What is a healthy workplace?

Occupational safety and health policies secure the employees of organization from physical, chemical and biological hazards. The healthy workplace completes these policies by supporting employees’ health & welfare.

A healthy workplace creates a supportive physical & cultural atmosphere by operating health improvement plans and policies in workplace. It encourages a healthy life style. Another criterion of a healthy work place is cooperation between managers & staffs (superior- subordinate cooperation) to improve and promote people welfare. 

What are the benefits & profits of performing health improvement plans in workplace for your organization?

According to researches, applying health improvement plans in workplace has many benefits for organizations and employers. There are some of these benefits:

• Increase productivity & efficiency
• Decrease absenteeism
• Increase job satisfaction
• Improving the recruitment process & retention
• Increase the organizational employees engagement

Benefits & pros of applying health improvement plans in workplace for employers: 

• Productivity & efficiency improvement
• Decrease absenteeism & sick-leave(or paid sick days)
• Decrease the level of work accidents (occupational injuries)
• Increase staffs morale, encouragement, motivation and job satisfaction
• Improve organizational image and legal entity and balance the recruitment & retention process.
• Increase training efficiency & investing development
• Improve the recruitment process & employees personal interaction

Benefits & pros of applying health improvement plans in workplace for employees: 

• Increase health knowledge & awareness
• Increase mental & physical health and well- being
• Increase job satisfaction and morale
• Having a healthier lifestyle

The health promotion plans concentrating on which fields in workplace?

The health promotion plans cover a vast range of health fields in workplace, but there is more concentration on some fields refers to their importance in public health & wellbeing that are explained below:

Nutrition: Healthy foods have great effect on employees’ ability to work more efficient in their job. For instance, one of the benefits of healthy foods is improving employees’ concentration on work. Food diets teach employees about choosing healthy foods, healthy cooking methods, and healthier drinks. Implementing health promotion programs able the organizations to ensure about their staffs access to healthy cuisine in the office in addition to choosing healthy foods by them. Also, they can provide fresh fruit or healthy snacks for staff.

Physical Activity: Besides the healthy nutrition, physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Health promotion programs in the workplace provide the opportunity to consider sport plans in staffs’ daily work schedule in addition to creating a supportive environment to do physical activities in workplace.

Smoking cessation (quitting): As the risk of diseases among smokers is more than nonsmoker people, providing health promotion services at the workplace for quitting by using consulting call centers or in the office can be a valuable option to operate managers desirable Health promotion plans.

Stress Management: stress in any type generates a lot of personnel costs and expenses for an organization. Furthermore, stress is involved in many health problems such as depression, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The health promotion program can provide a platform for improving the public health and well-being of staff at the workplace, through helping them to manage their stress.

Source: Ministry of Health and Medical Education

Health Deputy – Educational & Health Promotion Office