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The health of your employees is important. Without them, you won’t be able to run your business. Sometimes, getting sick or injured is inevitable, but as an employer, you can help avoid work-related health issues by taking care of the wellbeing of your employees. Making sure your employees are happy and healthy in the workplace is important, and you’ll show great leadership by achieving it.

Here’s how you can put the health and happiness of your employees first.

Encourage fitness and healthy habits

If your employees tend to sit at a desk day in, day out, then the sedentary element of their work could have a long-term impact on their health. Your workplace should encourage employees to get up from their desks during the day, take screen breaks and eat lunch elsewhere. There are some ways to sneak in exercise during a sedentary work day that can help people be more active.

Other things you can do to help include offering on-site fitness classes, discounted gym memberships and healthier snack options in the break room. Offering advice on tips on healthier living at work could help encourage better habits that help keep your employees fit and well.

Be fair when it comes to shift work

Shift workers can experience a number of health issues, as well as experience factors that could affect their happiness at work. Managing rotas well and making sure workers have adequate health days can help, as can checking in on how they’re coping now and then. You can learn how to set up a rotating shift to make sure employees get a fair rota system, while also making things easier for you. Making shift work fair will keep your team happy and ensure everything is carried out in a healthy way.

Remember to put health and safety policies in place, particularly for shift workers. Keeping your team safe and sound on the job is your duty as an employer. Spend time making sure that workers have not only had the right training, but are constantly reminded of your health and safety policies.

Provide valuable health benefits

Which employee benefits does your business offer? Having health benefits can be a key draw to working for a company, and by making sure you offer your workers some kind of health benefit, you’re showing that you care about them. There are tough choices to be made when it comes to choosing employee benefits because of the associated costs, but it’s an investment worth making for the sake of your employees.

As well as health benefits, there are other options you could consider to help make your company an excellent place to work. Flexible working is a great example of how employees can enjoy a better work/life balance and be more present during the hours they are in the office. Being able to work at home can also be a beneficial tool for those who struggle with the commute or need to juggle other commitments around work.

Communicate with your employees

Communication is essential for developing positive relationships with employees. When you hide things or fail to communicate effectively, rumors start and mistakes are made. It’s a great idea to research ways of communicating with employees to help you adopt approaches that help build trust and instill a passion in their work. The right communications strategy can make your workplace feel more connected, as well as help everyone understand the main goals and objectives your business is trying to achieve.

Make your workplace a sociable one

Having a more sociable workplace has its benefits. It can help employees to form closer bonds, help them work better together and create a sense of comfort and security in the office. Regular get-togethers, lunches and team-building events can all help your employees to get to know each other and develop a more positive atmosphere. Teams that bond and work well together can help produce some highly creative, innovative results that will help your business enjoy greater success.

Finding ways of making sure that your employees stay happy and healthy is an effective way of making sure you do a good job as a business owner. Many businesses fail to look after the welfare of their workers, leading to high turnover and bad word of mouth. Remember that employee absences cost businesses money, so it’s in your interests, as well as your employees to keep them mentally and physically fit. Make some positive changes by focusing on your employees’ health – it matters more than you know.

This is a contributed post.

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