In the past year, most of businesses saw their employees exiled from the office and started working from home. Slowly, this new routine took the place of the normal office day for better or worse.
Less commuting, more hours worked, fewer pauses, more flexibility, fewer movements, more time with the family, less contact with colleagues, more back and forth to the kitchen, etc. Maybe it was easier to create a healthy work environment in the office when the team was reunited, but in any case, employees need more support than ever before to keep the focus on their health and well-being.
Knowing that there are as many work environments as there are remote workers, how could businesses achieve that? We need to think about this thoroughly. Sadly, knowing that the actual context will change at some point, some businesses chose status quo, while waiting to get back to normal. Even if health and well-being require a vision on the long term, it might be appropriate to plan short term actions to address the actual challenge.
Here are some advises if you want to act soon:
- Appoint a health and well-being leader and give him time to deploy a strategy.
- Ask the help of a health and well-being professional to support you.
- Survey your employees to understand their needs.
- Choose one or two priority actions to be taken each month and keep the one that have the most success while staying alert for emerging difficulties.
While planning your short term actions, you will be able to adapt depending on your financial capacity which might also be affected by the pandemic. Know that even small actions can make a big difference for your teams. Here are some examples:
- Plan outdoors remote meeting where everyone can take part through headphones while walking outside.
- Provide a video tutorial on how to adjust your workspace in an ergonomic way.
- Save a period during the week to discuss between colleagues about anything but work and the pandemic.
- Schedule virtual team challenges that encourage healthy habits.
With a bit of imagination and the help of professionals, review your role in the health and well-being of your employees.
*If your financial capacity is a break to your plan and you are a small or medium business, stay put for the next round of PAFEMAP subventions.