Let's not celebrate quitters' day

While many recognize the new year as a chance to kickstart healthier habits, SAIF encourages you and your employees not to celebrate the next holiday on our calendars: quitters' day. According to research by Strava, January 17 is the day most people will abandon their resolutions.

“Making resolutions is easy-keeping them is hard,” says Liz Hill, Total Worker Health® advisor at SAIF. “Making healthy habits a little more convenient can go a long way to helping your workers achieve their personal goals.”

Hill adds there are many benefits to having a healthy workforce.

“Just like your work can impact your home life, your life outside of work can impact your safety at work,” says Hill. “For instance, if you don't get enough sleep every night, your risk of injury increases.”

That's why SAIF is offering new free resources for promoting safe and healthy workplaces. The new content includes videos, posters, and one-page guides with tips on healthy eating, stress reduction, physical activity, and more.

As Hill explains, “your employees spend such a large percentage of their day at work, so it's key to ensure the workplace supports their efforts.”

Here are three ways Hill says you can help employees skip right over quitters' day:

• Eat healthy: Provide refrigerators and microwaves in break rooms so workers can bring healthy food from home. Reduce or eliminate junk food in vending machines and subsidize healthy choices.
• Get active: Make sure schedules are flexible and staffing is adequate to allow for quick walking breaks or a workout during the work day. Set an example by scheduling walking meetings. 
• Reduce stress: Support employee engagement by promoting a sense of purpose and autonomy, providing opportunities for learning and new experiences, and letting employees know they are valued.

For more ways to be well at work and at home, visit saif.com/promotehealth.

About SAIF

SAIF is Oregon's not-for-profit workers' compensation insurance company. Since 1914, we've been taking care of injured workers, helping people get back to work, and striving to make Oregon the safest and healthiest place to work. For more information, visit the About SAIF page on saif.com.