Stories
3 min readHow to create a healthy organization: 10 simple tips
As a leader, you play a key role in promoting health and well-being in the workplace. But how do you do that in a way that strengthens both the organization’s success and employees’ engagement? By prioritizing health, you create a work environment where employees thrive, perform, and choose to stay.
As a leader, you play a central role in promoting health and well-being in the workplace. But how do you do that in a way that strengthens both the organization’s success and employees’ engagement? By prioritizing health, you create a work environment where employees thrive, perform, and choose to stay. With the right strategies and tools, you can reach these goals and build a sustainable workplace.
10 tips for building healthy organizations:
Leadership is the keyStart by engaging managers and the leadership team – when they act as role models, healthy habits spread throughout the organization and employees follow their lead.
Create a health cultureHealth should be a natural part of the company culture – integrate it into the organization’s values and routines. Implement reward systems to encourage healthy behaviors.
Link health to productivityCreate an understanding that employees’ health directly affects productivity. Tools like Skandia’s health calculator can help demonstrate the link between health and results to management teams and managers.
Use nudging to promote healthy choicesSmall reminders, such as happy and sad faces by the stairs and elevators, can inspire people to move more. Make it fun by collecting coffee beans every time someone takes the stairs – a dinner awaits when the jar is full!
Lower the thresholds for everyday healthSmall actions make a big difference, such as introducing breaks every hour on the hour or scheduling your meetings for 50 minutes to allow time for recovery and social interaction.
Time for recoveryEncourage employees to take regular breaks, and create spaces for recovery in the workplace, such as quiet rooms or relaxing environments where people can recharge during the day.
Make the workplace sleep-friendlyPromote good sleep by making it easier to get daylight (and to go outside in daylight) and by reducing stress in the evening. Schedule emails to be sent the next day instead of emailing in the evening or at the end of the day. If possible, schedule meetings between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to accommodate both morning and evening people.
Educate about the body and the brainCreate understanding of how health affects our capacity without lecturing or finger-pointing. Encourage micro-habits as small healthy steps.
Encourage walk-and-talk meetingsOne walking meeting a day can increase creativity by up to 60% – educate employees about the benefits of movement for problem-solving.
