9 tips on how to track the health of your staff

9 tips on how to track the health of your staff

By Kelsey Rod, Dynamic Body Technology Healthcare Ambassador

While there are many smartwatches and other wearables that organisations can use to track the healthcare of their staff, there are also a couple of really easy ways to use tech without spending thousands of rands on gadgets.

Here are a couple of helpful ideas:

Social Media Wellness

Staff spend an enormous amount of time on social media, so work with this trend. Encourage your staff to follow business or health-oriented minds on social media, businesses are able to ensure employees are interacting with useful, productive information and identifying positive role models.

Rethink your social media – it’s not just about pushing out marketing messages and sales but creating a company culture. Businesses could create a YouTube channel that workers can utilise to present their ideas and views of mental health or their various business ideas in order to discuss important issues and run weekly check-ins.

Combat The Stigma

Have you ever actually asked your staff how healthy they are? The use of online survey tools (EG Survey Monkey) could be used to anonymously identify issues in the workplace of improvements that need to be made to assist the mental well-being of employees. This will allow employees to speak up in a way that is beneficial to their mental state in a work environment.

Prevent Mental Strain

Businesses could utilise influential online TEDx talks about mental health in the workplace in their meetings – using them as the backdrop for speaking openly and preventing mental health strain caused by the business. These TEDx talks can offer emotional support and inspiration during tough times.

Raise In-House Awareness

Pre-COVID, businesses used to love bringing in motivational speakers but how many of them actually dealt with things like diets, health and movement? Once a month, employers can hold a webinar with a professional via ZOOM or Skype in order to raise awareness and can provide a platform to share ideas.

Get Fit Together

Not all your staff are going to buy into physical activity but if your staff have a bit of a competitive streak they could use their phones, fit bits or Smart Watch to track things like steps, screen activity and movement and log them on a leaderboard. Employees could be set challenges to show meaningful improvement.

Edu-Tech Makes It Simple

Using technology as a way of raising awareness and educating employees on practices that promote mental health (Instagram, Twitter, blogs, YouTube channel). By encouraging employees to interact with meaningful, healthy ideas of mental health, they are able to gain awareness on the topic.

Invest In Tech Tools

Task management tools to help employees manage their time and deadlines as well as communicate and work better alongside their co-workers – minimise pressure to ensure better mental health and less stress. (Trello, ASANA and Google docs).

Take A Moment To Breathe

Look at holding mindfulness or meditation courses via webinars or pre-recorded sessions. These could be streamed at home later on, for employees to utilise in their own time (great examples of this can be seen on Alo moves and Gaia).

Coaching is Key

Use mentorship tools and education provide a platform for employees and business owners to feel secure, supported and understood (a good example of this is Score) where business owners and employees can be paired up with mentors or other employees who may be able to guide them.

* Dynamic Body Technology is a South African health and wellness business that works with organisations to develop solutions to ensure a competitive and healthy workforce of the future. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for more advice on building your team.