subject: When Is Good Workplace Health Needed [print this page] As they say, employees are a company greatest asset. Blue collar or white collar, staff or management, these are all employees who are very important for a company to function well. Good workplace health practice for their employees is always a big concern for all companies, no matter what industry they are in.
Having healthier employees is not just the benefit for a company being health conscious and having a safe workplace. Productivity is increased with healthier employees and safer working environment. Common workplace health practices will be discussed in this article which will give companies an idea how to execute them for their employees' benefit.
We start off by taking a look at mental health and other possible psychological issues that may affect workplace health. Some examples of mental health or psychological issues include work-related stress, harassment of any kind, being burnt out from work or violence in the workplace. Poor performance of an employee may result if these issues are not immediately tackled by the responsible people.
A person's physical and emotional health might be affected by the amount of stress that he or she might be experiencing. During times of an economic downturn, it is very important to keep an eye on the stress level of each employee. Workplace health deterioration due to stress might be apparent when employees lose interest to work, are becoming irritable and depressed, have trouble concentrating, and even lessening their social interactions.
It is important to have a viable workplace health program that will help lessen the high stress levels of employees. Getting rid of stress might be impossible, but lessening it will still be great, and by having some outdoor activities or bonding time for the employees will help a company achieve this. Employees that are given the opportunity to socialize with their co-workers away from the seriousness of work become more happy.
Two common causes of psychological problems that are overlooked in a working environment are harassment in the form of verbal and emotional abuse. Though the effects of these are not immediately seen, employees might be tortured mentally for a long time from the time the abuse took place. Workplace health policies should never tolerate any form of harassment, as this can affect an employee's mental well-being.
Another common reason that employees site that they are performing poorly is because they are burned out, which is why considering this in the overall workplace health is of the importance. Burnout is usually defined as physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress. Situations such as being burnout can be avoided with the help of the companies.
Burnouts in the workplace usually manifest itself with a person who has the notion that he or she needs to prove himself and eventually letting go of other activities beside work. More obvious behavioral changes are seen by others, and the individual gets more withdrawn and depressed with work. Helping employees form a support group for them should be considered in the workplace health program.
Harassment can be reduced or even eliminated in the workplace just by adhering to no tolerance policies. Stress and burnout, on the other hand, can be solved simply by making a company more social and basically more fun to be in. In the end, these simple measures could end up making a company fortunes as they are able to increase efficiency, interest in the workplace, lower turnover rates and higher workplace health cost savings.
