Wellness in the Workplace

By Maddie Morris, Business Major at UMW
Student Board Member, Women’s Leadership Colloquium @ UMW

Wellness is important in our personal lives, but what about in the workplace? I am the Group Fitness Student Administrator at UMW, and I am a business major with a math minor. Recently, I have really struggled with connecting my love for health and fitness with my background in business and math.  I was starting to feel like I would have to choose one when I went to an interview with Jessica, the Town Manager of Berwyn Heights. “Part of being a manager of a town (or business) is being a manager of your employees,” Jessica told me. She then went on to tell me about her wellness initiatives for her employees, and the light bulb inside of my head went off. When Jessica and I started discussing summer plans, she asked about my yoga background. She wanted to know if I would be willing to teach a weekly lunchtime yoga class. There I was, conducting an informational interview and discussing potential interning possibilities in a public administration field, and was asked about my wellness background. I realized then that I do not need to go into a wellness-related field because wellness is an important tool that can be used in any field.

Wellness is slowly catching on in the work world as education about the importance of it spreads. When a manager takes an interest in his or her employee’s health or well-being beyond what he or she produces, the employee tends to be happier and more content in his or her workplace. Healthier and happier employees help improve productivity, cooperation, and office moral. There are also financial implications of bringing wellness into the workplace. Healthier employees have smaller health insurance costs and take fewer sick days. As a manager, caring about your employees’ health will build community and reduce costs.

The big question now is: How do you incorporate wellness? The three key components to incorporating wellness as a manager are:

1. Model well behavior for your employees:
   1. Wear a fit bit,
   2. Bring or order a healthy lunch,
   3. Use a standing desk,
   4. Take a walking or stretching break every hour, or
   5. Bring a reusable water bottle.
2. Bring wellness into the workplace:
   1. Have walking meetings,
   2. Host a lunchtime yoga class once a week (Many yoga studios offer corporate yoga.),
   3. Buy standing desks for employees,
   4. Bring fruit, vegetables, or granola bars to supplement other office goodies, or
   5. Offer flu shots or blood pressure screenings seasonally or advertise places they are offered.
3. Create wellness incentives or challenges:
   1. Decide whether it will be team-based (teams could be by departmental or random with colored bracelets) or individual-based,
   2. Decide on the prizes- different levels (water bottle, gym bag, yoga mat, etc.) or raffles (fit bits, standing desks, etc.),
   3. Decide on the time period, and
      1. Highest number over a certain time period, or
      2. Meet a certain daily/ weekly goal highest number of times.
   4. Decide on the challenge.
      1. Focus on one part of wellness at a time, or
         1. Number of steps,
         2. Hours of sleep,
         3. Ounces of water,
         4. Hours of exercise,
         5. Minutes of meditation, or
         6. Number of fruits and vegetables.
      2. Use a point system with rewards- different amounts of points could be awarded for number of hours of sleep, number of steps, amount of water taken in, amount of exercise, number of work yoga classes attended, number of vegetables and fruits consumed, etc.