As a small business owner, you are the backbone of your company. Your hard work and dedication are crucial for its success. Being good at the fundamentals of business – developing great products, delivering excellent customer service, marketing and managing the money in your business are vital for success. However, it’s as important to prioritize your health and that of your team, to ensure both personal well-being and business longevity. Here are some workplace health tips to assist you as a small business owner.
Looking after the physiological needs:
One of the most important workplace health tips is making sure that basic physiological needs are met. Having access to a restroom, a place to get drinking water, breaks to eat meals and snacks, and a comfortable working environment. When these basic needs aren’t well met, people will be unable to perform optimally.
Prioritize Self-Care:
Running a small business can be demanding, but it’s essential to prioritize self-care. Set aside time for exercise, relaxation, and hobbies. A healthy mind and body are key to maintaining productivity and managing stress levels effectively.
Comfortable, safe, and healthy work environment:
Designing a healthy and safe work environment is pivotal. Ensure proper ventilation, good lighting, and comfortable furniture. Encourage a positive atmosphere by fostering open communication, collaboration, and mutual respect among employees. The better the working environment, the more likely you are to attract and retain happy productive employees.
Job security:
Business owners who consider the mental wellbeing of their team will know that productivity suffers when people don’t feel secure at work. Open communication is one way to help employees understand any changes that are happening, especially during challenging periods such as recessions and downsizing when there is a greater risk of redundancies and layoffs.
Remuneration and benefits:
Feeling that you are being compensated appropriately for the work you do is an important motivating factor for many staff, as well as business owners themselves. A clear pay scale and progression routes can enable employees to benchmark themselves and to understand their development opportunities. This is great for improving mental wellbeing.
Sense of community and connection:
We all crave connection with others. We want to feel a sense of belonging to a community. It takes time and effort to create a cohesive company culture, but that time will repay you over and over in improved attendance, better productivity, and reduced churn of your employees.
Reward and recognition:
Employees need to feel valued so creating a reward and recognition programme can be a great way to show them how much their efforts are appreciated. Rewards could take the form of a bonus, days off, all-expenses paid days out etc. For some employees, recognition is even more valued than reward. Whatever you decide to do, it will have a beneficial effect on your staff wellbeing.
Creating great workplaces has so many lasting benefits to the company, to you and your team and whilst making sure your staff wellbeing needs are catered for, you shouldn’t forget yourself when it comes to implementing workplace health tips. Having a trusted VA who can support your business, will also enable you to take much needed breaks from time to time so you can be working effectively as possible.
Email me at info@audreywoodva.com to find out more about how I could help you.