This month we are offering some useful tips for managers and staff on health and wellness that are effective in reducing absenteeism and will help improve performance and engagement among your staff.

 

Health and Wellbeing

Is your organisation suffering from the cost of absenteeism? Would you like to encourage employees to feel healthier and more energised at work?

 

Health and wellbeing have a huge effect on our ability to work well, as a healthy lifestyle increases concentration levels, helps prevent colds and stress, as well as other illnesses.

 

Reducing the number of sick days taken within an organisation can help to significantly lower costs. According to CMI (Chartered Management Institute) sick leave cost the economy £17bn in 2009, making this a serious issue for many companies.

 

We will explore the financial and emotional costs of not taking action to improve staff’s health and wellness, with a particular focus on providing useful tips on healthy living and stress. Our suggestions cut through the many recommended fad diets to present long-term, sustainable healthy choices.

 

 

DIET & FITNESS

 

DIET

Around 1 in 4 UK adults are obese (www.nutrition.org.uk). Being obese puts us at a much higher risk of many health problems, such as, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and heart disease. When it comes to diet the traditional advice of eating a healthy balanced diet is true. Ideally your daily diet should include 45% carbohydrates and 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, it is also worth noting that carbohydrates can be found in fruit and vegetables, fruits such as bananas are an excellent source of carbohydrates.

 

Protein and dairy products are also important as they keep you feeling full for longer and are essential for the body’s growth and repair.

 

Saturated fat and sugars should be limited, due to the negative impact they have on the body. The 80:20 model is best here, if you eat healthily most of the time a small amount of foods high in saturated fat and sugar such as fast food and biscuits will not have a noticeable impact on your health.[1]

 

Nutrition for the workplace centres around achieving optimal energy healthily.

In order to feel more energized at work it is best to avoid the ‘quick fixes’ that are high in sugar and caffeine such as coffee, biscuits and cakes. Here are some alternatives to encourage;

• Try to eat low GI (Glycemic Index) foods. GI ranks foods based on their effect on blood sugar in your body. Low GI foods do not lead to the temporary spike in your blood sugar levels resulting in you feeling hungrier and more tired as soon as your blood sugar crashed back down. Good examples of low GI foods are oats, apples and nuts

·        Similarly iron rich food such as green leafy vegetables and red meat are good for energy levels

·        Eat smaller portions regularly, every 2 – 4 hours, to avoid your blood sugar level dropping

·        Try to limit caffeine intake to 2 – 4 cups a day

 

FITNESS

Fitness is a crucial element of health and wellbeing. Exercise is increasingly important due to the traditionally sedentary nature of many jobs. Exercise helps to increase concentration levels and general wellbeing.

 

The NHS guidelines recommend a mixture of aerobic (running, swimming, aerobics) and strength training (weights and resistance) exercise weekly:

• Moderate aerobic activity for 30 minutes, five days a week. Or vigorous aerobic activity for 20 minutes, three days a week
• Muscular strength or endurance training, twice a week

 

Ways to make fitness part of working life for your company include:

• Setting up an office sports team or walking group
• Looking into offering reduced gym memberships to staff
• Encouraging staff to take a lunch break and to leave the office

 

 

STRESS

 

“Stress is now the most common cause of work absence” [2] As mentioned before sick leave is very expensive for companies. Health & Safety Executive (HSE) regard it as the biggest threat to businesses as in 2008/09 as approximately 415,000 people in the UK were suffering from workplace stress. Sick leave taken for stress related illnesses is often much longer than average absence periods. According to St John’s Ambulance time off for work-related stress is on average 26.8 days, compared to 2 or 3 days for physical illnesses. 

 

Levels of tolerable stress vary between people with no definitive scale to measure when stress starts having a negative impact. Triggers for stress can include individual, workplace and environmental factors and may have cognitive and behavioural consequences. We’ll look at some of these warning signs in more detail shortly.

 

The UK is known for having long working hours and employees often don’t take proper lunch breaks. This should be discouraged because having a break helps reduce stress as a temporary change in environment can help people to re-energise and de-stress.

 

THE EFFECT OF MANAGEMENT ON STRESS

In turn management style is regarded as one of the most significant contributory factors to stress levels (CIPD Conflict in the Workplace 2007). Studies such as those by Watson Wyatt Worldwide 2002 and Hay Group 2002 show that bad management leads to increasing ill health in the work place. To combat this managers should encourage clear communication with staff, hold regular reviews of work load, and they should lead by example. This could be by take regular breaks from work, having a healthy lifestyle and delegating your work when you need to.

 

SIGNS OF STRESS

To beat stress playing to your staff’s strengths can help, as this will help ensure that employees are fulfilled by their work and do not face additional stress due to a bad skills match. Management should be on the look out for tell-tale signs, such as becoming withdrawn, increased anxiety marked by outbursts, mood swings and increased absence, or a pattern in absences occurring on Mondays and Fridays.[3] In turn management can help the organisation develop an open culture where people feel comfortable expressing themselves and their concerns, so that early signs of stress are caught.

 

 

TO WRAP IT UP

 

It is clear that health and wellbeing directly impact people’s ability to work. By trying to encourage staff to make healthier lifestyle choices, and creating an environment where staff have the resources, skills and open communication to confidently tackle day-to-day challenges will see productivity soar in your organisation.

 

For more information on how to improve the nutrition and stress levels of your employees contact us. We have a range of bespoke programmes that yield measurable results in reducing stress and improving nutrition and wellness in organisations

If you are interested in finding out how we can help you enhance the performance of you staff give us a ring on 020 7407 0044 or mail edward@you-unltd.co.uk 

 

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[1] The suggestions are based on NHS guidelines.

[2] http://www.changeboard.com/resources/article/3124/promoting-health-and-wellbeing-in-the-workplace/

[3] http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/furtheradvice/signsandsymptoms.htm#individuals

.htm#individuals

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