Employees are often encouraged to push themselves in order to prove they’re working hard. Skipping lunch, sleeping less and otherwise throwing yourself into your work “proves” that you’re more dedicated to your job. UK workers don’t know how to take a break. Couple that with a national trend towards poor health, and what we have is a nation full of tired employees working at half-steam.

Despite common belief, the best sign of a productive and well-functioning employee is one who’s happy, well-rested, well-fed and otherwise seeing all their physical and emotional needs met. Employees actually perform best when they are able to focus on their health, even if it seemingly means sacrificing time at work or some productivity.

In the long run, these employees take less sick days, spend more time engaged at work and produce better work than their tired and sick counterparts. A company looking to improve employee performance should first look at improving employees’ lifestyle habits.

1. Keep employees loyal to your business

Employees who know your business comes with health perks, such as a comprehensive health plan or a company nutrition program that gives them access to healthy meals, value your employment higher. Benefits like these are widely popular perks that make employees appreciate their workplace, enjoy spending time in the office and more easily maintain healthy lifestyle goals.

Providing employees with options like an on-site gym, a local gym membership or a company exercise program will make them more eager to work for you. Because other competitors won’t offer the same benefits, employees will also realize that leaving their position at your company may require sacrificing some of the ways they’ve been able to tend to their own health, making them more motivated to stay with your business.

2. Create competition to work for you

When you offer these perks, you outshine the competition in your field. Perks aimed at keeping employees healthy are still relatively niche and hard to come by, which means you will be a stand out company for offering it. Job seekers will be more incentivized to apply for and compete for positions you’re looking to fill, and will respond more positively to other cost-cutting measures in exchange for such health perks.

3. Improve employee engagement numbers

Employees who are happy working at your company are significantly more likely to be more engaged with your company - that is, they’re more emotionally attached to your mission, more motivated to complete targets and more productive in their day to day activity. Engaged employees care about the company they work for, and people who care work better.

Employees who engage with their co-workers, who communicate jovially with their bosses, who participate in company programs and who otherwise embed themselves in the company culture are better for the bottom line. By offering health incentives that both engage employees in your business and make them feel like your company is worthwhile, you increase the chances of increasing employee engagement statistics. You will also help prevent employee injury, which is a leading cause of workers’ compensation according to a legal expert.

4. Improve your business reputation

By showing that you’re willing to take the time to engage with your employees and spend money out of pocket in order to improve their lives, you make yourself one of a limited number of companies that have publicly emphasized employee health. This puts you directly side by side with companies like Fitbit, Google and Zappos. You can boost your company’s reputation by allying yourself to this movement, making you appear to be a business that cares more about people than profits.

5. Make employees more productive and focused

People who are supplied with the right nutrients, who are kept hydrated, and who otherwise eat brain boosting foods perform better in the workplace. You will see productivity increase when you improve the quality of food you offer employees for lunch, offer easily accessible ways to stay hydrated and incorporate healthy snacks into the office. All of these can enable your employees to make smarter decisions that can immediately reflect in their performance and productivity.

Taking care of your employees improves their lives, your company’s success and your media reputation. Given the plethora of benefits that come with a wellness program, there’s no reason not to begin implementing one in your office immediately.