Who Else Wants Confident and Courageous Employees?

In 1982, I weighed 238 lbs. and was out of shape. Through diet and exercise, I lost 30 lbs. in 30 days, 50 lbs. in 6 months, and 70 lbs. in one year. I also completed two Olympic distance triathlons during that time. The same principles that transformed me can transform your organization.

Wellness in the workplace is important for your employees and your organization.

I kept bicycling and have logged about 100,000 miles. When I don’t cycle, I go on four to seven mile walks to keep up my six-days-a-week exercise routine.

Wellness remains one of my top priorities.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV

[Tweet “”When you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” – Bobby Albert”]

Benefits

If you can help your employees improve their overall well-being in a holistic way (mind, body, spirit, and emotion) they will…

• Develop higher self-esteem,

• Be more confident in who they are,

• Be more content with what they have, and

• Become courageous in how they live their life.

Now, do I need to tell you how productive and customer-centric an employee would be if they had confidence, contentment, and courage?

For the past few weeks, we have been talking about what a strong, inspiring culture looks like.

The ERC (Employers Resource Council) compiled a list of characteristics of “great workplaces that excel at the attraction, retention, and motivation of top performers” based on 15 years of surveys and interviews. ^[1]

Emphasizing wellness in the workplace corresponds with an attribute in the ERC report.

ERC noted the following about great workplaces:

Great workplaces genuinely care about their employees’ well-being. They offer wellness options that help employees develop healthy lifestyle behaviors as well as provide an array of benefits which support their employees’ health and personal welfare.

Every leader can improve their culture by encouraging wellness in their workplace.

My Take

The following are a few ways our company helped employees to develop healthy lifestyles and behaviors:

• Wellness Fair – Once a year we would bring in health care providers as part of our Wellness Fair. They would teach our people about healthy living, and provide a variety of free health screenings.

• “Move It and Lose It” – Once or twice a year, we would have weight-loss contests.

• Flu Shots – Each fall we would have a health care provider come on-site to provide the shots. We encouraged our people to save their paid-time off/vacation/sick days for vacation and not to be off due to sickness. The shots were for the whole family so our employees could avoid being off due to sick family members.

• Fitness Gym Memberships – We paid 50% of memberships.

• Emotional Health – We did several things to help our people deal with their emotional health, you can read more about it in the blog post, “What Does Dr. Seuss Know About Building an Inspiring Culture?”

• Chaplains – We subscribed to an employee assistance program called Marketplace Chaplains. These chaplains made weekly work-site visits. The employees knew it was okay to stop with their work to visit with the chaplains. These chaplains were available for the whole family 24/7. They also made hospital visits and conducted marriages and funerals for employees and their families.

As leaders, we have a great opportunity to improve our culture by encouraging wellness with our team. You’ll lead more effectively when your people see that you care about them and their wellness.

[Tweet “When you have your health, you have everything. When you do not have your health, nothing else matters at all.” ―Augusten Burroughs”]

How do you promote wellness with your team? – Please leave a comment on this blog post.

PS: Here are links to the first nine posts in this series on great workplace cultures.

1. How to Win in the Marketplace
2. Two Ways Leaders Can Improve Their Cultures
3. How to Hire the Right People
4. Are You Investing in Training and Development?
5. 7 Ways You Can Up Your Communication Game
6. The Secret Every Leader Needs to Know
7. What Does Dr. Seuss Know About Building an Inspiring Culture?
8. An Uncommon Way to Grow Your Business
9. 6 Ways to Achieve Work/Life Balance

 

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Footnote(s):

[1] yourerc.com “HR Insights Blog” ERC (Employers Resource Council), 5-Sep-2013 (12-Aug-2014).