Workplace Wellbeing the Eazy Way

Promote Healthy Eating

Share recipes and snack ideas using your internal communication boards. If you’re in the workplace, offer fruit and healthy snacks rather than junk food.

Introduce a Wellness Programme

As part of our LMS, the Learning Centre, we have created a new area for Wellness and Employee Wellbeing called ‘Moments‘. We want to invite learners to take a ‘moment’ for their personal wellbeing and practice self-care. Our Wellness Consultants have created short modules on topics like Occupational Burnout, Mental Fitness, Remote Working and more, and are a great way to introduce wellness to your staff and promote a culture of wellbeing in the workplace.

Try a Plank Challenge

One of the wellness activities that we introduced at EazySAFE was a ‘plank challenge’, where everyone would stop and do a 1 minute plank every hour. It’s fun and really makes you appreciate how long 60 seconds really is!

Try circulating a Newsletter or a Notice Board

Everyone engages in personal wellbeing or self-care in a different way, why not share ideas? Last year, we introduced a photo sharing competition to share your #WellnessMoments and the ideas were amazing!

Complete VDU Ergonomic Assessments 

Not to toot our own horn, but these are a real game-changer for employees. Your workstation has a huge impact on your overall health and there are simple things you can do to make your set up better.

While we’re on the topic of VDU assessments…

Combat Eye Strain

We are all using screens more than ever, from TV to our smartphones to working with VDU’s. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of blue light glasses to help reduce the amount of blue light from screens entering my eyes. But then I learned they’re a bit of a myth! The College of Optometrists states: ‘The best scientific evidence currently available does not support the use of blue-blocking spectacle lenses in the general population to improve visual performance, alleviate the symptoms of eye fatigue or visual discomfort, improve sleep quality or conserve macula health.’ 

• EyeLeo is a handy PC/Mac application that reminds you to take a break for your eyes.
• Time Out also reminds you when to take a break.
• Pangobright is a free utility for Windows that dims the light on your screen according to your preference.
• Some smartphones also have optimisation options depending on the lighting conditions, so you aren’t always looking at another screen in full brightness. Here are guides I found on how to do this.

Complete regular employee temperature checks

Not that kind, the other one! Understanding employee morale is a tricky one, but regularly completing employee engagement tools like surveys can help with retention and attraction for future hires. Temperature checks are quick short surveys that are consistent in the line of questioning so that you are comparing like with like. I found this 3.5 question idea here.

Support for New Parents

We have spoken before about providing support for mothers returning from maternity leave and would recommend checking out these helpful blog posts. Another great support for new parents is family leave, such as paternity leave or flexible work schedules while they adjust to parenthood.

Give Back Initiatives

Giving back, donating and volunteering have been proven to boost our mental fitness. It’s known as the “helper’s high.” In The Well, the EazySAFE office, we have introduced multiple initiatives to help local charities and voluntary organisations. One idea I’d love to share came from Alan, (a man fond of puns and catchy names!), called ‘Caffeine for a Cause’.

In our kitchen we have a jar for people to donate their spare change when they have their daily caffeine fix. Every month the proceeds are given to a different charity nominated by someone in our building. Such a simple idea that has touched so many charities. Thanks Alan!

Host Lunch & Learns

One thing I really miss from being in the office is the opportunity to eat and share ideas together. While we’re working remotely we have added virtual talks to our calendar to promote topics. For #WorkplaceWellbeingDay2021, we invited Alan White to join us for a 1 hour talk on Mental Fitness and Managing Emotions while we are in lockdown.

If you can’t organise an external speaker, why not ask for volunteers to share their knowledge on a particular topic or project they’re working on? You never know what you might learn about your colleagues and it’s a great way for new hires to get to know each other more.

We’ve also watched Ted Talks with popcorn and snacks and invited discussion after to share our learnings.

Happy #WorkplaceWellbeingDay2021 – here’s to a safe and healthy day for you and your team!