The alarm rings and you’re already feeling sluggish. Oh no, you think, it’s a new day. It’s normal to feel this lack of motivation once in a while. You may have also noticed a serious dip in pep or productivity among your colleagues at work. Maybe it’s temporary but, if steps aren’t taken to reduce stress at work and help your workers get their motivational mojo back, you may find yourself paying a very literal price.
Stress can wreak havoc on your physical and mental health, sure, but it also targets your financial health. Consider this: Work-related stress can cost your company as much as eight days of productivity every month. Yikes!
What can you do to combat this hidden expense? The answer is actually quite simple: Focus on employee wellness at work.
The Advantages of Putting Worker Wellness First
When you prioritize the health and happiness of your workforce, you’ll find that certain expenses start to decrease. People take fewer sick days, which saves you money. Employees have fewer on-site accidents and injuries because they aren’t tired or stressed, which saves you money. And happy employees stick around for years longer than their burned-out counterparts, which drastically reduces turnover costs, saving you money.
But there are also more organic, less number-driven advantages to emphasizing employee wellness. When employees feel better, they work better. They’re better-equipped to deal with the unavoidable stresses of their job and can solve problems more creatively. People also collaborate more effectively when they’re healthy and happy. More gets done, productivity goes up, and so too does revenue.
So, if you look at it that way, not only does employee wellness save you money, it can actually be quite profitable!
How to Cultivate a Pro-Wellness Workspace
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for workplace wellness. Every business is different and every employee has unique needs. But don’t let that discourage you! In fact, all this means is that there’s that much more opportunity for your company to find what works best for you.
For example, a fully remote team will likely not benefit much from office yoga classes, since there is no office to go to! On the other hand, an office-bound team may benefit immensely from free access to healthy snacks and meals. It saves them money and time since they don’t have to worry about what they’ll eat at work and it guarantees that your employees are filling their bellies with wholesome, nutritious food, which people need to perform at their best.
And that’s just one example. Here are just a few other things you can do to put employee wellness at the forefront of your workplace’s priorities:
Encourage a Healthy Work-Life Balance to Reduce Stress and Lack of Motivation
One of the biggest work-related stressors people face is simply not having enough downtime to recharge their batteries. Especially now that the delineation between being on-duty and off-duty is getting blurrier, people feel like they’re always at work. And that constant “on” feeling can lead to serious burnout and even resentment.
That’s why prioritizing idle time is one of the easiest and most important things you can do for your employees. Make sure your workers are aware of time-off policies and encourage down time. It might feel counterproductive to encourage your workforce not to work, but giving your employees a chance to rest will make their active hours more productive.
Build a Positive Company Culture by Hosting Wellness Challenges
Everyone loves a little friendly competition! And even the less competitive members of your team might enjoy supporting their colleagues, or the accountability that competition provides. Host weekly or monthly challenges that encourage your employees to practice healthy habits, like meditating or going for a short walk every day. Not only does this work facilitate gradual behavior change that leads to long-term health and wellness, it can also foster communication and help build a positive, healthy company culture. Plus, having accountabilibuddies on-hand can be a nice boost on those odd days when a lack of motivation is still hard to shake.
And while external motivators like cash bonuses, don’t incentivize as well as internal motivation does, rewarding challenge winners with something small can add an extra competitive edge that spices things up without raising the stakes to a stressful level. Just keep it fun!
Add a Little Fabulous to Your Workplace
The Fabulous app uses the latest in behavioral science to teach users how to make small, sustainable changes to their everyday habits. In just a few short weeks, users learn how to build keystone habits that have positive ripple effects in other parts of their lives. And they do it by participating in fun and engaging short-term challenges or by embarking on longer-term journeys, all designed to help users improve in whatever specific area of their lives that they wish, from eating better to focusing on deep work.
And now, you can bring our award-winning wellness app to your workplace with the Fabulous for Work program! We at Fabulous will help you and your employees reach your personal and professional goals. Whatever behavior changes you’re looking to achieve, we’ll help you get there and we’ll be right beside you every step of the way.
If you’d like to bring Fabulous to your workplace, click here or go to thefabulous.co/work to learn more and sign up today! Don’t let a lack of motivation stop you!
