4 Ways Health Impacts Employee Performance and Wellbeing at Work

Health and wellness initiatives are important in the workplace. Not only do they promote physical and mental wellbeing, but they also help employees perform at their best, driving success at every level of the organization.

However, as many people continue to transition back to the workplace after the pandemic (and even for folks who never left), stress can take a toll on productivity, performance, and overall job satisfaction. Reducing stress is not only good for mental health and performance indicators, but it can save your company money in the long run—and a lot of money at that.

In this blog, we outline the cost of workplace stress, and how a Zen perspective can foster healthy, creative, and productive workflows that benefit everyone.

Employee Stress Costs Companies $300 Billion

Workplace stress is unavoidable. According to CompareCamp, research shows that work-related stress leads to accidents, reduced employee productivity, and absenteeism, costing the U.S. industry more than $3 billion. Stress might be unavoidable, but it’s not inevitable.

When you’re ready to implement a workplace wellbeing strategy into your company culture, promote productivity, and protect your bottom line, start with the tools and equipment you already need: your office’s workstations.

Employee Wellbeing Means Better Performance in 4 Key Areas

Employee stress will cost you, and no wellbeing initiative will be a magic bullet to get rid of all the challenges to mental health, physical health, or burnout at work.

However, strategic efforts to promote overall health and workplace wellbeing will bolster employee performance in four major areas.

1. Collaboration

People are more willing to work together when they care about and trust each other. This begins with having space for intentional employee engagement, listening, and communication.

Collaborative workstations facilitate communication and trust, giving your teams the space they need to not only develop exceptional projects and initiatives, but connect with each other, too. When you’re designing your collaborative work environment, our Zen Lounge café-style table is the perfect workstation for impromptu collaborations and brainstorming sessions alike. ZGO intentionally designs our products for the spaces they occupy. We understand that there are varying levels of support each space requires to empower the people within that space to do their best work. Our social products were designed to foster collaboration through technological support, adjustability, and ergonomic worksurface designs.

2. Flexibility

Workplace flexibility has been proven time and again to have a positive impact on employee performance. You might think flexibility is limited to time off, working remotely, and other elements of maintaining a work-life balance; however, holistic flexibility goes beyond time off requests and home offices.

Flexibility includes being able to listen to your body (a core component of a Zen mindset) and move around when you need to. Height-adjustable desks are the perfect solution, offering your team the flexibility they need to move at their desk, while they work. (If you’re looking for standing desks, our Harbor collection is an elegant, ergonomic choice for flexible working environments.)

3. Creativity

Whether you’re an architect, designer, or engineer, creativity is an incredible asset. A stressed brain can’t be creative, and the organization will lose out on innovation and problem-solving.

ZGO Solutions’ Smart System™ offers teams endless configuration options with no power tools required. Design and redesign your space to meet your office’s changing needs—or just because you want something new. The Smart System is compatible with our Harbor collection, so the only limit is your imagination.

Plus, the Smart System privacy screens are completely pinnable, so workers have control over their environments and can customize their space with what inspires their creativity the most.

4. Focus

Cut down on unnecessary stress from distractions by installing dividers between workstations and installing a cord management system. With Harbor’s back-to-back configuration—which includes privacy screens between workstations that double as cord housing, teams have the privacy they need to focus and space they want to do great work.

ZGO Solutions Gives You the Tools Teams Need to Help People to Stay Healthy and Well at Work

ZGO Solutions is on a mission to bring wellbeing, balance, and Zen to the workplace with desks designed to be beautiful, simple, and functional.

Our height-adjustable desks can be personalized for any employee and office configuration. Workers can customize desk height, stow cables out of sight and mind, and our back-to-back desks make it easy to move between private work time and comfortable collaboration.

We are truly driven by a Zen perspective. Employees spend a great deal of time at work and deserve an environment that promotes health and wellness as well as creativity and productivity. When they feel balanced between personal needs and work requirements, everyone achieves a better workflow.

RELATED: How Office Design Affects Productivity

ZGO Solutions’ Harbor Collection: Intelligently Healthy

Bring a healthy balance and mindfulness to your workplace with the Harbor collection, our most comprehensive and versatile desking solution. Available in freestanding, back-to-back, or benching options, Harbor desks bring attractive simplicity to your office.

To learn more about the Harbor Collection or any ZGO Solution products, contact the location nearest you or complete the simple form on our website.

References

Aldana, Steve. (2021, June 3). Why health and wellness in the workplace are important. Well Steps. Retrieved from https://www.wellsteps.com/blog/2020/01/01/health-and-wellness-in-the-workplace/

Kohll, Alan. (2018, August 29). Is it time to rethink your employee wellness strategy? Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alankohll/2018/08/29/is-it-time-to-rethink-your-employee-wellness-strategy/?sh=4d94890221ae

Lieberman, Charlotte. (2019, August 14). What wellness programs don’t do for workers. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/08/what-wellness-programs-dont-do-for-workers

Zuckerman, Arthur. (2020, May 21). 61 stress statistics: facts, causes, & effects. CompareCamp. Retrieved from https://comparecamp.com/stress-statistics/

 

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.