As a business owner, your main priorities should be to ensure your employees are happy, comfortable, and safe at work. With many of us working longer hours than ever before, keeping active and healthy is crucial, especially in the workplace. Caring about your team and emphasising workplace wellness can be a great way to boost productivity, reduce absenteeism, as well as increase employee retention. With that in mind, here are five ways to provide a clean, healthier workplace.

Office Design

Throughout the workweek, you and your employees will spend many hours in the workplace, making it more important than ever to design an office that promotes wellness. There are various things that you can do, such as choosing the right furniture that will support employees, as well as looking at the lighting in the office to improve visibility. You may also want to examine the indoor air quality and consider purchasing an industrial ventilation system for air extraction and filtration.

Clean Up Your Act

There are many health and safety hazards that can occur in the workplace, such as a dirty or slippery floor. To reduce the risk of employees falling over, you may want to consider using floor mats in entryways. You should also be on the lookout for any mould around the premises, and ensure you clean your air vent covers routinely.

Healthy Diet

We all know how important it is to follow a balanced diet, so while it can be all too easy to reach for a sugary snack or fizzy drink to get you through the day, incorporating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables into the workplace can be another great way to encourage healthy eating. There are small but subtle changes you can make, such as restocking the staff room with healthy snacks, or stocking the vending machine with healthy options that are low in sodium and saturated fat.

Fight the Flu

No matter how big or small your workforce is, if one person catches a cold or flu, it can have a domino effect and seriously impact productivity. To keep staff healthy, you should make sure to wipe down surfaces that employees touch, such as stair railings and door handles. You could also benefit from putting up informative posters to encourage your team to cover their mouth when they cough and stress the importance of handwashing.

Use Technology

Many employees head into work even when sick, meaning they’re unable to perform at their best. Thanks to technology, many pieces of software can be used from home, meaning those who are ill can do their job from the comfort of their own home. In many cases, it’s economical for businesses to allow their staff to work elsewhere, rather than risking the chance of spreading their illness on to other members of the team.It’s only natural that you will want your workforce to feel satisfied at work, so taking an interest in their wellbeing is important. Whether it be thinking about office design, incorporating healthy snacks into the staff room, or keeping surfaces wiped down to fight the flu, these are just a few things you can do to provide a clean, healthier workplace.

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].