Employee Wellness Blog

Life gets busy.

As a result, our mental health often gets put on the back burner as it’s an unseen and easily forgotten aspect of health.

May is Mental Health Month, a perfect time to check in on your employees’ mental health status. It’s not necessarily an easy topic to discuss, but starting the conversation can lessen the stigma while providing education.

Sadly, less than half of working adults feel employers support employee well-being, a recent American Psychological Association survey revealed.

That lack of support can be devastating to employees, especially when you consider 1 in 5 Americans are dealing with mental illness.

If you want your employees to feel supported, here are six ways to focus on employee mental health:

Ah, time.

The ever-elusive intangible object we can never get enough of on any given day.

While it’s true we all get the same 24 hours in a day, some of us never seem to make the most of those hours. If you find yourself rushing between tasks or always running behind, it may be time to re-evaluate how you tackle your day.

Luckily, there are effective time management strategies that anyone can implement, including planning ahead, setting goals correctly, and getting organized.

Below, we offer insight into how to best manage time in a way that leads to a lot less stress!

With the warmer weather comes sunny skies and more outdoor activities.

It also means an increased chance of sunburn. 

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, a perfect time to remind employees that this most widely-diagnosed cancer is also the most preventable. Most skin cancers are caused by ultraviolet (UV) exposure, which comes from the sun, tanning booths, and sunlamps.

One in 5 Americans will be diagnosed in their lifetime with skin cancer, and between 7,000-8,000 people die from melanoma every year.

Luckily, most skin cancers are curable when caught early.

Share with your employees the importance of annual dermatology skin scans along with wearing daily sunscreen. You can also spread the word on how to spot early skin cancer warning signs.   

Here’s a look at valuable information to share with your employees this month:

Unfortunately, measles have made a comeback in the United States.

Current measles cases in the U.S. are the highest documented since measles was eradicated 19 years ago, according to a recent Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) media statement. Two recent outbreaks in New York and Washington State are to blame for the largest and longest-lasting cases since 2000.

As an employer, you may be wondering how you can protect your staff.

Fortunately, it’s as simple as encouraging the MMR vaccine, which protects against three diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella.

Here’s some insight as to what measles is, what the current vaccine recommendations are, and how to protect your staff.

Want to live to be 100?

It’s possible.

There are several “Blue Zones” around the world where longevity isn’t uncommon.

These areas prioritize healthy living, making it easier for residents to make healthy choices. This includes places like Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California.

What if you could do that for your own employees and workplace?

In this article, we share the nine Blue Zones “secrets” of living a long, healthy life, and how you can bring those elements right into your workplace.

May is the perfect month to develop your company’s wellness program if you haven’t already done so. 

If you have a wellness program, rev it up by celebrating Global Employee Health and Fitness Month (GEHFM). This month-long celebration is a national observance of fitness and health in the workplace. 

Join in with other workplaces around the country. Here’s a look at the numbers: 

• 28,575 participants 
• 38 states participating
• 72 cities participating
• 6,621 companies & organizations participating

Below, we share how you can get your employees involved with four different weekly activities, and a celebration at the end of the month to wrap it up. 

Without a doubt, walking is one of the easiest ways to start exercising.

Even if you hate working out, walking is a great way to get into cardio exercise. Plus, a little walking is better than no exercise at all. It gets your blood flowing, strengthens muscles, and helps your body burn fat.

One recent study found that walking just two hours per week can start reducing your risk of disease that may otherwise shorten your life. 

Still need some convincing to get moving?

Here’s a list of 20 benefits of walking daily to share with everyone you know:

Stress can change your life.

And while there’s no avoiding stress, there are ways to alleviate it.

This is especially important since leaving stress unmanaged for too long can have a powerful impact on health.

Studies show that chronic stress can lead to serious health issues like accelerated aging, digestive disorders, and cardiovascular disease. Employees who are stressed also tend to dread work days, procrastinate, and have mood swings in the workplace.

Yikes.

The good news is, you don’t have to let stress get the best of you.

Next time you feel stress levels rising, we encourage you to try one of these stress relief activities:

When you wake up each morning, do you start your day off in a rush?

If so, it might be time to consider creating a familiar morning routine to slow you down.

Morning routines can increase productivity, positivity, health, and reduce stress throughout the day.

Developing a morning routine can be difficult, but is worth the effort. For non-morning folks, giving yourself something to look forward to in the morning (coffee, anyone?) can make it easier to get going.

Starting off the day organized builds confidence that the rest of the day will go smoothly. When you have a productive morning routine, it’s guaranteed to make your morning that much more efficient.

Ready to get started?

Here are 5 easy ways to start the day off right:

Technology makes it easier than ever to learn about health issues and make healthy choices. 

Whether you’re looking to add more steps into your day or get your full 7 hours of sleep, there are apps for creating a healthier lifestyle.

There’s plenty of health apps out there, but the best ones are the apps you’ll actually use.  

If you’re looking for health and wellness ideas in the workplace, start with what your employees are already using — cell phones. You might as well make health and technology work together, right?

Here we share our top 5 apps for everything from meditation to weight loss.