Would you like to work for a company that celebrates workplace wellness? Winners of the inaugural Employee Recommended Workplace Award share their tips for workplace wellness.
Be open to new ideas
Create a workplace that celebrates people
Danny Soucy, Executive Director of the New Brunswick Association for Community Living, reveals that one of their workplace wellness strategies is celebrating staffs’ milestones. Examples include staffs birthdays and sending personal emails. “ We make sure we have potlucks or socials that are happening here and there throughout the year. Everybody can come and share life, that type of thing. That culture is nourished here at the office or throughout our offices and it keeps growing,” Soucy said. All of these initiatives endorse a celebratory environment that causes staff to flourish and grow.
Offer programs that promote health and wellness
Sheila Kendall, Vice President of Human Resources at L.V. Lomas states that the company has a variety of programs and initiatives that promote health. This includes health checks, wellness fairs, education sessions, weight management, a health and safety committee and much more. Kendall says that offering a variety of programs will provide an opportunity for staff to participate in a program that interests them.
Integrate physical activity into the office space
Colleen McCarville, Vice – President of Human Resources at Killam Apartment Real Estate says that her company is intentional in integrating physical activity in office space. “ Wellness is every day, it’s part of what we do here at our offices and we don’t think of it as wellness programming, it really is how we do our work,” said McCarville. She also added that they have meetings over the treadmill and that the fitness classes are offered to employees. The success of their workplace wellness strategy is that the lines are blurred between fitness and work.
Consistent communication is vital to a workplace’s success
For Scott Foster, Director of Sales and Marketing at NEBS PAYweb and Payce payroll, the key to workplace wellness strategy is constant communication with their staff. Practicing good communication can be as simple as sending an email to a member of staff when there is a new visitor in the office.
Focus on the Family
Michael Duschenes, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, reveals that incorporating employees’ families in the workplace is important. His company has a family-friendly facility and the building is filled with blackboards. “It’s not uncommon to see blackboards full of math on the top section and down at the bottom doodles of cats or fish because we have a lot of events where we have families come into the building.” Duschenes’ company also hosts weekly family nights in the company’s restaurant.
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Does your company have any workplace wellness strategies? Comment below!