How to Create an Experience-Driven Office Wellness Program

An effective overall office wellness program goes beyond checking blood pressure and office exercise to fight work-related illnesses or weight gain. Let’s take a holistic look at making an experience-driven employee office wellness program that’s right for your office.

Office Wellness and the Ambiance

Provide value to your employees in the same way that you offer value to potential customers and existing customers.  Look at the overall atmosphere in the office and find ways to make large or small improvements. Provide an espresso bar and baskets in a break area filled with healthy snacks like granola, fresh fruits and vegetables.  Natural lighting has been proven to boost morale and is a desirable perk. Maximize the flow of outdoor light and green up spaces using indoor plants. In our tech-heavy world, a connection to nature becomes more important than ever for an overall sense of well-being.  Bottom line: create a satisfying and nurturing experience that your employees will love.

Office Wellness and Workspaces

Give employees the freedom to work where they’re most comfortable, or to stay put in one place. An office design should bring out the best in people so they can be as productive as possible. Structure and habit work well for some while other staff may like more of a free-range office concept.  There are now a huge variety of desks and chairs that are available to meet a variety of needs. It’s possible to have assigned workstations and more flexible areas where someone can move to and work.  Don’t require someone to sit in one place and work on coding or do market research. If they’re achieving what they need to do, and they have the furnishings to support their work then let them take responsibility for their outcomes.  All in all, provide an atmosphere that keeps stress to a minimum and rewards quality.

Creative an Office Wellness Program

Find ways to integrate wellness into daily work. Do postings on an attractive cubicle partition or architectural wall that encourage fitness and good health.

Food is a major ingredient in a person’s approach to wellness.

  • Post recipes of easy-to-make salads.
  • Arrange employee discounts with local stores on produce and organic lunches.

Exercise is another key to staying healthy.

  • Set aside an area that’s no more than 8 feet by 10 feet and have an exercise ball and free weights.
  • Install a treadmill.
  • Post pictures of favorite walks and hikes that employees like to take.
  • Bring in a personal trainer once a week to give ideas and answer questions on topics like staying in shape despite a busy lifestyle.

You’ll see that an investment in a holistic office wellness program will yield to a payoff that will translate to a healthier, happier and more productive company.

Read Also: Create an Office Wellness Plan for Optimal Thinking
Main Photo: OFS Brands Eleven Wood and Obeya Booth
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: OFS Brands

Move, Sit & Listen: The Basics for Holistic Office Wellness

Promote holistic office wellness by helping staff move, sit, and listen. It’s easy to put it into the daily routine with a low cost and high potential returns. Here are three categories to use in evaluating your approach.

Office Wellness with Movement

Furnish your office for activity. Our bodies are meant to move and not sit in one place for hours at a time.

This write-up from Office Vibe shares important facts: up to 80% of Americans work in jobs that require little to no movement; and research shows that employee medical costs fall by $3.27 for every dollar spent on wellness programs.  Here’s what happens with a sedentary lifestyle at the office and at home. Pressure builds on the lower back and joints while key muscle groups can weaken. Blood circulation suffers and, ultimately, less oxygen flows to the brain.  Office wellness that includes movement can be subtle. Show employees stretching exercises to do while seated. Encourage them to take a brisk walk down the hallway every couple of hours or scoot around the block outside during lunch.  Install height-adjustable desks for individual offices and for workstations. Start getting used to it slowly by using it in a standing position for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.

Wellness When Sitting

Sitting seems like a non-stress activity that shouldn’t have any impact on our bodies. Not true. Make no mistake that sitting without moving creates stress.  Gravity is at work, plus the way we sit can aggravate key areas of the body like the neck area, lower back and hips.  Employee wellness should focus on sitting with proper posture while using ergonomic chairs and workstations and desks with height-adjustable surfaces. Here’s why:

  • Proper posture is when a person is sitting in front of a computer with a relatively straight back and not straining to see the screen. Leaning forward strains the neck because our heads weigh as much as a heavy bowling ball. That gradually pulls the vertebrae out of alignment and pinches the nerves running from the brain to the rest of the body. Blood flow is reduced and pain signals increase.
  • Ergonomic chairs have a real-world benefit that adjust to the contours of the body and evenly distribute weight. They allow for natural movement, too. Not all chairs are quality ergonomic so look for those with lumbar support, waterfall seating to relieve stress on the legs and adjustments for armrests, height and tilt.
  • Height-adjustable desks and workstations conform to individual needs so it’s easy to sit properly. This reduces the flare-up of ailments like carpal-tunnel syndrome.

Another danger to sitting is when people slouch on chairs or sofas and cradle a cell phone with their neck and shoulder. Remember, our bodies and the parts that make it are a whole. A daily repetitive motion like this can throw us out of alignment.  That’s why stretching and regular intervals of movement are beneficial.

Listening Properly

Another part of office wellness isn’t so obvious, but it can reduce stress a great deal. It’s listening properly.  By nature, people want to have their voices heard and know that their ideas and opinions matter. Personal interactions are easily misinterpreted because personality differences come in such wide ranges. This is true in a family and it’s certainly true in an office setting.  And as much as we sometimes try, we can never really fully separate our personal lives and needs from our work and professional lives. Broken relationships, sick kids, and other personal issues distract from the tasks at hand.  Learning to listen well can reduce internal stress—that’s the jangling nerves that we don’t see. Executives, mid-level managers and hourly workers can all use reminders on how to stop, hear what the other person is saying, and repeat back what they’ve heard.

Having designated areas for quiet conversation and personal reflection is key. Semi-enclosed meeting pods and seating arrangements that allow for one-on-one or individual time provide focus and reduce distractions. Leave cell phones behind and don’t take a laptop to go online.

Achieving Holistic Office Wellness

Office wellness can easily be implemented in the everyday work setting. For ideas on how to plan and furnish an office for better office wellness submit your questions and needs to us!  Our 2010 Office Furniture team of experts have a combined of five decades of experience helping start-ups, nonprofits and leading corporations throughout Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Read Also: Staying Productive with an Effort for Holistic Office Wellness
Main Photo: Global River Lounge
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: Global