Workplace Health - Promote a Culture of Wellness

Promote a culture of wellness in your workplace by incorporating quick and easy ideas in your workplace.

Employers, managers, leaders should:

• Walk the talk

  Walk the talk - model healthy behaviours, a caring attitude, trust and respect for your employees and coworkers.

• Change your mission statement, business plans, strategic goals, etc.

  Change your mission statement, business plans, strategic goals, etc. to reflect and state the company’s commitment to the health and wellness of all employees in the company.

• Create a wellness committee

  Create a wellness committee and give them the responsibility to implement health promoting activities.

• Allocate resources

  Allocate resources - a budget, employee time and physical space for the wellness committee to work.

• Allow the committee to survey your staff

  Allow the committee to survey your staff to discover what health and wellness information they want to learn more about to meet their own personal health and wellness needs and goals

• Allow the survey to include questions 

  Allow the survey to include questions about what the staff feel could be done differently in your workplace to support their wellness efforts and to identify problem areas causing increased stress levels.

• Allow all employees paid time off to attend health screenings and medical appointments and treatment

  Allow all employees paid time off to attend health screenings and medical appointments and treatment with physiotherapists, dieticians or other health professionals

• Allow flexibility

  Allow flexibility (where able) in employee schedules to accommodate medical appointments, tending to sick children, elders in their care, etc.

• Allow employees to have some input

  Allow employees to have some input into scheduling, how their jobs are done, how their day is organized (where able), etc.

• Provide training for all staff

  Provide training for all staff in time-management, communication skills, stress reduction, work-life-family balance, first aid training, mental health and addiction

• Provide support and referral service information

  Provide support and referral service information for employees with alcohol or substance misuse problems

• Educate your workforce

  Educate your workforce about the importance of physical activity, healthy eating, not smoking, alcohol and substance misuse, mental health etc. by tapping into the Health at Work 4 All! program and program services offered by MLHU that have been specifically created for workplaces.

• Consider creating policies to provide a supportive environment

  Consider creating policies to provide a supportive environment that supports behaviour change and reinforces expectations

• Ensure healthy food options

  Ensure healthy food options are available in cafeterias, vending machines, etc.

• Ensure that a clean, dry, pleasant space is provided for employees to eat meals 

  Ensure that a clean, dry, pleasant space is provided for employees to eat meals.

• Consider allowing only healthy foods

  Consider allowing only healthy foods to be brought into meetings on site at your workplace. Create a healthy eating at meetings policy

• Encourage the use of stairs 

  Encourage the use of stairs instead of elevators.

• Encourage walking

  Encourage walking at breaks and/or walk and talk meetings.

• Encourage frequent stretching

  Encourage frequent stretching at desks or on assembly lines (where everybody stops and does it at predetermined intervals).

• Provide bike racks, showers, changing facilities

• Encourage intra-company games, challenges and exercise groups

• Provide on-site fitness centre or discounts for local facilities

• Ban tobacco

  Ban tobacco use in or near your workplace.

• Provide help for staff who smoke 

  Provide help for staff who smoke – paid time off to attend counseling, access to NRT, support persons (nonsmoking buddies) within the workplace.

• Provide relaxation

  Provide relaxation, yoga, aromatherapy or similar sessions before or after work.

• Provide counseling or referrals

  Provide counseling or referral to an outside agency for mental health issues.

• Consider all alternatives for Return To Work Accommodations

  Consider all alternatives for Return To Work Accommodations for anyone who has be off work due to extended illness, injury or mental health issues.

• Encourage social activities

  Encourage social activities among work colleagues.

• Allow time for volunteering

  allow time for volunteering within the community - on work time.

Quick and easy ways to promote your new health and wellness programs, activities and initiatives in your workplace

• Have supervisor or manager announce it in a team meeting
• Include an announcement  in a company newsletter
• Send a mass e-mail
• Send a “launch letter” prior to the start of the activity
• Clearly outline the expectations and procedures for the activity
• Provide a “launch kit” with promotional items or supplies related to the activity (i.e. a reusable water bottle, sweat towel, pedometer, healthy snack etc.)
• Provide a guest speaker to introduce the activity
• Provide more information in key places in your workplace - on bulletin boards, by elevators, in stair wells etc.)
• Put announcement, tidbits of ‘teaser” information on a pay stub or add an insert
• Don’t forget to make all activities it available to everyone, on every shift, at every location

Please note: always consider the age, gender, physical and cultural needs of your workforce when planning health and wellness initiatives and activities. More than one method of participating and achieving the desired results may need to be considered.