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The average working adult spends a majority of their time in the workplace in one capacity or another. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the average number of hours employed people spent working came to 8.09 hours a day in 2023. Eight hours is about half the time someone spends awake in a given day. With so much time spent in the workplace, it can be easy to let healthy habits slide.
But with employee burnout worsening in recent years and staff often feeling stressed, exhausted and less engaged at work, it’s never been a better time to embrace health and wellness initiatives in the workplace. For managers, a key starting point in any employee health and wellness initiative is to simply start by encouraging healthy habits in the workplace.
Encouraging healthy habits is something I do as a business owner myself. I know how important it is to put the health of my employees at the forefront of each workplace I oversee, and making these habits easy to achieve for my employees goes a long way to creating a supportive, positive workplace.
Your staff is spending a good portion of their day at work. By encouraging healthy habits and providing space for your employees to put them into practice, you’ll be actively contributing to a workplace that centers health and wellness.
Hydration
Water is vital to every person’s health. It plays a key role in the overall functionality of the human body, from maintaining body temperature to carrying nutrients to cells. With just about every major system in the human body relying on water to function properly, it’s important for all team members in the workplace to be hydrating on a daily basis.
According to the Mayo Clinic, on average, a person needs at least nine to 12 cups of fluid daily. This fluid can include other beverages like soup, milk and decaffeinated teas. However, a person’s daily fluid intake should primarily consist of water. By drinking enough water, your team members will feel hydrated, healthy and focused during their workdays and beyond.
To help encourage regular hydration in the workplace, I recommend making access to water easy. This can be achieved by encouraging employees to keep reusable water bottles at their desks and offering a hydration station. Hydration stations can range from a simple water cooler to a water bottle filling station. Easy access to water is a low-cost and effective way to encourage your team to hydrate regularly.
If you want to go a step further, you can also consider creating a water intake program. A recent study found that implementing a water intake program in the workplace significantly increased hydration. Employees saw positive effects on their physical fitness and blood pressure. These methods go a long way to promoting your team’s hydration and health.
Exercise and Movement
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It’s no surprise that sitting for long periods of time at a desk can lead to sedentary lifestyle behaviors and contribute to chronic health issues. However, encouraging exercise and movement where possible in the workplace can go a long way in helping combat the negative effects of sitting.
Physical activity, even in small, unstructured bursts, offers employees the chance to get up and away from their desks. These activities can include taking standing breaks at desks, using the stairs (if possible), stretching, and moving around the workplace regularly. As a manager, you can encourage these types of activities by educating your team on the benefits of physical activity and prompting team members to take time for themselves to move around.
Working exercise and movement into the work day can be a struggle, but encouraging your employees to seek it out where possible is key to helping promote healthier habits in the workplace. I know how busy the average workday can be, so consider these methods to make movement and exercise engaging where possible:
- Encourage employees to take walking discussions and meetings.
- Work brief stretching breaks into long meeting sessions.
- Provide dedicated locations where employees can stretch, meditate or otherwise perform physical activity.
- If possible, provide gym facilities that staff have access to in the workplace.
- Share stretches and other exercises that employees can do at their desks.
Stress Management
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Stress is a leading work challenge that can result in burnout, health complications and low productivity for employees. According to the 2024 Workforce State of Mind Report from Headspace, 77% of employees said that work stress has negatively impacted their physical health. Work and general life stress can quickly combine and leave employees feeling overwhelmed.
That is where effective stress management methods come in. When used, employees can see an improvement in their resilience and wellness. There are many habits and methods that you can encourage your employees to use so they can better support their mental health—no matter their preferred approach to stress management.
A simple, effective habit to encourage is to ensure that employees have adequate breaks while at work. Promote regular breaks, like lunchtime and stretch breaks, to help employees step away from work and take time to recharge during the work day. By providing employees with breaks during the day, you’ll see a significant boost to their wellbeing and productivity.
My own stress management habits for my teams don’t stop at regular breaks though. I like to encourage my employees to embrace other methods, including journaling, yoga and practicing mindfulness. These methods help provide reflective outlets to employees where they can identify stressors and process their emotions in writing, physical activity or through breathing exercises.
Encourage Healthy Habits by Leading
Encouraging healthy habits in the workplace goes a long way to not only helping your employees feel more at ease and successful at work, but also in equipping them with habits they can use in all areas of their life. The best way I’ve found to encourage healthy habits in your employees is to ultimately lead by example. This means prioritizing your own healthy habits in the workplace too.
As you begin to encourage habits like hydrating regularly and moving throughout the workday to your employees, be sure to practice these habits yourself. Remember, creating a workplace that emphasizes healthy habits will help your employees feel supported and happier at work—and there’s no better way to highlight those habits than by setting an example yourself.
