Valeo provides five wellness tips to optimise employee performance

Gulf Time: As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its third year and businesses continue to navigate the challenges of hybrid workforces and “building back better”, optimizing the employee experience is forecast to be a priority in 2022.

According to McKinsey’s Future Workplace 2021 HR Sentiment survey, 68% of senior HR leaders rated employee wellbeing and mental health as a top priority. This comes at a time when stress is driving increased absenteeism – a $255 billion cost to businesses globally.

The UAE ranked third in Cigna’s recent Global Health and Wellbeing Index, heavy workload, mental health support and high stress levels remain concerns for the country’s citizens and residents. A recent study by Valeo also revealed that 88% of the UAE population report feeling stressed.

Sports professionals and elite athletes have long understood that peak performance is optimised when physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are in balance. These pillars are equally essential in improving workplace performance.

Jamie Richards, Chief Wellbeing Officer at digital wellness platform Valeo, explains: “Covid-19 brought about expensive physical and mental fallouts, causing endemics within the pandemic. The effects of which are still being felt by businesses, who quicky noticed the correlation between unhealthy lifestyle and low productivity. The circle of stress and being unhealthy is vicious, so employers need to start investing in their employee wellbeing, which will end up paying dividends. For example, employers with wellbeing practices in place noticed a 41% drop in absenteeism.”

Here are Jamie’s top wellbeing tips for improving employee performance – whether you’re an employee or an employer, you should note these down.

Check your vitamin and mineral levels        

It may come as a surprise, but the direct impact nutrient deficiencies have on workplace performance are significant – for example, a deficiency in iodine makes you more future fearful, which will impact on decision making.

Stand up

Taking standing breaks or just 5 minutes of walking or stretching can massively help with reducing stress. That’s because the same endorphins that are produced during physical activity, mitigate the effects of stress and anxiety

Switch off

Working from home has made it harder to switch off at the end of the day, but’s it’s absolutely necessary. Try setting a cut-off time for shutting down your laptop and avoiding your phone – and stick to it! Overworking causes mental and physical fatigue, which can lead to a multitude of health problems.

Set goals

This is a simple way of providing structure and this can be done in all areas of your life. It is useful to separate your goals between your work and personal life. This provides clarity, accountability and helps with decision-making and time management. It can also be a welcome confidence boost when you achieve a goal.

Speak to someone

This can be to a friend or family member, or to a coach or psychologist. The psychological benefits of speaking to someone is profound, it can help provide needed clarity and significantly reduce stress.

Valeo is a science-based digital wellbeing platform that allows users to schedule at-home blood tests, get actionable advice on their results and connect with certified health coaches to help achieve their personal wellness goals. In harnessing the science that powers high-performance and applying this to everyday people, Valeo helps everyone to feel and operate at their best. Valeo also offers a holistic and easily accessible wellbeing solution where employees can connect with health coaches and therapists to get guidance on issues they face and access a wide range of learning video content by world-leading experts.