Many of us have sacrificed our health in the name of work. Thousands of Americans give up extra sleep for their jobs, while others resign themselves to terrible diets due to a lack of time to shop or cook.
Sometimes time crunches happen, stress crops up, and sacrifices must be made. But this can’t go on forever – continued sacrifices directly affect our health and wellness.
As an employer, it’s important to understand how impactful the health of your employees can be on their productivity – and, likewise, how the demands of work can impact their health. By providing healthful encouragement in the workplace, you can better edify the wellness of your teams, business goals, and bottom line.
Managing workplace stress and workplace health
Poor health is an expense no business can or should afford. When you consider the $225.8 billion price tag for illness in the workplace, it’s clear that promoting employee health must be a priority – for everyone’s sake.
To encourage the general health of your employees, start with the basics:
- Offer healthier food options. If you have cafeterias or vending machines, add snacking alternatives that offer real food alternatives to candy. Make a point to bring healthful options to company potlucks, and offer resources for employees interested in whole foods diets.
- Encourage physical activity. If your workplace is able, set up a gym or offer a stipend to employees who want to join an athletic facility. If that’s not possible, try walking meetings or look into starting a company sports team.
- Promote mental health. In addition to physical health, it’s important to promote mental and emotional health habits in the workplace. Employees who feel supported and valued are more likely to report feeling healthier overall.
It’s not possible to force employees to make positive lifestyle changes. However, your organization can take steps toward making health both accessible and comprehensible – especially employee heart health.
The effects of employee heart health
Heart disease is America’s costliest business expense. The effects of this may not manifest until later in life, but the consequences are always the same.
The average employee with heart disease takes more absences than others, costing $1,100 extra per year. Their overall medical expenses reached $330 billion in 2020, including funds from lost productivity.
Even the indirect costs associated with employee heart disease are extraordinary. Some estimates suggest expenditures of $130 billion, with more than $53 billion spent on high blood pressure care each year.
With so much on the line, heart health should be the biggest priority of your corporate health plan. However, knowing how and where to start is easier said than done.
Simple methods of promoting heart health
Unlike traditional health plans, employee heart health programs focus on tangible methods of improving cardiovascular fitness. The most effective programs cover a wide variety of approaches so employees can pick and choose what works best for their lifestyle.
I suggest starting with three steps:
- Reducing workplace stress. This includes changing leadership styles to be more open, less secretive, and more accessible. Employees are 40% less likely to experience heart attacks while working for good bosses.
- Investing in employee success. Your team should feel comfortable asking for mental health days, PTO, and time for doctor’s appointments. You may also want to provide access to on-site or near-site clinics and regular health screenings.
- Offering comprehensive wellness counselling from a third party. This may include smoking cessation resources, nutrition counselling, weight loss programs, and even metabolic health coaching.
Maintaining a healthy workplace is critical to the success of any business. By taking steps to reduce stress, promote wellness, and encourage regular check-ups, you create a culture of health that positively impacts employees, productivity, and profits.
Keep in mind that the restoration of employee heart health is not necessarily a fast-paced process. While there may be some quick wins along the way, heart health is primarily a long term plan for the future.
One of the best and most efficient of these long term plans includes metabolic health coaching. Implemented correctly with experience in your industry, cardiovascular health coaches save thousands of dollars, hours of productivity, and the lives of your priceless employees.
Improve cardiovascular health with metabolic coaching
When it comes to employee heart health, metabolic coaching is one of the most comprehensive and impactful programs available.
A good metabolic coach will:
- Evaluate an employee’s current lifestyle and health
- Develop a personalized plan to help improve their cardiovascular fitness
- Provide support and accountability throughout the program
The beauty of metabolic coaching is that it can be done remotely, which makes it a great fit for distributed teams or remote brands.
Additionally, metabolic coaching may be more effective than other forms of wellness counselling by helping employees tangibly reduce their healthcare costs.
If you’re curious to learn more about commercial metabolic health coaching, book my business coaching program to get started.