As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your employees are fit and healthy. If your business’s success relies on the fitness of your employees (for example, if you own a security contracting company), then it’s essential that you perform routine checks to rule out health conditions that could impact your staff’s performance. If your business doesn’t rely on fitness, then performing routine health checks could be considered invasive and might result in employees taking steps toward legal action for invasion of privacy. In this post, you will learn a few ways of ensuring your employees are healthy.

Drug Tests

One test that can be performed regardless of sector or industry is a drug test. These tests are carried out in order to rule out drug use among staff. If Cannabis use is legalized in your state or country, then you can still test for it, although there’s not much that you can do as far as punishing staff goes (unless they are intoxicated while on the job). You can order drug test kits, which provide results very quickly. Depending on where you live, you could have to get your employee’s consent before administering drug tests.

Stress Levels

If you care about your staff’s health, then monitor their stress levels. The best way to do this is to visit staff in the workplace and talk to them. Make sure that you take the time to learn how long members of staff are working and how much work they are doing. Encourage your staff to take their annual leave, also. If you do find employees that are stressed out, then treat them the same way that you would somebody with physical health problems. Stress can negatively impact the quality of a person’s life, so in many respects, it is no different to a physical health problem.

Healthy Eating

Encourage healthy eating. It’s very common for full-time workers to rush their lunches, eating whatever junk they are able to find in the shop nearest to their place of work. A good way to ensure that your staff eat healthily is to offer them lunchboxes yourself, for a very small cost. If you have a large office building, then you could build a cafeteria, then offer your staff freshly cooked nutritious meals completely for free. Staff that eats well will feel well.

Regular Exercise

Regular exercise is important. If your staff doesn’t exercise, then their health will gradually begin to deteriorate. It’s no secret that a stagnant life can have devasting consequences for a person’s life. The way that you choose to encourage exercise in your staff depends largely upon who they are and how they work. Some office buildings in Japan have gyms built into them. Employees in these offices are then given half an hour a day to exercise, enforced by senior management. If your building is large enough, then this is a good idea.

Health Benefits

If you want to ensure that your staff is in good health, then you should consider offering them health benefits, such as insurance. Healthcare in the United States can be very expensive. If your staff doesn’t already have health insurance, then they might not be able to have appointments and check-ups performed. Health benefits aren’t just good for encouraging staff to stay healthy they are also great for attracting high-quality staff. In addition to health insurance, you should also offer health benefits like medical leave, disability insurance, retirement savings, and paid time off. Taking time off is good for your employee’s health and paying them for it is good for their wallets.

Communication

If you don’t communicate the importance of self-care and good health to your staff. And then they might not understand your mission (or engage with it). It’s a good idea to hold regular sessions, where you talk to your staff about their health. And the importance of maintaining it. You could also consider hiring guest speakers to come in and speak to your staff. You shouldn’t make these sessions compulsory, however. We could consider paying your staff to attend them though because this can be very motivational.

Mental Support

Make sure that you offer your staff mental support. The hardest thing for many employees is dealing with their stress and emotions. If you don’t offer mental support to your staff, then they could go on to develop serious issues, like anxiety and depression. If you notice that members of staff are suffering from serious mental health problems, then it’s a good idea to offer them paid leave. Or alternatively, pay for them to speak to a therapist. Some companies hire their own therapists, who work in-house and counsel members of staff. Mental health is just as important as physical health.

Self-care

Even if you manage to force your staff to exercise and eat well, if they aren’t taking care of themselves in other ways, then their health could easily fall into disarray. Make sure that your staff is grooming themselves and taking care of themselves. If you notice that they aren’t then it might be a good idea to sit down and speak to them. Don’t interrogate them, but instead, just gently ask why they aren’t looking after themselves, and try to get to the bottom of it. Proper self-care is crucial if your staff are to perform well.

COVID Proofing

One last thing to consider is COVID proofing your office. The biggest threat to your staff’s health right now is the COVID-19 virus. While the pandemic has been declared over in many places, it is still killing people. You shouldn’t enforce strict COVID rules, like extreme social distancing and mask-wearing. But you should encourage good practice, like keeping your distance, not infringing upon people’s personal space, and taking the day off if you suspect that you are sick. COVID proofing is the most effective way of ensuring that, in today’s day and age. And your staff doesn’t get sick or pass viruses onto one another.

Conclusion

If you want a team of employees that work hard, feel good, and get the job done, then you need to take care of their health. This article’s guidance should help you to ensure that your staff possesses all of these qualities. You may also want to consider routinely screening your staff and performing fitness tests.