Creating a Get Healthy Game Plan
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit worldwide and this it’s a challenging time for most businesses. We’re all working hard to stay full-operational while making health and safety for all a top priority.
Having a 360-degree plan is critical to help your business navigate through this pandemic. This plan should educate your drivers about how easily the virus can spread and will encourage healthy habits, help keep their vehicle clean and promote health for all.
Secondly, a game plan for communication with your clients is also important. A formal document to notify your clients about how this is impacting your business, what your team is doing to adjust, and how this may affect your service. This will illustrate to your clients that you’re taking the virus seriously and taking action to keep people safe.
Where do you start? A simple one-page document with information that supports best practices, shows how to create a healthy environment will show your company cares, is compassionate, and is doing their part to prevent the virus from spreading.
Keep Your Vehicles Clean
You already know that regularly washing your hands is key to prevent the spread and contraction of the Coronavirus and other infectious diseases. However, there is so much more we can do to help keep the workforce healthy and your drivers on the road. Here are a few ideas to consider implementing:
- Be Proactive. Post notices about regular hand washing and how to stop the spread of germs in both your vehicles and in your offices. The CDC offers a variety of posters you can download and print. These are great to post in the office and distribute electronically.
- Provide cleaning supplies. Vehicles naturally get dirty inside and out. Provide your drivers with hand sanitizer, masks, gloves, and disinfecting wipes for their vehicles. Make it mandatory that they wipe down inside surfaces such as steering wheels, dashboard, stereo, door handles, tablets, and electronic devices. Doing this 2-3 times daily is a huge help.
- Build awareness. Remind your employees to be aware of their surroundings, particularly in public places like gas stations or truck stops, and restaurants. Advise all staff to prevent handshakes and practice social distancing, especially from those who may be sick.
Hydration is key
Ditch the coffee and energy drinks. Did you know that drinking water can be crucial for the overall health of your staff. Adequate hydration can help keep your body healthy, your mind sharp, and impact your driver’s performance. You can change this by offering your drivers refillable water bottles as an incentive to stay hydrated. Maybe companies already have promotional merchandise like that on-hand.
Stamp Out the Smoke
Did you know that over half of the truck driving population admits to being regular smokers? Encouraging your drivers to quit smoking is more important than ever. You can start by displaying “No Smoking” signs in both your office and in every fleet vehicle. You can also encourage those who do smoke to download the quitSTART app.
Encourage Healthy Eating
Obesity is an epidemic in our country and can lead to multiple health issues.
It all starts with things we can control, like diet. There are ways to help encourage your drivers to eat healthy — particularly while on the road. Like any other health initiative, it starts with a company-wide health initiative or challenge. Push out communication and share the benefits of losing weight. Try posting tips, healthy habits to adopt, recipes, and similar information in your office.
Conclusion
Encouraging healthy habits can help improve their lives and also have a positive impact on the bottom line of your business. The Coronavirus has brought the topic of health back to the forefront and is a great reminder to keep the focus on our staff, their family, and the community. Good business starts with good health for everyone.
These ideas are simple, inexpensive, easy to implement and can have a great impact on your business.