As a pharmacist, you help patients manage their health, and live their lives to the fullest capacity. But just because you focus on your patients’ health doesn’t mean you should forget to take your employees’ wellbeing into consideration, too.
Like all working individuals, you and your employees spend the majority of your time in the workplace. Creating an environment of health and wellness for your employees is critical to improving their long-term health and maintaining a positive workplace.
Employing a culture of wellness also has benefits for your business. Healthier employees tend to have increased work productivity, reduced long-term health care costs and the ability to make your pharmacy a more reputable business that practices what it preaches.
Here are 10 ways you and your employees can get healthier while on the job.
1. Encourage break time
Schedule break time into each of your employee’s busy days. Offering a short recess from work can be a valuable asset to the stressful days you and your employees regularly deal with.
2. Be aware of mental health, too
Job burnout and too much stress can lead to health problems, such as heart disease and hypertension. Pay attention to signs that employees may be overworked, such as heightened emotions, habitual lateness, high employee turnover and customer dissatisfaction.
Consider offering health-counseling programs to employees with depression. Or, simply encourage employees to take a day off to manage their mental and physical health.
3. Provide healthy snacks
Your pharmacy is busy. Your employees are constantly filling prescriptions, answering phones, talking to patients, monitoring the drive-thru and any number of other activities.
The busy nature of pharmacies often makes it difficult for your employees to have time to sit down and eat a proper, nutritious meal. Promote healthy eating by providing nutritious snacks for your employees, such as fruit or nuts. Or, host a monthly potluck where everyone brings in a healthy dish.
4. Create a workplace health program
Consider introducing a workplace health program into your pharmacy. Whether you have employees who want to lose a few pounds or individuals who want to maintain and support their health, implementing a workplace health program can encourage healthy living.
Create a program that consists of health education, weight management, fitness programs or health counseling. For references on how to implement workplace health programs in your pharmacy, review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Worksite Health ScoreCard.
5. Promote physical activity
Encourage your employees to lead more active lives. Start a walking or biking club, provide discounts to a local gym for your employees, or offer a break time designated for physical activity and exercise.
6. Manage stress
Constantly being on-the-go can leave your employees feeling drained. Unmanaged stress can lead to job dissatisfaction and can hamper productivity. Help reduce stress by hiring a yoga instructor to come by after work as a fun team-building activity or playing meditative music instead of today’s hits on your store’s radio.
7. Provide incentives
Strive to make your employees want to live healthier lives by offering incentives for those who put in effort to be healthy. Offer prizes or the title of “employee-of-the-month” for employees who reach their wellness goals.
8. Make your pharmacy smoke-free
Inspire your employees to live healthier, smoke-free lives by providing a discounted rate on your smoking cessation classes, to employees who would like to kick the habit.
9. Encourage preventative care
You offer vaccinations and health-screenings to your patients, so why not offer the same for your employees? Consider offering free flu shots to your employees during the flu season and discounted rates on health screenings.
10. Create an alternative for standing and sitting
Your pharmacists and techs spend hours on their feet each day. Offer an alternative to standing by providing space for your employees to sit down. On the contrary, if you have employees who sit behind a desk all day, consider purchasing a stability ball as a substitute to a desk chair, or offering your employees standing desks.
Improve your pharmacy by building a socially cohesive work environment.
Related articles:
Promoting Healthy Living in Your Pharmacy
5 Ways to Promote Your Pharmacy as the Go-To Health Experts
How to Promote Nutrition and Diet at Your Pharmacy
