There’s more to health than what we can visually observe. We can’t truly know if our colleagues and employees are healthy just by looking at them, or understand their metabolic health by the number of sick days they take.
Employee health can be a difficult topic, too. Other than the cursory “how are you today?” in the office, an individual’s health is very personal and businesses may not want to interfere (unless illness is causing significant problems at work – such as excessive time off or an inability to perform).
The problem is that many indicators of poor health have become normalized in the workplace. This means we become almost blind to them and don’t realize when they’re causing issues. The most common of these include:
- Tiredness
- Lack of motivation
- Physical weakness
- Brain fog and energy slumps
Not only can all of these side effects have a negative impact on your business, but they’re also all symptoms of poor metabolic health and the precursors to further illness. Just 7% of Americans are considered metabolically healthy, so unless you’ve somehow hired staff exclusively from the 7%, odds are that at least some of your employees are metabolically unhealthy.
What does this mean for you financially? In 2022, ‘presenteeism’ cost American businesses more than $150 billion. Working while sick also costs the economy a whopping $273 billion in lost productivity.
Fortunately, promoting workplace health has gained popularity in recent years. Many companies offer employees ways to improve their health both inside and outside of work, from on-site fitness classes and free gym memberships to healthier snacks and standing desks.
This is a great start to address the problem, but it’s a health equivalent of a band-aid. Remember, most people make their usual unhealthy decisions outside of work.
To really make a lasting difference to your employees’ health, education is key.
And it starts by promoting heart health in the workplace.
Why you should promote heart health in the workplace
Heart disease is a ruthless killer. It’s responsible for a quarter of all deaths in America every year, which equates to approximately 655,000 people.
That number isn’t just older people, either — almost 7% of Americans over the age of 20 have coronary heart disease.
This has a financial impact as well, to the tune of almost $220 billion each year. Since a third of people diagnosed with heart failure quit their jobs, you could lose some of your best employees to a painful, avoidable disease
At this point, I’m sure you’re starting to put it all together. Between lost productivity, higher health insurance premiums, sick days, and employees who quit, you can quickly start to see how promoting heart health in the workplace doesn’t just keep people safer, but makes financial sense as well.
A focus on heart disease prevention
Good business owners care about the health of their employees beyond the impact it can have on their bottom line. In addition to that, there are clear financial benefits of promoting a heart healthy workplace.
But we have to ask the question — what happens at 5pm?
Your staff may enjoy the free fruit and walking meetings at work, but without adequate education on lifestyle choices, odds are most will continue to make poor decisions while at home.
I’ve mentioned before that many patients on my operating table were unaware that their dietary and lifestyle choices had an impact on their heart health. Had they known otherwise, many would have made different decisions.
The good news is that there are steps that people can take to help with heart disease prevention. I recommend starting with education about:
- Exercising: Even 30 minutes of resistance exercise per day can make an enormous impact on the heart health of employees.
- Quitting smoking: Smoking may shorten lifespans by as much as 10 years.
- Managing stress: Workplace stress puts undue pressure on your heart and potentially shortens your lifespan.
- Adopting a heart healthy diet: Eating whole, real food can help employees feel happier, healthier, and more alert at work.
But with these healthy points, there can be a lot of confusion about what they mean. One day you’re told to avoid carbohydrates, and the next day you’re told to make grains a staple of your diet. Thanks to the food pyramid and decades of outdated research, we’re less sure about how to protect our hearts at work.
This is why I offer coaching for employers: to provide heart health training in the workplace. Education gives your employees the information they need to make healthier choices all the time, and not just while they’re at work.
As a result, more people can make informed decisions about their heart and metabolic health. This doesn’t just apply in the office, but also at home — particularly where healthy choices have a ripple effect on their family and friends.
Heart health training
If improving employee health is important to you, my online metabolic courses may be just what you’re looking for. These videos have one goal: to boost the health, happiness, and productivity of employees both inside and outside of work.
Each program runs at your own pace with bite-sized videos you can watch at your leisure. Depending on the series you choose to watch, your team can learn:
- What metabolic health is
- How they can assess their current levels
- How to optimize their health
You can select a video course that’s right for your employees in my course library here. Check back often to look for updates — I’m always adding new courses to help you take back control of your health.