Mala McAlpin We all know that wellness is a huge trend right now. There’s an enormous focus on integrating wellness into our lives, so much so that we’re seeing wellness cars, wellness architecture (for business and for home) and facets of wellness being incorporated into industries far removed from wellness itself.
For managers and business owners that prioritise their team’s health and happiness in order to achieve the highest productivity and satisfaction, it makes sense to incorporate wellness aspects into your business to allow for staff to rest, recuperate, ground themselves and achieve physical and mental health and clarity during business hours. The most renowned (and arguably innovators of this concept) is likely Google, known for their head office’s themed areas, gaming room, music room, hammocks and world class kitchen to name a few.
Within the beauty and spa industry, endota is a great example of encouraging wellness on the job. Their ‘support centre’ (head office) in Melbourne houses a purpose-built room complete with bean bag chairs, yoga mats and TRX for regular Qigong, yoga and meditation sessions.
Sadly, according to Australasian Leisure Management, only 9.8% of global employees are covered by a workplace wellness program (heavily concentrated throughout high-income countries in North America, Western Europe and Asia) and heavy losses are associated with unwell and disengaged staff – which means workplace wellness still has a ways to go. Here are some ideas on how to improve yours:
Meditation
Host a daily meditation session for your staff before the first appointments of the day. This can be a quick, optional 5-10 minute session so as to not affect your daily operations, but it can make a world of difference when it comes to setting the mood and focus for your team before the busy day commences. This is something that endota also engages in throughout its national collages, prior to the day’s first classes.
Wellness Tea
Stock your break room with some wellness teas for staff to drink. There are countless herbal tea options available for relaxing, focusing, grounding, stress-relief, and balancing hormones that may provide your team with some comfort when they need it most. Try My Tribe Type’s ‘Love’ concoction; an Adaptogenic plant and spice blend for stress support, sexiness, hormone balance and antioxidant support, or Awe Cosmeceuticals’ Pitta herbal tea blend, for a cooling and calming detox tea.
GWI Wellness Moonshot Calendar
The Global Wellness Institute’s new Wellness Moonshot calendar, part of their Wellness Moonshot initiative to eradicate preventable, chronic diseases, provides a call to action to create healthier cultures within companies and workplaces around the world. In order to participate, businesses simply pledge a $100 donation to the non-profit and they will receive an inspiring 2019 calendar complete with tangible monthly ideas, tips and information to engage their employees around a particular wellness theme. For example, January focused on awareness, while February focuses on actions and ideas to create a “well heart.” “Our goal is to get the leaders of hundreds of thousands of organisations to commit to healthier work cultures, and they can then in turn impact the employees they supervise in a meaningful way,” says Susie Ellis, GWI chairman and CEO.
In-house Sessions
If you have on-site practitioners such as naturopaths or nutritionists, discuss subsidising complimentary sessions for your staff, to facilitate a more holistic basis for health and wellness at home as well as work.
Clear The Air
Check in with your staff for any individual preferences, but consider burning some palo santo or essential oils to cleanse the air and calm the senses – either during treatment or throughout breakout spaces.
Create A Wellness Zone
If you have the space to allow it, create a wellness zone that staff can use in their spare time – make it comfortable and calmly-lit, with soothing sounds or guided meditation sessions available for listening.
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