How to Engage Employees in Workplace Health: Part 2

Hi folks,

Last week’s blog suggested 3 ways to engage those ‘Yellow flag’ employees (aka the pre-contemplators) & get them to buy-in to the benefits of workplace health. This week, as promised, I’m focusing on the contemplators / relapses’. These are those employees that already have more of an interest in a healthy lifestyle &/or have made a positive start but fallen off the wagon for some reason.

If we can just re-ignite these people then it will be a relatively quick & easy result!

Here are the 3 steps to take:

1) Time – a busy few weeks is all it takes & exercise goes on the back-burner right? So let’s use your employee training time quota for short educational workshops on topics such as back care, stress management, posture, & nutrition etc. Then set up pre & post-shift on-site exercise & stretch sessions to that focus on exercises that have positive transfer to employee roles.

 

2) Motivation - Unfortunately it takes a little time & hard work for people to see results so the first few weeks can be disappointing. By getting people to work in groups (nutritional group & activity groups) we can significantly boost their commitment. Additionally, organise reward / incentive actives such as short charity runs, abseiling, water rafting, and laser-quest, to keep things fun & interesting.

 

3) Illness / injury. The flu or a shoulder injury are common set-backs & we can’t eliminate them. But, we can proactively reduce them by improving vitamin intake through nutritional education, then improving our strength, technique & flexibility through exercise sessions. Use sections 1) & 2) above to cover this.

So that’s it, by using the 3 steps from last week as well as the 3 above, you are well on your way to a healthy & high performing workforce. If you would like any help on delivering / implementing any of this then please contact me.

 

Thanks

james