Give workers the time to be healthy

Jo Faragher

Many employers make a big noise about how they engage staff and encourage a better work-life balance. But new figures from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) suggest that perhaps these efforts should dig deeper than a proclamation on their intranet or a poster in the toilets.

The BHF has found that two-fifths of British workers feel their job has had a negative impact on their health in the last five years. More than half have become stressed due to work, with the impact of that stress shown as they put on weight, drink more or don’t exercise as much as they would like.

Of course, it’s fairly simple to set up a corporate gym membership or encourage employees to take screen breaks, but this has to be backed up by managers being less draconian about how performance is measured and the way in which work is done. It’s one thing having an on-site gym – but if you only look up from your screen for 20 minutes each day you’re unlikely to spend that time pumping iron.

Instead, managers could be more flexible about how results are achieved: a longer lunch break one day so someone can go for a run and have a shower will make them more productive in the afternoon, and often more focused on the task at hand. A culture where people feel they have to stay in the office to be considered effective just makes people unproductive and disengaged.

Likewise recruiters have a role to play in promoting employers that do more than make proclamations about work-life balance – places where bosses get the job done but encourage staff to go outside and walk at lunchtime, or where the culture is less about ‘beers and bonuses’ and instead recognises effort by allowing employees to earn a rest or the chance to reflect.

The BHF recommends that employers encourage their workforce to take as little as ten minutes every day to improve their health at work – and it’s small efforts like this, rather than swanky gyms or forcing employees to go to the on-site canteen so they spend as much time in the office as possible – that will make a business a great place to work.