How small businesses can improve wellness for free

Promoting wellness among small business employees

Giant companies have on-site gyms, pools, spas, and company parties at fancy venues, but you don’t need all of those things to promote wellness among your small business employees. Being a part of your local community is a good start and allowing employees time off for volunteer hours can be a tremendous benefit to all involved. Besides, it has been said that helping others is the key to happiness.

Serving others for the sake of serving improves self-image, builds relationships and trust, and any spiritual counselor, philanthropist, or just plain nice person will attest that service to others comes back to you. Employees reaping these benefits are good for your business, and a bonus to community volunteering is that it is essentially free business networking.

Alternatives to volunteer hours

If you can’t afford to have employees off-task during working hours, remember the path of Saint Therese Lisieux was to give of herself wholeheartedly no matter what her limitations. What does this mean for your company? It means that even though you can’t fund an on-site wellness center or offer gym memberships in a benefit package, you can still believe in and encourage good health.

Do you have a small two to three person meeting? Make it a “walking meeting.” Hit the pavement, the hallways, or the stairs while you talk business.

Have ten employees? That’s the perfect softball team. Join a corporate league. It’s fun, it’s free, it’s unifying, and, again, it’s networking.

Lastly, productivity studies show that allowing employees to take mental health days can be an asset to any business. All work and no play makes Jack… disgruntled. Or, something like that. Sick days, even “vacation days,” are used for doctor’s appointments, sick children, emergencies, and other killjoys. Some of your employees may be mental health-savvy enough to integrate these days into their time off, while others may never dream of calling in sick unless it is truer than true.

The freedom and relief of not lying about a day off is a conscience clearing productivity booster. Knowing the option is there may be enough to keep employees more happily on task.