Can Being Healthy Help You Do Your Job Better?
It’s pretty well known that smoking, a poor diet and a lack of exercise can all have a negative impact on your health — but did you know they can affect your work performance, too?
After almost 20,000 worker surveys were reviewed, a group of researchers found that employees who don’t eat well were 66 percent more likely to experience a loss in productivity than those with healthier diets. Smokers and people who worked out only occasionally also reported being less productive than their peers.
And if you’re a business-owner who’s resisted the idea of supplementing your employees’ gym memberships, this tidbit might give you pause: workers who had difficulty exercising during the work day were almost twice as likely to be less productive.
“Our research confirms that employee productivity loss is associated with low well-being, poor health behaviors, elevated health risks and the presence of chronic disease,” said researcher Dr. James Pope.
“Business leaders [can] reduce [these] factors by implementing comprehensive, best practice workplace wellness programs,” he added, “which in turn can lead to improvements in employee satisfaction, productivity and profitability for employers.”