Lead Your Team to Success by Supporting Their Health & Wellbeing

CredibleMind Ambassador Blog by Leo Bierman, MS, LAc | View Original Blog

May is Global Employee Health and Fitness Month. As we find ourselves amidst this COVID-19 pandemic, people everywhere are struggling and the importance of mental and physical health has never been more obvious. During this time of shelter-in-place, you can have an enormous positive impact on the lives of your employees by supporting their health and wellbeing. Here are some ways you can support the mental and physical health of your employees, and in doing so, create a healthy culture, and a thriving business.

Remember that as a manager or leader you set the tone for your employees, and the structures and expectations you create can make the difference between your team feeling stressed and burnt out, or supported and healthy. In all the recommendations that follow, there are two principles to keep in mind:

1. Be a model for what health and good work-life balance looks like. Your example sets the culture, so your team will have an easier time taking care of themselves, and feeling like they have permission to do so, if you show them by your actions that it’s okay.
2. Create formal structures and explicit expectations to support your team’s health. Providing only loose suggestions or guidelines for self-care often doesn’t cut it. To really support your team, take steps to structure health into the workday and the culture.

Here are some ways you can do this:

1. Lead with empathy

• Start by asking your employees what they need. We are living in unique times, and the needs of your employees may be different and even greater than usual. The first step to supporting their health is to find out what they need. Consider sending out an anonymous survey with open-ended questions to learn more about what they are dealing with and what support they need.
• Keep the conversation open. Encourage your employees to share their needs as they arise. Within your teams, make sure that everyone can communicate with each other about their needs on an ongoing basis, whatever they may be, and make sure that every voice is heard. Remember that everyone is dealing with different challenges, and some people have more challenges than others right now. Make allowances for the unique circumstances that each person is facing, as it will benefit the health of your team now and in the future. Allowances can be anything from ensuring they have time for things like grocery shopping, cooking, and taking care of their families to looking after their mental and physical health needs.

2. Schedule frequent breaks

• Screen time can get overwhelming, and everyone works and feels better when they can move, rest, and take their mind away from work. Taking breaks will help increase creativity, improve physical and mental health, and help boost everyone’s mood.
• Schedule breaks into any long meetings. Encourage your team to get away from the computer, move, stretch, hydrate, get a snack, or whatever else they need to do.
• Allow your teams to self-determine their breaks and lunches. Consider allowing your teams to coordinate their lunch and break times among themselves. This will allow for greater flexibility, while also creating more coordination, and employees will be able to take care of the demands in their life with the support of their team.

3. Support a healthy work-life balance

• This is absolutely essential when working from home, and even more so during shelter-in-place, when many employees have their entire families at home with them. For many people, working from home during shelter-in-place involves balancing many competing responsibilities. It is important that you are aware of this and are sensitive to how it might change people’s needs and capacities. The more you can adapt to your employees’ circumstances, the better your teams will do, and your employees will thank you for it.
• Keep clear boundaries and expectations around work hours. Make sure your team knows when they are expected to be working, and when they are free, and keep those times sacred. One of the most common ways that these boundaries get crossed is by emailing, calling or texting when your employees are off the clock. Make sure they know when they are no longer expected to respond! This alone can go a long way to fostering a healthier work-from-home culture.

4. Offer recommendations for creating healthy working conditions.

• Encourage your employees to create a container for work. Here is a sample list:
• Consider choosing a specific place or setup in your home where you work. This way, when you are there, you know you are working, and when you are away, it is easier to take your mind off work.
• Another idea to help set work-life boundaries is to consider using just one device for work (for example, working on your computer, but having your phone saved for non-work activities)
• Decorate or adjust your work environment to make it pleasant and enjoyable for you. Even small touches can make a difference.
• Encourage team members to choose a good desk setup that allows them to maintain proper alignments, or consider using a standing desk. They can also alternate between the two. Good posture is key for an alert, happy mind, and also for physical health and vitality.
• Offer recommendations and reminders for team members to keep healthy food around. Food is the foundation of health, and the more we can keep healthy food around and limit foods that don’t support health, the better we will feel and function. You can start with this list from the Cleveland Clinic for ideas.

5. Create opportunities for health

• Give your team access to free classes they can take, such as meditation, yoga, exercise, etc., as well as to mental health resources.
• Consider scheduling some time for meditation at the beginning of meetings to help set a mindful culture.
• Include reminders in your company communications to frequently get up and move, and that it’s okay to take breaks for your mental and physical health! As little as a few seconds of high-intensity exercise repeatedly regularly throughout the day can counteract some of the effects of sitting all day.1
• Remember, though, that these reminders are only as useful as the structures you create to really allow for your employees to take the time they need.

As a leader, you have an opportunity to make a huge difference in the lives of your employees. This is a time that everyone will remember, and you can use it to help a lot of people, and to show your team that you care about them. By listening to their needs, leading by example, and building health into the structures of the work day, you can help everyone to thrive.

[1] Reynolds, G. (2020, Apr 29). The 4-Second Workout. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/well/coronavirus-exercise-heart-health.html