The start of a new year doesn’t just mean a chance to focus on personal health—it can also be the ideal time to see if there are any new ways to boost wellness at the workplace. If you already have a healthy fuel bar, organize step count competitions and reimburse for gym memberships, here are a few fresh ideas to help get you—and your employees—excited about being healthy together this year.
- Natural colors and textures: Industry leaders anticipate modern offices will embrace softer earth tones and textures to help create a calm, soothing atmosphere at work. Wood, faux-leather and elements like stones and plants replicate the natural environment and are pleasing to the eye—plus they’re durable, eco-friendly nature-made materials.
- Cutting connections: More and more, data is showing the importance of disconnecting from your phone and email during off-hours. Encourage employees and teammates to come up with a quitting time to get offline—and stick to it. Although unexpected circumstances will come up, having a plan of attack for their schedules (when possible!) helps divide work life from personal life, creating a healthier balance between the two.
- Unconventional locales: Cubicles and offices have been around a long time, but new trends are offering alternatives to these closed-off spaces. For example, create a big open room bathed in natural light for anyone to work in or give employees the option of working offsite. Employees prefer these kinds of changes (and they’ve been linked to better health outcomes).
- Green design: WELL, CDC Fitwel and LEED certifications are all ways to show your office is eco-friendly—boosting the health of the environment and employees. If your budget and space can’t accommodate major changes, consider making smaller updates like adding a rainwater collection bucket, creating a food recycling system or moving from paper to digital communication for your workplace.
How else are you going to update your workplace in 2018? Tell us in the comments! If you found this post to be helpful, you may also enjoy these other blogs:
- Five Ways to Really Engage Your Employees in Wellness
- Creating a Culture That Promotes a Healthy Work-Life Balance
- Empowering Employees Through Health and Wellness Programs
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