Nilesh Rawal

The holidays are just around the corner, which means spending time with friends and family eating, drinking, and being merry. But, for many of your employees, it also means hectic schedules, added responsibilities, and holiday stress. As the hustle and bustle of the season takes over, many of the healthy habits your employees work so hard to keep during the rest of the year can fall by the wayside. Scheduled exercise routines are replaced by gift wrapping, nights of good sleep are replaced by late-night baking sessions, and well-planned, healthy meals are replaced by fast food on the run or high-calorie buffets at numerous holiday gatherings.

But with a little help from you, your employees can be prepared for the holidays and have a healthy and happy season.

The key to staying healthy during the holiday season is getting plenty of exercise, eating right, and minimizing stress. As an employer, you can help your employees do this by:

Promoting the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Many times, employees are feeling pressure and stress from work and home, but aren’t aware of the services available to them through the EAP. The free and confidential services through the EAP may be just what your employees need to lower stress during the holiday season.

Offering an onsite diet support group. Whether it’s Weight Watchers®, Jenny Craig®, or some other local program, diet support groups provide motivation for dieters to stay on plan – even during the difficult holiday season. However, during this busy season, many employees don’t have time to attend meetings outside of work. So, an onsite meeting during lunch may be just the answer.

Providing healthy alternatives. If you are planning a holiday party, be sure to include a variety of healthy alternatives to the typical high-calorie, high-fat holiday foods. Also consider filling your vending machines with healthy snacks such as nuts, whole wheat crackers, trail mix, and granola bars.

Being flexible. During the holidays, the factor that leads to the most stress is time – and not having enough of it. When possible, offer employees flexible alternatives for getting their work done – whether it’s flex time, telecommuting, or allowing them to use their personal time in smaller increments than normal (i.e., in 1-hour increments, rather than 1-day increments).

Implementing a walking program. Organize walks around the office (or outside, if weather permits) during lunch breaks. Not only does this provide much needed physical activity, it will also help give your employees a mental break that can help reduce stress.