As more and more employees begin to see that there is life outside of work and develop a healthier work-life balance, employees and managers with open minds are given a new opportunity to recruit the best workers. By focusing on making your workplace attractive to these workers, you will become the place that employees want to work at. Here are some creative ways to attract mentally healthy, focused, and creative talent to your department or business.
Switch to Sit-Stand Desks or Creative Seating
For people who sit or are stationary most of the day, having different seating options can help with stiff or sore joints and other related problems. Over time, stationary workers are more likely to experience health problems and back problems. Sit-stand desks allow employees to choose whether to sit or to stand while working, and make it easy to switch back and forth.
Other creative seating options include exercise balls, kneeling chairs, balance stools, and saddle chairs. You can even purchase small treadmills that your workers can use while standing at their desks and working at their computers. While these might be more expensive options, once purchased they could provide a return on their money by decreasing healthcare costs and sick days due to a stationary lifestyle.
Establish Workplace Fitness Groups
Another way to encourage fitness and wellness in your employees is by establishing workplace fitness groups. Whether this involves in-office fitness classes during work hours or something simple like a daily walk through a nearby park together, it’s one way to encourage fitness and camaraderie. Of course, these activities should always be optional with no shame for those who choose not to participate.
In-office fitness classes could be something as simple as hiring a yoga instructor to come into the office once a week and teach beginners’ yoga classes and meditation sessions. It could also be something more advanced if that is what your employees prefer. When establishing office fitness classes, consult with your current employees and workers to find out what they would prefer and what they are more likely to enjoy. If you work in a large building with a gym this is even easier.
Provide Online Meditation and Workout Sessions
One more way to encourage office fitness and wellness is to provide office-sponsored online fitness sessions and meditation for employees. Managers can also support healthy breaks by allowing employees a certain amount of time a day to use these online sessions while at work. Taking a few minutes every hour for a break, a short meditation session, or a mini-yoga class can help workers be more productive and creative. If this practice is encouraged by managers and employers, workers are more likely to follow through and not feel like they are stealing company time by taking a break.
Over time, employees are more likely to be productive and get more done if they take frequent small breaks, especially if their work involves sitting at desks for long periods of time. By encouraging and modeling frequent breaks for activities such as stretching, short fitness sessions, or mindfulness, employers and office managers will likely reap the rewards of happier and more creative staff.
Move to Flex Schedules
Since the pandemic, flex schedules and remote work are becoming commonplace around the world. During the lockdown, employers experienced the benefits of having happier and more content employees. Now that so many workplaces have experienced remote working and see the benefits for their workers and themselves, they are less likely to see their remote workers as slacking or trying to avoid their tasks. In many cases, companies experience higher productivity when using remote workers or flex schedules.
Whether your flex schedule involves employees taking one day a week to work at home, allowing them to choose when and where to work each day, or simply setting an amount of time that you would prefer each person to come in the office and letting them choose when that time will be, flex schedules are likely to result in higher productivity and happier workers.
Enforce Minimum Time Off
Studies have shown the benefits of time off and vacations and we now know that employees who feel they can take time off when they are ill or need a break are more likely to be creative, have fewer mental health problems, and even live longer. One way for companies to encourage workers to take a break when they need one is by providing ample paid time off and enforcing vacation time use. While not everyone will want to leave town for a vacation, enforcing a minimum time off will both encourage those who are reluctant and will show all your workers that there’s no shame in taking a break.
Consider Offering Limitless PTO
Some organizations have moved to limitless paid time off for their employees. While this is a scary business model for companies to consider, those who have implemented it have discovered that workers actually want to work and will not continually take off more time than they should. Of course, limitless time off usually comes with some stipulations including that the time must be approved by managers (just as all PTO usually is).
When adopting this model, managers must make sure that there are stipulations for denying PTO so that it does not become harder and harder for employees to take time off. Coupling limitless PTO with minimum paid time off can help keep managers from abusing or restricting PTO too much.
Allow Employees to Bring Pets to Work
If you have an office where outside visitors are limited or workers have individual offices, consider allowing employees to bring their pets to work. Of course, there would have to be stipulations for this, such as only bringing well-trained pets that the managers have met and approved, or only certain types of pets. If any pets begin causing problems managers would have the option to ask the employee not to bring that pet back in. In large offices with many employees, this might not be a viable option as too many pets in one place could cause a problem, but for small offices with only a few workers this could be a good way to encourage creativity and increase mental health as well as a good way to get employees to take their breaks outside.
Established Company Sponsored Take-Out Days
Consider having a company-sponsored takeout day once a week. On this day, the office would provide lunch for all of the workers by ordering in a catered meal or other food option such as delivered pizza or take-out food. In a small office, employees could potentially order certain kinds of food but in a larger office that would not be practical. These mini-office parties could be a fun way to encourage social interaction, working together, and taking a break from work during lunch. Of course, attending these takeout days should not be mandatory but could be a good way to show support for your workers.
Create an Outdoor Workspace or Eating Area
If you have access to an outdoor area consider creating a small eating area or workspace where employees can get away from the office for a few hours on nice days. Many people feel smothered or stifled when they spend hours in the same room or office, and having the chance to work outside could boost creativity for these workers. It’s also a great way to encourage all your employees to get a little fresh air during breaks or lunch hours.