How Your Health and Wellness Affect Your Efficiency in The Workplace – No Matter Your Age

Whether you are an employer or employee, you are interested in wellness.  As an employer, you are concerned about absenteeism, productivity, and a positive and healthy workspace.  If you are an employee, unless your place of employment offers unlimited paid sick days, you are concerned about staying healthy so you are able to work, earn a paycheck, and hopefully be seen as an indispensable employee-the type of employee who earns bonuses and promotions.

What is wellness?

Wellness is having the ability to effectively address normal stresses encountered on the job and at home, while working productively and realizing one’s highest potential.  Healthy workers and healthy bosses enjoy not only a better quality of life on or off the job, but they also benefit from less absenteeism, fewer injuries on the job, and better work productivity.   Wellness is essential for any business to be successful over a long period of time.  Wellness affects a workplace’s culture and impacts its resources and productivity. When looking at the total picture, it is easy to see that wellness affects a company’s bottom line-it’s profits.

What might negatively impact work efficiency?

Unplanned absences can drastically effect a company’s bottom line as productivity falls, meetings rescheduled, and deadlines missed.  Illness, injury, and doctors’ appointments are the most common reasons for missing work. According to statistics, chronic health situations, such as diabetes and obesity cost U. S. employers over 36 billion dollars a year.  Statistics show that employees who suffer from obesity and its health-related affects, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, miss more days of work and decrease the companies’ productivity. This is a big loss considering that statistics consider 40% of Americans to be obese. The Office for National Statistics says that while absenteeism has fallen slightly, more and more employees are suffering from presenteeism.  Presenteeism is when someone is at work and working but not fully engaged or fully productive.  Presenteeism shows up in the employee who should be taking a few more sick days to recover from an illness but has no paid sick leave and needs the money or feels threatened that an absence will cause a job loss.  Presenteeism also show up in the employee who is depressed and because of this lacks the energy and motivation needed to fully engage in work.  Experts estimate that mental health issues such as depression and  anxiety have a yearly cost of over a trillion dollars to the global economy.

What are positive impacts on work efficiency?

Wellness as a principle helps businesses and managers focus on both the physical and mental health of their employees.  Businesses that care about their employees can help by providing health screenings and health coaching.  They can sponsor wellness events that involve physical activities, such as walks or runs, baseball or soccer games. They could open these events to not only employees, but to their families.  Nutrition and resilience programs should be offered to employees.  Ideally, a space should be set aside within the workspace for some quiet time, perhaps for meditation and yoga and for some “get going time,” space should be provided for aerobic activities, such as treadmills or stationary bicycles.  Someone who has hit a slump could ride a few laps or stretch for 15 minutes and return to work renewed and therefore, more productive. Since many experts in health care are saying that “Sitting is the new smoking,” perhaps work spaces could be redesigned.  Ergonomic furniture and machines are large contributors to increased energy due to workplace comfort. Ergonomics is not only for comfort but for the promotion of better health through better posture.   Instead of the typical soda and chip/candy machine, machines or refrigerators could be stocked with healthy choices.

However, workplace wellness programs won’t work without employees committing themselves to living  healthier lifestyles.  Employees have to fully grasp that if they want to be one of  top performers at work then they need to have a high wellness quotient.  Even if you are engaged in rote or menial work,  your cognitive abilities, drive, and general health influence your work performance and sense of fulfillment.  Physical activities inspire our brains to have more variety when it comes to thinking creatively.  A positive workplace encourages creativity and increases productivity, but this positive workplace must be staffed with positive workers.  Healthy individuals are generally happier individuals because their bodies’ systems are firing properly.

How can Androgenix help?

If you want to live your best life, the medical practitioners at Androgenix are here to help. If you have any questions about how to your aging, diet, or supplements,  please contact us with your questions.   If you are concerned about how to ensure you are giving your body what it needs to be at its best or have any other concerns about any areas of your health, please contact our office and make an appointment with our staff to get a complete blood work-up and a complete physical examination. Our staff of caring healthcare practitioners are here to answer your questions and develop an appropriate treatment plan for you.  You will be monitored by our team for treatment effectiveness and side effects of any recommended treatment on a regular basis.   Our team at Androgenix is always here to support your journey to a better, healthier, and happier you.

 

References:

 

 

*Unless otherwise stated, individual results may vary depending on many factors not all patients “feel” or achieve the same results.