Posts tagged workplace wellness
Workplace Wellbeing Day is this Friday

The big day is almost here. Ireland's Workplace Wellbeing Day takes place this Friday, April 13th 2018. The great news is that you can still register totally free of charge. Check out my article here to find out all the details including how to register.

I've been receiving so much feedback and questions on Wellbeing Day this year. It's wonderful to see such an interest in this from Irish businesses. I don't think there can be any doubt that employers are switching on to the fact that supporting the health and wellness of their employees is beneficial for everyone involved.

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The Strategy of Employee Wellness

Employee wellness is evolving within a rapidly changing work environment. Companies are now understanding that to be effective, wellness needs to be used as a business strategy, which means moving past the traditional concept of health and wellness in the workplace as a mainly physical approach and focusing, instead, on the concept of developing the whole person.  Using corporate wellness as a business strategy not only creates a competitive advantage for your business, but also implements evidence-based corporate wellness programming alongside workforce professional and personal development. At its core, this business strategy looks at what people factors are statistically connected to better business results, rather than focusing solely on the traditional management of risk factors (Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, Nutrition, Physical Activity) and claims of health care reductions.

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5 Techniques to Prevent The Flu

Your body has an innate desire to be well and to function optimally.  If you don’t believe me, think about when you accidently scratch yourself or get a cut – your body naturally and automatically starts the healing process.

Your body works 24/7 to always optimize your health. By incorporating simple, easy routines into our daily life you can boost your immune system, which in turn will prevent you from getting common illnesses like a cold or the flu this season. 

In this post you will learn 5 easy techniques and strategies you can start applying today to boost your immune system and keep your body healthy, happy and strong.

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Wellness, Built In

In 2001 three groups of the so-called ‘Satanic Mills’ described in Blake’s poem Jerusalem were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I’m no poet and I don’t claim to understand it fully, but the meaning of the poem is patently multi-layered, and becomes more opaque the deeper one delves.  On a literal level though we can understand, at least intuitively, the scorn which Blake heaped upon these dismal places due in part to the dreadful working conditions. To Blake, these buildings represented the mechanisation of human beings and a cold, unfeeling disregard for our nature, and stood in stark contrast to ‘England’s green and pleasant land’.  He saw this, roughly speaking, as a kind of tyranny and since he was a fairly radical Christian, he associated tyranny with the figure of Satan. Some alternative symbolism could be used here depending on your own worldview, but the essential point remains.

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The Future of Work: Active Meetings

Meetings are the backbone of the working day for many professions. I can summarise the majority of the meetings I’ve attended as follows:

  • Short meetings
  • Long meetings
  • Productive meetings
  • Complete waste of my time meetings

What do all the above meetings have in common?

I was sitting on my backside for all of them. That is something I believe is worth changing.

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Ireland’s Workplace Wellbeing Day 2018

Friday April 13th 2018 is Ireland's fourth National Workplace Wellbeing Day and is now firmly established as the biggest celebration of workplace wellbeing in the Irish Calendar. I’ve written previously about workplace wellness promotion and about how both employers and employees can play their part in supporting a positive work environment so I’m delighted to help spread the word about this event as ultimately this day represents everything that Office Worker Health is about:

“Promoting health and wellbeing to the working population”

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How Ergonomics Can Help You Thrive at Work

Think about how you feel during your workdays. Maybe you have pain in your neck or back and feel stiff and sore when you stand up from your desk. Perhaps fatigue and irritability set in as you try to focus on projects or meeting discussions.

While there are many factors that influence how we feel during the day, the configuration of your work area – the place where you spend most of your time working, has a major effect on our overall health and well-being.

Take a close look at your work area; the place where you spend the most time working. Now think about how you sit while working. Do your shoulders hunch forward? Is your keyboard so far from you that your arms are extended while typing? Is your chair so low that your low back is rounded over, or so high that your feet are not flat on the floor? Does the lighting seem either too bright or too dim? Do you use a sit-stand desk, but still feel fatigue, aches and stiffness during and after your work days?

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How My MS Diagnosis Has Helped Me Be Happier and Healthier

I was diagnosed with MS in 2003 and wow what a shock it was at the time. I was enjoying a successful career in Finance and living a full life outside of work.

After receiving my diagnosis, I remember sitting in a park crying my eyes out at the thought of what might happen and then I said to myself “I will not be a victim”.  What I meant by this was, I would do everything I could, to stay well.

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Controlling Stress Can Help You Lose Weight

Uncontrolled stress can sabotage any weight loss plan. As a nurse practitioner and health coach, I see many clients who list weight loss as their main wellness goal. Often they tell me they are not losing weight even though they have changed their diet and started working out. I always ask about their stress levels, and most of them will indicate it is “moderate” to “very high.”  I usually focus on ways to decrease their stress levels first, then diet and exercise.

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Common Office Health Problems and What HR Can Do to Help

For office workers, the danger isn’t lifting heavy objects or working hard in the sun all day, it’s conditions like carpal tunnel and computer vision syndrome. While workers are far less likely to throw a back out or herniate a disk at their desks, they’re still vulnerable to a wide array of health issues and injury risks.

We know that sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen all day can take its toll, but what can Human Resources do about it? Let’s look at how HR and the management team can take better care of their workers in the office.

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