A healthy office feels good

It’s one thing to tell staff you value their health by handing out water bottles or monthly mini massages, but another to affect them directly through a healthy work culture.

“Think about it,” says Ken Buckley, founder and managing director of Healthworks, which delivers health products and services for more than 500 Australian companies.

“You want to help your employees lower stress levels, so you provide engaging, valuable information on mental health, you organise seminars, you give them campaigns and activities to show in easy steps how to improve positive thinking.

“But their manager sends them emails at all hours; they feel they have to work through their lunch break; and their request for a day off is refused yet again.

“Such actions are all part of your organisational culture. An unhealthy culture can create real blocks for employees to become healthier and more productive.”

So, implement health expectations alongside education, limit business activity to business hours and actually encourage productivity through scheduled breaks. Next, consider your “where, how and why” through which business is conducted.

“Ideally, you should have in place things that are proven to encourage healthy habits,” Buckley says.

“Physical things, such as bike racks, and fridges in the kitchen; policy things, such as flexible work arrangements; or operational things, such as a wellness committee [to think up and monitor health initiatives].”

But even in a supportive work culture and accommodating built environment, some employees will struggle to cut back on caffeine and the vending machine.

“For optimal participation and engagement, participants have to want it,” Buckley says. “They have to really see a direct, personal reason for taking part.”

Often the reason won’t necessarily be a desire to feel better. It might be a financial incentive, a need to socialise, or to contribute towards a greater good.

The National Australia Bank offers financial incentives “to encourage and educate employees to make healthy choices”, media officer Chris Venus says.

“NAB provides an annual voluntary flu vaccination and a range of health-insurance providers offer discounts to staff, likewise with gym memberships.”

Venus says a number of the company’s major buildings house bicycle storage with shower and change-room facilities to encourage healthy behaviours.

The company also has a wellbeing web portal where staff can read tips and fill out a health check.

Boeing, the multinational aerospace group, started “Boeing on the move” in 2010 by tracking activity with pedometers after more than half its respondents to an internal health assessment said they weren’t getting enough physical activity.

More than 40,000 employees took part in the global initiative that first year, with prizes awarded to the top five staff, communications director Allison Bone says.

Participants found the program rewarding because it led to weight loss, increased energy levels and an improved sense of friendship among staff.

For Australian east coast recruitment firm Employment Office, a relay ride on a stationary exercise bike as a charity fundraiser has proved a sporting thing to do.

“Two years ago, we started an event called Tour de Office,” publicist Brooke Chapman says. The “Tour” has raised more than $20,000 each time it has been held.

The firm’s staff, clients, suppliers, family and friends each ride 30-minute legs in a continuous relay for a working week, with money raised through sponsorship.

“This year there are 20 workplaces all over the country taking part.”

Making a healthy change:

• A poor diet results in reduced productivity, so influencing employees’ eating habits is not just a moral issue, it’s good business

• Ditch pastries and quiches at meetings for fresh fruit and veg and low-fat, high protein snacks (such as hommus dip)

• Resist deadline demands for pizza and chocolate when staff are working late by pinning up menus from nearby healthy food outlets

• Offer more fresh options and fewer deep-fried options in staff canteens, and provide free water in preference to soft drink

• Instead of cake, try fruit tarts, or a communal fruit platter when celebrating birthdays.

Source: Ken Buckley, Healthworks

Ainsleigh Sheridan is a Journalist for Management Today Magazine (mtmag.com.au) AIM’s national magazine for members.