Tips for promoting a healthy holiday season for your workers

For many, the holiday season is a time for joy, gatherings with friends and loved ones, and all the other good stuff folks look forward to the other 11 months of the year. For small business owners, however, the holiday season can be a time for unexpected challenges in the form of unexpected employee sick time. While you strive to boost sales and exceed your end-of-year targets, it's equally important to prioritize the health and well-being of your employees.

Fortunately, there are many ways to encourage healthy habits in the workplace and support your employees when they do catch an inconvenient bug. Let's dig into a few you can implement in your workplace.

Encourage employees to take time off

As a small business owner, you more than anyone understand what it's like to have a full plate. But during the holiday season, employees aren't just dealing with their day jobs, but obligations in their personal lives as well. If they're not careful, it's a recipe for burnout.

Feeling drained and unable to sleep are just two potential side effects of burnout, according to Mayo Clinic. In addition, these and other factors just increase the chances of getting sick. Prevent workers from reaching this point by encouraging them to take their accrued vacation days during the holiday season. This allows them to recharge and spend quality time with their loved ones.

The result? Reduced chances of burnout and enhanced overall well-being.

Feel sick? Stay home

That list of tasks and deadlines already seems endless. Take a day off and it only becomes more impossible to complete, right? No — that should be an employee's first thought when they're feeling under the weather. The No. 1 priority is getting better. In most cases, work can wait.

Be clear with workers that they should take sick days if they're not feeling well. This will help prevent the spread of germs so you're not dealing with an office outbreak.

Also, if possible, embrace the option of having employees work remotely when they feel a cold coming on or a few days after recovering. If they can do their job at home, it ensures work is getting done and they could experience an easier recovery without commutes at the start and end of the day.

Promote healthy practices at work

It's easy for germs to spread in any workplace — especially one where employees are meeting regularly in small rooms, using the same coffee machine and so on. You can help everybody working for you effectively battle germs with office education.

For example, consider putting up a sign over a communal sink that reminds employees to wash their hands regularly throughout the day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends people wash their hands for at least 20 seconds. No need to time themselves — folks can just sing the "Happy Birthday" song in their heads from beginning to end and that should do it.
Washing hands is especially important after a sneeze or cough.

It may also be a good idea to provide hand sanitizer throughout the office, whether employees keep a bottle at their desk or there are one or more spots to freshen up their hands in the workplace.

Having a party? Make it healthy

Yes, the holidays are a time for indulging in sugary treats, but employees will get plenty of those at home. If you plan to celebrate the holidays in the office, consider supplying healthier food choices. Provide nutritious snacks, like fruits and vegetables — maybe appropriately colored red and green pepper slices. This small change can contribute to maintaining a healthier environment and reduce the risk of post-party energy crashes.

Also, don't forget to supply plenty of water. Per the CDC, getting enough water on a daily basis is important to people's overall health.

Keep workers healthy beyond the holidays

As a small-business owner, the well-being of your employees should be a top priority, especially during the holiday season. But there's no need to abandon these strategies once you ring in the New Year. Keeping workers' health top-of-mind should be a priority 365 days of the year.

After all, a healthy workforce is a productive workforce. (And it doesn't hurt that customers will get to engage with your healthy staff.) For more advice about strengthening your small business, reach out to the Law Offices of Donald Hudspeth, P.C.

Categorised in: Starting a Business in Arizona

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