Creating the Building blocks for a healthy workplace

It has been well documented that a healthy workplace contributes to a healthier bottom line. With less sick days, improved productivity, greater performance and increased morale, providing a healthy place to work can make a substantial difference.
Transforming to a healthy culture requires active support from management in making workplace health a priority. This article will examine the elements of the current workplace and give you some simple steps of no cost and low cost options to making a start right now to some tangible benefits.

A Case for Action
What is happening now in the workplace?
• Australia annually loses billions in revenue due to sick days.
• Employees with multiple or chronic health concerns drive the biggest loss in productivity. Those concerns may include smoking, overweight or obesity, poor nutrition, not enough exercise, substance abuse, poor sleeping patterns, existing medical conditions etc.
• Poor health is impacting all levels of business including executives and non-managerial positions. Executives, management and supervisory positions suffer more presentee-ism productivity which is related to a lack of productivity due to poor health.
• Employees experience too little or too much responsibility and have unclear expectations in their roles.
• Poor communication.
• Lack of rewards and acknowledgment.
• Stress and mental health issues.
• Management attitudes and awareness.
The way the future could be with a healthier workplace:
• The culture of the workplace looks like a healthy environment by the way the employees act and the work is handled.
• Employees can’t tell you what the culture looks like but they can tell you how it feels.
• Employers, all levels of management, and employees are all part of the solution.
• Employers act as role models.
• Employee health is now part of the agenda at meetings
• Employers regularly share their health vision with employees in multiple types of communication.
• Management and supervisors are regularly trained on giving recognition and rewards.
• Employees are engaged in their work with less down-time.
• Employees are rewarded for taking action with healthy initiatives.
• Employees are acknowledged for work that is complete and not on the amount of hours to complete it. (Being busy versus getting the job done)
• Employers spend less money on training and developing new employees due to employee retention.
No cost and low cost actions steps you can take right now:
• Conduct meetings outside or on a walk, or take a 10 – 15 minute walk before or after the meeting.
• Allocate an employee to head up a wellness team and have them report back to management. This role can take as little as 2 hours per week.
• Use peer pressure wisely to gain interest in your wellness message. The message has to be something that is universal to most people (fat loss, how to make nutritious snacks, simple steps to handle stress etc) Leave time at the end for interaction. Use this as an opportunity to let them know the importance of healthy employees and the value it is to the organization.
• Train managers and supervisors to give rewards and recognition.
• Gain the professional expertise of a Personal Trainer to assist with a user-pays regular group exercise activity. These sessions can take place during or outside of work hours in a large inside space or nearby park. An opportunity to hear about the activity can be gained at an information meeting at a time that is convenient at work.
• Reinforce the health vision of your workplace with a regular newsletter that can be sent out to your internal database, an agenda at meetings, posted on the bulletin boards or distributed in the lunch-room.
• Provide a quarterly healthy living expo in the workplace where employees can gain valuable information, attend workshops, participate in group activities, enjoy a 15 minute massage, have postural or ergonomic assessments, or get a health screening for blood pressure, blood sugar, flexibility, fitness levels etc.
• Start a virtual in-house fitness challenge.

A healthier workplace really is do-able and is essential to our communities. By taking responsibility in our workforce we are taking steps towards our countries rising health costs. This healthy workplace culture transformation while not easy to change is simple to put into action. This is not just a one-time thing but becomes part of how we can do business every day.


Author Chris Bakens is head Performance Coach with Healthy Executives, a leading Brisbane corporate health company. They work with senior executives to implement healthy initiatives in the workplace. Her experience spans more than 2 decades in the fitness industry, working as a Personal Trainer, PT manager, Group exercise instructor and co-ordinator in some of Australia’s large gym chains. She also established a highly successful Personal Training studio in Brisbane and personally coaches Personal Training studios with strategies and tips to dramatically transform and master their trainers.