Celebrating Well-being at Work

Why Employee Wellness Matters

June is Employee Wellness Month, a time to highlight the importance of health and well-being in the workplace. With increasing workloads and the ever-present demands of modern life, it's imperative to focus on wellness strategies that can help everyone close the gap between work and wellness. After all, we spend most of our time at work, so why not implement wellness into it and make the most out of our time there?

Defining Wellness

Wellness encompasses physical, mental, emotional health, and beyond. It’s having this holistic approach that ensures individuals feel good in their bodies, but are also cognitively and emotionally balanced. To truly integrate wellness into our lives, we should to try to address each of these elements:

• Physical Wellness: This involves staying active to the extent of our bodies, while honoring our bodies limitations, eating a balanced diet following our bodies needs, and getting adequate sleep. It’s about maintaining a healthy body through movement and nourishment.
• Mental Wellness: This includes managing stress, practicing mindfulness, and engaging in activities that stimulate the mind. It’s about keeping the brain active and aware, but also reducing mental fatigue.
• Emotional Wellness: This involves recognizing and expressing our feelings, building strong relationships, and maintaining a realistic outlook. It’s about understanding and managing our reactions effectively and compassionately.

Sustainable Tips to Enhance Workplace wellness

To celebrate Employee Wellness Month, here are some simple and effective tips to enhance well-being in the workplace, for both organizations and their people:

1. Expand Your Wellness Horizon

Wellness is not just about physical activity. Consider incorporating the following practices to promote a well-rounded approach to health:

• Stay Active: Engage in regular physical activities like desk exercises (sensory stimulation breaks, walking or outdoor meetings). Simple stretches or desk exercises can help reduce tension and improve circulation and improve posture. Simple shoulder and neck rolls count!
• Mental Breaks: Schedule short breaks throughout the day to relax and clear your mind. Practices like mindful breathing, sensory meditation, or quick resets can be incredibly refreshing.
• Emotional Support: Foster an empathetic attitude towards your emotions and those of others. Feelings matter and should be acknowledged and respected. They can be used as a way to learn about triggers and emotional regulation and lead to a path of deep connection with ourselves and those around us.

2. Mental Health

Employees:

• Mindfulness Practices: Incorporate mindfulness techniques like deep breathing or sensory awareness into your day. Identifying 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. Can help shift us from anxiety to the present moment.
• Mental Health Days: Don’t hesitate to take time to recharge if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Incorporate your coping style to bring out the most benefit.
• Understand your coping style: The Stressie App offers a coping style test to help you become aware of your stress landscape and creates stress-reducing interventions in real-time. Learn more here.

Employers:

• Support Mental Health Initiatives: Offer regular mindfulness workshops or stress-relief activities.
• Promote Open Communication: Foster a culture where employees feel comfortable discussing mental health issues.
• Lead with Emotional Intelligence: Liane Clamen from @Adaptilens led a recent workshop at Harvard Innovation Labs discussing the importance of this. Check out these books to learn more: Leading with Emotional Intelligence & Emotional Intelligence 2.0

3. Food as Nourishment

Employees:

• Intuitive Eating: Practice intuitive eating by listening to your body's hunger and fullness cues. This approach can help create a healthier relationship with food and avoid the stress of restrictive diets. Research supports that intuitive eating is linked to better physical and psychological health (2013).
• Hydration: Drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated. Drinking water is essential for maintaining cellular function, nutrient transport, waste removal, temperature regulation, and overall bodily health. Proper hydration supports cognitive function, digestion, joint lubrication, and kidney health.

Employers:

• Healthy Food Options: Provide nourishing snacks in the office and ensure that any catered events include nutritious options.
• Nutrition Workshops: Offer workshops or seminars on nourishment.

4. Create a Positive Work Environment

Employees:

• Ergonomic Workspaces: Ensure your workspace is ergonomically set up to prevent strain and injury.
• Social Connections: Foster good relationships with colleagues through team-building activities and social events. Check out Groops MakeTimeFlow Resilience Oasis for more resources.
• Personalized Space: Decorate your workspace with items that make you feel happy and motivated.

Employers:

• Ergonomic Assessments: Provide ergonomic assessments and necessary equipment for a comfortable and cozy workspace.
• Team-Building Activities: Organize regular team-building activities to enhance social connections.
• Positive Culture: Cultivate a positive and inclusive workplace culture where everyone feels valued.

Real-Life Success Stories

To inspire you, here are a couple of real-life success stories from companies that prioritize employee wellness:

Kaiser Permanente: Mindfulness Workshops

Through weekly mindfulness workshops, offering guided yoga/meditation and stress-relief techniques. Employees learned how to better manage stress and maintain focus, leading to a noticeable improvement in overall job satisfaction and stress reduction.

Wellness at the source: The Golden State Warriors and Generation Thrive

Generation Thrive incorporates inclusive and accessible wellness into their educator, and community initiatives. For the summer programs the community is offered a fresh farmers market, art and music therapy, and player initiatives to have enhance community wellness and connection.

Conclusion

Celebrating Employee and Community Wellness Month is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the importance of health and well-being at work. By incorporating simple wellness strategies, both employees and employers can create a healthier, happier, and more productive workplace. Remember, small changes can make a big difference!

Join the Wellness Movement: How do you prioritize wellness at work or in your community groups? Share your tips in the comments below! #EmployeeWellnessMonth #WorkplaceWellness #HealthyEmployees #WellnessAtWork #StressManagement #EmployeeHealth #WellnessBlog #stressie #CommunityWellness #MentalHealth

Reference:

1. Tylka, T. L., & Kroon Van Diest, A. M. (2013). The Intuitive Eating Scale–2: Item refinement and psychometric evaluation with college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(1), 137–153.