Many companies are now promoting well-being programs in the workplace that aim to improve their employees’ quality of life, and rightfully so.

On average, Americans who work full-time spend more than one-third of their day, 5 days a week, at their workplace according to a report by the U.S. CDC.

Companies not only have the responsibility to maintain workplace safety, they also have an expanding role to support their employees’ overall wellness.

Promoting physical health is just one of the many initiatives that businesses should focus on. Employees who are physically active have been found to:

• Have lower healthcare costs.
• Require less sick leave.
• Be more productive at work.

These findings should motivate companies to help enhance their employees’ physical health.

We wanted to know what employees think would be a good way for companies to help improve their physical wellness. We polled the Search Engine Journal Twitter community to find out.

How Could Your Company Help You Improve Your Physical Health?

Here are the results from this #SEJSurveySays poll question.

According to SEJ’s Twitter audience:

• 44 percent responded that their company can help improve their physical health by providing healthier eating options.
• 38 percent answered that having fitness classes at work will help.
• 11 percent stated that their company should promote info on healthy living.

Seven percent of the respondents offered other ways of how their company could help support their physical well-being.

(2 of 2) …… offer discounts at select local healthy food outlets. and bring in outside professionals to educate on everything from proper workout techniques and ideas to understanding calories, healthy eating, etc.

— Sam Hollingsworth (@SearchMasterGen) February 1, 2019

Covering the cost of gym/sports club memberships

— Abby Hamilton (@abbynhamilton) January 30, 2019

Having a gym on site or covering the costs of a gym membership should be more than enough. Both do enough for employees to not have good excuses to neglect exercise. Standing desks are also a great idea.

— Caleb Elliott (@ElliottSEO96) January 31, 2019

Benefits/bonuses for cycling/running/walking to work. Base the benefit/bonus on total distance of self propelled commuting over the month. Easy to track with a phone and @Strava. Or incentivise exercise in general – earn time off by logging training hours.

— Lee Macklin (@macklin_lee) January 29, 2019

Fitbit based fitness challenges, which also reduce our work-sponsored health insurance premium

— Sinji Hemachandra (@SinjHema) January 29, 2019

Meditation and mindfulness spaces and breaks.

— Erin Schroeder (@erinbschroeder) January 31, 2019

Remote/home work is the obvious choice. Makes a world of difference in an employee’s health.

— Guy Krenn (@SayGuyNotGee) January 31, 2019

Partner with local gym for discounted memberships / perks 🙂

— Kayla Soders (@kaylasoders) January 30, 2019

Scheduled group breaks to get our legs moving. Potentially a walk outside with some healthy conversation.

— Michael Brown Jr (@MegaMikeJr) January 30, 2019

Why Companies Should Focus on Employee Well-Being

There are plenty of ways for companies to help improve their employees’ physical health.

The CDC Workplace Health Resource Center recommends Physical Activity in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers, which outlines nine evidence-based strategies that employers can take to help employees increase physical activity levels.

Aside from physical well-being programs, companies should also focus on mental, financial, and even spiritual health.

There is growing evidence to support the idea that well-being drives performance. This is why more companies are offering a wide range of wellness programs.

Why Marketers Should Value Self-Care

While companies should provide an opportunity for their employees to achieve overall wellness, employees also have to realize the importance of self-care.

Marketers often face various work-related challenges that lead to stress and burn out. Learn how you can overcome them with these posts from our SEJ contributors:

To support marketers in their journey to wellness, Search Engine Journal just launched a new column dedicated to self-care, called FridayFocus.

In this column, we’ll talk about a variety of topics related to self-care practices. Find out what it is and how you can take part.

Have Your Say

How could your company help you improve your physical health?

Be sure to have your say in the next survey – check out the #SEJSurveySays hashtag on Twitter for future polls and data.

Image Credits

Chart created by Shayne Zalameda

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