How can your employee wellness program address workplace stress?

Employees are people first. It's all about connection. Feeling safe. Being valued. Hybrid working, remote working and short contracts are drivers for oxidative stress - and that escalates anxiety resulting in changing behaviours. Cortisol escalates, blood vessels become squeezed and the pressures increase only this in inside the body. That's the worrying part. You can't remove it from the body. You have to want to change your mindset and put in both protective and preventative measures at the same time. Here is where employers can create that safe space. It's about education. Your education. Your body. Knowing what is happening to it. Only then can you implement the necessary changes. Talking to a healthcare professional, about you.

The world of work has changed, for the better in some ways. The life-work balance rhetoric perhaps or the so called 'choice' of where to work. But that's just it. It's still work. So if we refine work it will be less stressful. That starts with how do you want to be at work. Calm? In control? Orderly? Respected? Then why not ask your employee for a Wellness Intervention that enables you to perform better? After all healthy employees are what makes the workplace, not the other way around. Talking about yourself (not the qualifications or title you hold at work) is paramount. The rest are of absolutely no importance. People make organisations truly functional. It's not the other way around. That means being 'well' at work.

How is this possible? Sadly, most companies bring in the talking therapies and additional supports after an event or in response to a policy change or implementation of a new strategy. But this strategy is missing a trick. It's herding people in the same direction and for some it just doesn't work. For others, they may just nod in agreement and still take no action. I have seen it often; and it's so painful and unecessary. Health is about three simple strategies: prevention - protection - promote Specific diagnostics (Prevention) Individual Health Screening (Protection) Independent Nutrition Plan & Lifestyle changes (Promotion) This is REAL TIME information you can use to make the changes needed. Period. #stoppassingthebuck

Let people breathe. Get them out of their place of work in their breaks. Sunshine, the wind, rain and even the change in temperature all affect our health. Why? It stimulates the sensory organs. Ban employees eating at their desks. Eating is mindful. There is often little preparation work and it's eaten in haste. Sadly, cutlery is often absent as is the etiquette of drinking out of cans and bottles. It is meant to be a sensory pleasure. Time out. Remember it is a social event. Plus it is a BREAK. So use it for that purpose only. People will engage amongst themselves and share both knowledge and experience. We are meant to live, work, eat and sleep as a community. It is a shared experience. Be more childlike. Eat together.

Dedicated time for wellness during the workday (regularly, not just once a quarter) allows employees to actually make consistent progress with self-care and stress management. The key is not making it optional, and not framing it as "free time" (Let's face it: Most people will just find an excuse to work). Instead, provide a "menu" of meaningful self-care activities that all employees may choose from during this team-wide dedicate time block. They are welcome to participate together or on their own, but no one opts out. Conscious breathing exercises, gentle movement, going for a walk, sitting in the sunshine, and listening to music are a few very accessible examples.

Create eating groups. Make meals at work (which is often more than a single event) part of the working day. Simple ideas and strategies work best: Avoid the temptation to consume, excessive fried, smoked and processed and ultra ultraprocessed foods as they are often nutrient negative. They cannot sustain the body for long periods and may even be a contributory factor in many aspects of poor health outcomes. Eat communally as a shared experience. Make exercise part of the working day. I prefer to use the word movement. Calories in. Calories out. It is not about counting. It is simple. Move more at work. Make Health a pre-requisite in the working day and part of the overall employee package.