Workplace well-being

Within our own organisation, we promote ‘Walk a Mile’.  It was revealed that 55% of UK workers eat lunch at their desks and half of us only get up from our desks to go to the toilet during the whole working day.  Walk a Mile is exactly how it sounds.  We encourage all of our staff members to take the time on their breaks to walk a mile.  The act of walking significantly benefits our health, even in small distances.  Walking is proven to lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes, increases oxygen supply to all our cells, meaning we will have more energy and healthier looking skin! Walking even boosts our immune system and allows us to take in some all-important vitamin D!

There are so many benefits of walking that we feel it is vital we do more.  It is common perception that walking doesn’t benefit our health as opposed to how running, cycling or working out in a gym would.  This is completely untrue.  Just because walking is something that most of us do naturally, does not mean we aren’t benefitting from it.

This is why ‘Walk a Mile’ is so important in our organisation and it should be in yours, too!

The beauty of technology now allows us to have everything we need at the tip of our fingers.  There are countless apps that we can download to help us, but one in particular is an app called Headspace.  “Meditation has been shown to help people stress less, focus more and even sleep better. Headspace is meditation made simple.  We’ll teach you the life-changing skills of meditation and mindfulness in just a few minutes a day.”

From one-man-bands to large enterprises, if managers aren’t used to dealing with ill and / or absent employees, then making your staff feel cared for isn’t particularly easy.  What to say, when to say it, when and whether to intervene, how much to communicate with your employee, how to interpret the doctor’s Fit Note, how to make sure you’re staying on the right side of the law - there’s so much to deal with.