In our latest installment of Ask the Expert, brought to you by Ideagen, we hear from Pam Bobbitt, VP of Environment, Health, Safety & Quality Solutions at Ideagen, about strategies to emphasize employee health and wellness.
Q: How can businesses use technology to ensure employee health and wellness?
This is a loaded question because there are so many different uses cases. Apps are an effective way to support programs for several reasons. They are very rich in content as they tend to focus on one specific topic. They are convenient because in today’s world, who doesn’t have a mobile device? And they can be personalized.
Gamification is used quite frequently which keeps the user engaged. Apps focusing on mental health have become quite popular and include meditation, mood tracking, or stress management.
Companies are starting to use apps for dual purposes as well. At Ideagen, we use an app that provides a global fitness challenge with themes, gamification, and sharing of photos. It’s a fun way to foster engagement with a global workforce. In the work environment, I am obsessed with the technology in the ergonomics field utilizing sensors and cameras. The data from these devices are having a huge impact in workplace design and reduction of muscular skeletal disorders.
Q: What are some ways to foster a healthy work environment?
A healthy work environment is simply establishing a set of programs that makes employees feel safe and secure. Encourage professional development via training or career path mapping as part of your standard employee evaluations. Create programs that allow employees to be recognized for achievement, the most effective ones include peer acknowledgement. Provide flexibility when possible and encourage employees to disconnect. Key elements for the success of any program are fostering open communication and facilitating feedback.
Q: What’s an effective employee wellbeing strategy?
An effective strategy should include a combination of physical, mental, and emotional health practices. The first step is creating open communication and engagement across your organization inclusive of a robust leadership training program. Establishing a technical solution that provides bidirectional communication to support your strategy becomes the foundation of all the programs you launch over time providing a consistent delivery mechanism. Employees will learn to depend on the knowledge and support provided through that solution. It should facilitate access to their benefits, employee assistance plan (EAP), wellness apps, and the latest program details. The launch of new or seasonal programs such as reminding everyone to get their flu shot or ways to get in physical activity during temperature extremes will benefit from increased participation. The technology becomes a library that employees can search for and find support when they need it.
Q: What are some ways to help employees reduce stress?
Creating an environment that fosters open communication and trains leaders on effective employee engagement is a great start. Typical work stressors are time management, work-life balance and job ambiguity. Leaders should engage in regular one-to-ones to be transparent with priorities, expectations, and goals.
These meetings also provide a positive space to discuss barriers or challenges the employee is facing and offer guidance. If an employee is feeling overwhelmed with workload, suggest breaking up the task into smaller chunks, taking breaks in between. Another strategy is to prioritize work by doing the most demanding tasks for the time they do their best work.
I always say, my brain goes into coast mode about 2 p.m. in the afternoon, so I do my more mentally taxing items in the morning. Recently, companies have become very creative in developing programs to help employees to reduce stress; fitness challenges, cooking classes, yoga classes, meditation rooms. I think the key is to remember that not everyone decompresses in the same way and having a variety of offerings will prevent employees from feeling left out, which can lead to stress. Finally, companies should remind and encourage use of vacation days. Everybody needs a recharge every now and then.
Pam Bobbitt is VP of Environment, Health, Safety & Quality solutions at Ideagen. Previously, she was an executive at Verdantix and leading EHS technology companies where she spent 12 years focused on software that helps customers ensure technology supports programs, delivers value, and drives safety improvements. Bobbitt spent 15 years as an EHS manager working in pharmaceuticals, automotive, and specialty chemical manufacturing before transitioning to the technical side.