10.5 Top Tips on Physical Health and Well-Being

Do’s

1. Ensure all your employees drink enough! Its basic, but it’s essential – water should be readily
   

   

2.  available. This helps avoid dehydration and resulting ill health such as fatigue.
3. Promote healthy eating by banning staff from bringing in piles of unhealthy snacks to share. They can bring in their own, but unless it’s a really special occasion ask them to not feed their colleagues endless fatty and sugary snacks!
4. For those employees who are regularly tired or struggle to sleep, encourage them to do some research about sleep or speak to their doctors or otherwise check out some of the sleep apps that are on the market.
5. Encourage your employees to regularly get up and move around if they are in sedentary jobs. The more they move about, the more likely they will be to maintain good weight and fitness.
6. If any of your employees are recovering from an injury, why not ask them what will make them more comfortable and help their recovery – a speedy recovery will be in everyone’s interests!

Don’ts

1. Be careful not to force employees to work when they are unwell as this can result in a far slower recovery time or in extreme circumstances make their illness worse. No point in spreading germs around either.
2. Ignore burnout – it’s very common but usually takes years to really take hold – giving you years to identify the possibility of it happening and take the necessary steps to stave it off!
3. Hesitate to remind staff to look after their eyes, regular checkups should be encouraged and you need to ensure a good level of lighting (preferably natural light) to protect your employees’ vision.
4. Ignore your employees when deciding on the right temperature at work – different people work best in different temperatures so ask them and agree a happy medium – too hot and employees won’t work at their best, too cold and they definitely won’t be happy!
5. Forget how important it is to lead by example – so encourage your leaders to eat better, drink more water and less caffeine and to show staff that they too are getting more exercise!

And finally…

10.5. Be aware that when it comes to workplace temperatures, Government guidelines suggest a min of 16°C for the workplace, and 13°C if work involves rigorous physical effort. However, these guidelines were set in the 1960s and based on ideal working temperatures for the average man. Women, research has found, typically prefer it 5 degrees warmer!