to disconnect. Employers should encourage employees to set times when they shut down for the day and establish hours when they do not respond to emails. Similarly, make sure employees know it’s important and OK to use their paid time off. Even if they don’t have a vacation planned, time spent away from work is restorative.

Explore gratitude and positivity.

Psychologists have documented the positive effects of practicing gratitude on our emotional and physical health.  Employers can support this practice by giving employees a small notebook to record the things they’re grateful for or providing a link to a gratitude meditation. You could also encourage employees to focus on one good thing that happens every day. Doing this daily can retrain the brain to switch directions, so that when setbacks do occur, we are more resilient and recover quicker.

Surprise employees with a company-wide paid day off.

Employees report that they are burned out and need a break. The good news is, recent research has demonstrated that time off can have a significant and lasting effect on employee well-being. ² If your organization and industry allow, try offering employees a surprise company-wide day off. Encourage people to put work away and resist the urge to check emails during the break.

Give a small token of appreciation.

Recognition and feeling appreciated are key employee engagement factors. Employees will appreciate a gift of self-care like candles, essential oils and diffusers, stress balls, healthy snacks, loose leaf tea, a gift card to a bookstore, a journal or chocolates. Get creative!

We spend most of our waking hours on the job, so it makes sense that looking after our well-being is something that we can and should prioritize throughout the workday. August’s National Wellness Month is a great time to start sending that message. Employers who do so will reap the benefits of a healthier and more engaged workforce all year long.