Looking to retain employees and cut operating costs at your dealership? Promoting health and wellness is one powerful way to accomplish both those objectives. Healthy, sound team members are more likely to view their jobs positively and opt to stay on, while those same healthy habits could lower premiums on company health insurance policies, cut back on sick days and reduce slower work practices as your staff has more energy to complete tasks. To help you get started, here are four ways your dealership can promote health and wellness.
#1. Make Your Dealership Wellness Friendly
Start by making exercise and healthy habits easy to implement independently. Provide bike
racks for employees who want to bike to work, and institute several casual wear days, since most people don’t want to bike, jog or walk to work in a suit. You can also set up a few standing desk stations for staff who want to get out of their chairs a little more, and implement short breaks every hour or so, allowing team members to get up, stretch and walk around.
#2. Food for Thought
You may have an all-out civil war on your hands if you do away with the soda and snack
machines. That doesn’t mean you can’t promote healthy eating habits at your dealership. You can start by providing healthy food for meetings, dealership events and whenever catering is your responsibility. You can also promote healthy eating by including a few more healthy options in the aforementioned vending machines, and by providing some healthy free snacks in the breakroom. A bowl of fresh fruit on the coffee table and bottles of water in the refrigerator will go a long way.
#3. Motivate Fitness
It’s hard for most people to fit fitness into their daily routine. You can help yourself and your employees find time for exercise by creating team challenges and incentives around different fitness activities. For example, you can hand out pedometers at your dealership and reward the employee with the most steps at the end of the month. Another way to incentivize fitness is to make goals as a group, handing out small bonuses or other prizes for those who meet them within an allotted time. Or you could offer to sponsor any employee that takes part in a marathon or other event. This is a win-win, as you’ll have a healthier staff member and get your dealership’s name out there in connection with healthy living.
#4. Bring Your Pet to Work Days
While having animals at your dealership all the time might be disruptive, having regular pet days could help inspire wellness at work. Animals are known to help reduce stress and improve mood. Having a few dogs, cats and assorted other creatures could help everyone collectively relax. And since many pets need regular walking, having pets at work will motivate more movement. Just make sure ahead of time that there are no employees with animal allergies or phobias.
These are by no means the only ways to promote health and wellness at your dealership. With a little creativity, you can quickly improve health at work, without significant restructuring or cost. For further ideas, consider having a dealership meeting where your team comes up with additional ways to get up and moving.
