It is widely accepted: You can’t pour from an empty cup. Before we can give our best to others, we must first replenish and fortify ourselves. That’s the essence of self-care. Unfortunately, this principle is frequently overlooked in modern workplaces as the demands of the job and digital chatter take precedence.
Granted, self-care can and should be a personal responsibility. Still, you can offer support and resources that can boost an employee’s wellness efforts.
So, what exactly is self-care, and how do you support it in the workplace?
What Is Selfcare and How Does It Impact the Workplace?
Self-care is the sum of intentional things you do to maintain your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It’s about the practices and actions that make you healthy, resilient, and productive.
For some, that can be as simple as taking a 5-minute break when you feel overwhelmed. For others, self-care may require structured activities like therapy, unplugging from social media, meditation, and more.
No matter the form it takes, the goal of self-care is simply prioritizing yourself in a world full of responsibilities and noise.
Components of Self-Care
Self-care is multi-pronged, touching on various aspects of a person’s life. These include:
- Physical: Involves taking care of your body through exercise, nutrition, sleep, etc.
- Emotional: Involves developing healthy coping mechanisms during difficulties. Can include stress management, mindfulness, relaxation techniques
- Social: This deals with your intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships. Includes nurturing positive relationships both within and outside the workplace
- Professional: Establishing clear work-life boundaries is a huge part of self-care. So is engaging in ongoing professional development, especially in the current fast-paced world of work.
- Spiritual: This pillar involves practices that help individuals find meaning, purpose, and alignment with their core values in their work and personal lives.
Top Ideas for Daily Self-Care/Wellness Routines at Work
- Mindful Morning Kickoff
From endless emails to notifications to meetings, there’s no shortage of things to steal away an employee’s focus. Mindfulness grounds and helps you focus on the moment. This improves mental clarity, increases productivity, and enhances team dynamics.
Start each day with a brief team mindfulness session. This could be a 5-minute guided meditation or simple breathing exercises to center everyone before diving into work.
- Wellness Walks
Physical exercises don’t have to be complicated; you can get them in and work at the same time, especially if the team doesn’t need to be on their laptops. Encourage “walking meetings” for one-on-one or small group discussions. This combines light physical activity with work tasks.
- Flexible Fitness Time
While scheduled fitness classes are great, they might not be the best fit for all employees. For example, a busy mom who needs to pick up her child from daycare faces time limitations and may not find value in an after-work fitness class. What she needs is flexibility.
Ideas to help can include:
- Allow employees to take a longer lunch break if they use the time for exercise, whether it’s hitting the gym or taking a yoga class.
- Provide access to online fitness classes or videos that employees can do at home before or after work, or during breaks if working remotely.
- Encourage short 5-10 minute workout breaks throughout the day, which can be done at the desk or in a quiet corner.
- Offer a monthly stipend that employees can use toward any fitness-related expense, from gym memberships to home equipment.
- Use fitness apps that allow employees to log activities on their own time and participate in company-wide challenges.
- Nutrition Nudges
Good nutrition is essential for physical, mental, and emotional wellness. To support this, consider bringing in a nutritionist for quarterly talks. And once the advice is dispensed, help your team to actualize their nutrition goals. Ideas to implement:
- Stock the office kitchen with healthy snacks and provide resources on balanced nutrition.
- If space allows, start a small office garden for fresh herbs or vegetables, encouraging connection with food sources.
- Organize monthly themed potlucks focusing on nutritious foods from different cultures.
- Create dedicated areas for eating that promote slower, more mindful consumption of meals.
- Digital Detox
While essential for business communication, digital platforms can become top productivity drains and employee time thieves. A research report published on Yahoo! Finance notes that the average American spends two hours and seven minutes daily on social media during the workday for non-work-related activities.
Implement set times during the day when employees are encouraged to step away from screens and engage in non-digital activities to stanch that. Introduce a daily 15-minute break where teams can gather for tea or coffee without devices, promoting face-to-face social interaction. This can improve mental, emotional, and even physical wellness.
- Gratitude Roundtables
To quote Melody Beattie, “Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.” A culture of gratitude fosters employee morale and results in a positive chain reaction that endures. The good thing is that you can start small. For example, end team meetings with a quick round of gratitude sharing, where each person expresses something they’re thankful for.
- Quiet Zones
Don’t just talk about detoxing. Create accommodating spaces for employees to escape to if they need to recharge. Designate specific areas in the office for silent reflection or focused work, free from distractions. If space allows, create areas for power naps or quiet relaxation to combat fatigue and boost afternoon productivity.
- Personal Growth
Consider hosting optional lunch-and-learn sessions on various self-care topics, from financial wellness to stress management techniques. Additionally, incorporate self-care goals into professional development plans, acknowledging their importance to overall success.
- Hydration Stations
Provide a convenient solution to help employees up their water intake during the work day. For example, set up attractive water stations throughout the office and encourage regular hydration. This will not only help them drink more water but also give them a reason to stretch their legs. To make it more fun, consider a friendly team challenge to track water intake.
- Volunteer Time Off (VTO)
Volunteering isn’t just about giving back to the community—it’s a powerful tool for personal fulfillment. According to research, helping others triggers the release of dopamine, reducing stress and improving mood.
Allocate paid hours for employees to volunteer for causes they care about, promoting a sense of purpose and community connection. Allow employees to choose their preferred causes or organizations.
- Plant Therapy
Bring nature indoors to your employees. Plants naturally filter air pollutants, improving indoor air quality. Exposure to greenery has also been shown to lower stress levels and blood pressure.
- Mindfulness Apps Subscription
As we noted earlier, mindfulness exercises help enhance concentration and productivity. Apps provide on-demand access to guided practices anytime, anywhere.
Offer company-sponsored subscriptions to popular mindfulness and meditation apps like Headspace or Calm. Encourage (but don’t mandate) employees to share their app usage or meditation streaks for motivation.
- Wellness Wednesdays
Self-care can also be a group activity. Dedicate one day a week to a specific wellness theme, with activities and information focused on that area.
Final Thoughts
As civil rights activist Audre Lorde once remarked, “self-care isn’t self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.” Just as we maintain our tools and equipment, we must maintain our most valuable asset – ourselves. And when we cultivate an environment where everyone prioritizes self-care, we create a more humane, productive, and fulfilling work culture for all.