5 Ways To Help Remote Employees Stay Fit & Healthy
Businesses today often take a more active role in promoting employee health and wellness. After all, healthy employees are happy ones. We often find companies that offer discounts on gym memberships, active breaks during the workday, and sometimes even break rooms that have gym equipment, yoga mats, and other things related to physical activity. They also encourage yearly doctor checkups and have occupational health assessments during the year (for already-hired employees).
However, the new normal of remote work makes keeping up with health and fitness more challenging. Still, companies aren’t giving up - instead, they’re revamping how they approach the subject. Here are a few ways that employees themselves can stay fit and healthy - either on their own or with their company’s help.
Table of Contents
1. Conducting Fitness Challenges
In our previous piece “How To Engage Remote Employees?”, we mentioned the possibility of office fitness challenges. Since physical activity is also linked to reducing stress, it’s a good idea for companies to employ and promote different kinds of fitness challenges for those who’d like to participate. It’s fine to have these challenges in the workplace when people are physically there, but they’re also perfectly feasible in a remote fashion.
2. Fitness Trackers for Employees
Either as part of the aforementioned fitness challenges or just by itself, a fitness tracker can be a great way to encourage employees to get around more and get their cardio in for the day. If you’re worried about privacy, however - don’t be. PwC implemented a program for its remote employees in 2020 and offered 1,000 fitness trackers - which were snatched up within 4 hours of being available.
The personal information collected by the Garmin fitness trackers can be viewed by the individual wearing it, but information sent to PwC is anonymized and collated so that managers can see the organization’s fitness level as a whole.
3. Virtual Healthcare Options
Virtual healthcare, or telehealth, is becoming more widespread. From simple doctor’s appointments to checkups to post-op care, more patients are choosing telehealth consultations when possible. The Wheel telemedicine platform makes it clear that companies operating in telehealth are rapidly adjusting, bringing in the clinicians and technology they need to provide comprehensive virtual care. Hooking employees up with proper providers (or giving them options) is a helpful initiative that companies are already looking into.
4. COVID-19 Testing and Prevention
While countries like Estonia have policies in place about how and when to get COVID-19 tests, companies can also join and help get their employees tested when necessary while helping to cover the costs. This shouldn’t be limited to testing, either: preventative and treatment measures are just as important, and some companies are helping their employees by either completely or partially covering the costs of things such as hand sanitizer, masks, and even hospital treatments.
5. Offering Classes or Get -Togethers Virtually
Some companies have started to offer a variety of physical activity classes from Zumba and salsa to yoga and bodyweight exercises via Zoom or Google Meets. They are an excellent way not only to get some exercise in, but also to keep up the normal socialization you’d have between coworkers. It helps to stave off feelings of loneliness and isolation that we’re prone to while working remotely.
Helping remote employees to keep up with their health and fitness while working remotely can be a challenge for everyone, and the restrictions due to the pandemic aren’t quite helping in that regard. However, as technology advances and more ideas and programs pop up, we become more prepared to deal with these types of challenges every day.
