Creating a Productive Work Environment
Creating an efficient, productive work environment is an admirable goal for employers—who doesn’t want their employees to produce great work in great time? While a productive work environment would likely yield more qualified leads, a greater return on investment, and a heightened sense of employee engagement, it won’t happen overnight.
Employees with an unhealthy diet are 66% more likely to experience productivity loss.
Building a workplace culture that is task-oriented and productive takes time. Some strategies to increase employee productivity in your organization focus directly on the overall health and wellness of the employees, while others relate to the environment, management styles, or benefits. Let’s take a look at five things that could increase productivity without breaking the bank.
1. Provide Healthy Food and Drink Options
Most workplaces offer vending machines, and for those lucky enough to have them, workplace cafeterias that offer employees a chance to enjoy breakfast or lunch without leaving campus. Ensuring that high-quality, healthy food and drink alternatives are in place encourages employees to make healthier choices. If soda and candy bars are the main source of sustenance available throughout the day, your employees are going to grab—you guessed it—soda and a candy bar.
Research shows that employees with unhealthy eating habits are more likely to experience productivity loss from both presenteeism and absenteeism
Presenteeism (noun): the practice of coming to work despite illness, injury, anxiety, etc. often resulting in reduced productivity.
2. Natural Light Improves Overall Wellness
Believe it or not, the amount of natural light that shines into an office building or workplace environment can have a strong impact on the stress level, mood and behavior, and overall health of your employees. Along with the mental health benefits of natural light, there are economic advantages to this as well, as it can increase employee productivity and alertness.
Limited access to big windows and full sun? Give your employees the freedom to step outside every now and then for a break. Those 5 minute breaks might make up for themselves due to the lower stress levels and increased productivity that can be produced from the sun exposure.
3. Utilize Ergonomic Options to Increase Comfort
Data taken from the American Productivity Audit in the early 2000s reported over half of the surveyed workforce to have headaches, back pain, arthritis, or other musculoskeletal pain. Broken down, this meant workers lost an average of 4.6 hours per week of productivity due to a pain condition.
Employees who suffer from neck and back pain are 79% more likely to have high presenteeism than employees who do not.
Providing ergonomic options in the office such as standing desks, desk chairs with lumbar support, and encouraging employees to stand once an hour, can be a small way to combat the ongoing pain many American workers experience in the workplace.
4. Implement an Incentivized Wellness Program
Workplace wellness programs have proven to have positive impacts on employee engagement, productivity, and overall health of employees. The addition of a wellness program to your health insurance or employee benefits plan can be an effective, low-cost way to boost morale and health at the same time. It also shows your employees that you’re invested in their long-term health and wellbeing—not just the work they do for your company. Whether it’s introducing an incentive for walking the most steps in one month, using an onsite fitness center or gym, or choosing healthier lunch options on a consistent basis, a customized program that offers an incentive can motivate employees to make healthier choices.
If you think wellness is expensive, try paying for illness.
Employees with unhealthy diets are 66% more likely to experience productivity loss, while employees who don’t exercise experience 50% more presenteeism than employees who exercise on a regular basis. If you think wellness is expensive, try paying for illness. Making small steps in the workplace to enhance awareness and understanding of wellness can make a big difference in the long run.
5. Invest in Employee Benefits
Consider offering health insurance for your employees. Recent studies have shown that 83% of employees say health insurance is extremely important in deciding whether or not to change jobs. In addition, when isolating an entire generation, 1 in 3 millennial workers have turned down a job offer due to insufficient health insurance. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Recruiting and retaining top talent in today’s job market is essential, and investing in employee benefits can set you apart as an employer of choice.
Can PHP Help with Employee Productivity?
PHP can boost your productivity efforts to help you offer competitive employee benefits, wellness programs, and resources for your employees to assist in overall health, all aimed at increasing overall productivity.
If you’re interested in available benefit plans that might meet your company’s needs, take our simple plan finder quiz to get your match.
