Handy Guide For Employers To Support Employee Health During The Pandemic

Published Link: Femina

Employee wellness has always been the most vital aspect of an organisation’s growth and success. Since the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic, majority of individuals have embraced working from their respective homes. Anjan Pathak, Co-Founder & CTO, Vantage Circle, says, “The remote working culture eradicates the need to commute to work, involving sitting in one position for prolonged hours. This takes a toll on the physical as well as mental health of working professionals. While remote working can bring many benefits for employees like saving the cost of commuting to office and lunch expenses, flexible working hours, and many more, at the same time, employees experience many disadvantages like feelings of isolation, difficulty maintaining work-life balance, never-ending work hours, and other such downsides that alter the overall employee experience.”

In the pandemic-ridden world, employers have discovered many stressors for their employees working from home or elsewhere, which were not prominent during earlier days, when life was normal. According to the SHRM COVID-19 report, 45 per cent of employees feel emotionally drained from their work every day. “Organisations must consider some techniques to prevent burnout, social isolation, demotivation, distractions at home, and many more of such challenges of their remote employees,” advises Pathak.

Employee health initiatives and practices have been paramount for employers in this ongoing battle against COVID-19 to protect their workplaces from the deadly virus. Pathak adds, “As rightly said, healthy employees are happy employees, and hence, workplace wellness trends have become indispensable for employers across the globe. A culture which promotes employee health and wellbeing contributes to their employee productivity as well.”

According to the 2021 MMWR report, the percentage of adults with recent anxiety symptoms or a depressive disorder have increased from 36.4 per cent to 41.5 per cent. Given that employee physical and mental health is directly proportional to organisational success, Pathak says that wellness solutions in the workplace should acknowledge both physical as well as mental wellbeing.

The Solution:

Pathak lists some techniques to ensure workplace wellness.

• Encourage Regular Exercise

Working for prolonged hours sitting with the wrong posture can lead to several health issues like back pain, spondylitis, etc. One should invest some time to work on their health to nurture their physical and mental wellbeing. Exercising regularly will help strengthen bones, improve blood pressure levels, and boost cardiovascular health.

Tip: Employers can provide virtual fitness training sessions for their employees and help them stay fit. In such sessions, they can also invite fitness trainers and highlight the importance of exercising to motivate employees further.

• Promote Meditation

Out of all the hustles of the whole day, everyone seeks mental peace. Meditating for some time every day is beneficial to eliminate negative thoughts, ease stress, and improve concentration. It also leads to improved perception, which supports critical thinking, better clarity in decision-making, and crisis management. The meditation need not be for long hours; even five to 10 minutes daily will help employees feel relaxed and energised for the day.

• Acknowledge The Role Of Loneliness And Isolation

Social gathering events, coffee breaks with teammates, informal get-togethers after work, and other such impromptu face-to-face times are out of the question in the remote working environment. This sudden shift has led to employees feeling isolated and lonely. It can eventually result in depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

A responsible employer must check in with their employees and ask them how they are doing. They must be aware of any significant changes they notice in the personality and behaviour of their employees and address it. Curating questions in behavioural aspects in employee surveys might also help employers derive the mental state of their employees.

• Incentivising For Good Fitness Practices

Appreciating and socially recognising employees for embracing a healthier and fitter lifestyle, like completing wellness challenges or participating in online fitness sessions, can motivate them and other team members. Some mobile applications enable employers to conduct wellness challenges and reward employees with digital redeemable rewards.

To sum it up, Pathak says that incorporating effective solutions to ensure the wellbeing of employees will contribute to the success of the organisation. “Some of the benefits of a healthy workforce include reduced absenteeism, increased productivity, improved work culture, reduced work related stress, increased retention, etc. Healthy employees embark on happiness, job satisfaction, better performance, and engagement. It further nurtures a healthy work environment, and by reducing employee turnover, makes the organisation a better place to work in,” concludes Pathak.