The American Society of Clinical Oncology is a rather large organisation. Of course, they’re in the field of promoting health so you’d expect something pretty special in the way they look after the health of their employees but they recently won a gold star for doing such a good job of it.

To get their hands on this reward they had to tick all the boxes in the 5 key areas of health: tobacco use, diet and nutrition, physical activity, prevention and screening and access to quality health care.

Here’s some of the things they’ve implemented that can give small business owners a bit of an idea about where to start to improve the health (and productivity of course) in the workplace:

• Have a tobacco free workplace – this is more of an issue with workplaces outside of offices and enforcing this is the key – it’s all well and good to have a no smoking policy but consistent follow through is essential for smoking on site. Make it easy for smokers to find information and services to help them quit – there could even be some other kind of incentive you can offer
• Have an employee wellness program that includes easy to access information and local resources that are available to all
• Have a gym on site that staff can access at a time that suits them or organise a discount for them at a local fitness club
• Promote local screening services that focus on prevention

What ideas can you gleen from the above? My personal take is that each one of us is responsible for health in some way and often, the smallest changes can have the biggest impact when it comes to the well being of your team.

We work with small to medium business in Brisbane and the Gold Coast to help them promote the health and wellbeing of their staff at work with inspirational education, health events, workshops, personal consultations and more. Healthy people = happy business and we understand the importance of keeping expenses down so we provide low-cost corporate health and wellness strategies for your people in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.