The Healthy Workplace: How to Improve the Well-Being of Your Employees—and Boost Your Company’s Bottom Line

An engaging read that is easy to relate to personally and use as a guide professionally. I found myself shaking my head in agreement (and recognition with the behaviors and scenarios described over and over again. In between, I was jotting notes and thinking through the actionable steps suggested. Well organized and thoughtful. I recommend The Healthy Workplace for individuals and those responsible for organizational culture.

I had the chance to listen to Leigh speak at a conference and wanted to read the book prior. The information provided was so helpful in moving toward making our own workplace more healthy. It also solidified what we already have in place.

Essential reading for employers and employees. It’s filled with facts and figures that make a compelling business case for making health and wellness a business and personal priority.

Leveraging her expertise as a design architect, Leigh takes on the issue of workplace wellbeing in a novel way. This book is packed with compelling stories (including Leigh’s personal story), practical application strategies, and historical context about health in the workplace. Instead of limiting herself to the traditional workplace wellness focus areas of movement, sleep and nutrition (which she does cover), Leigh goes deeper and highlights the importance of flow, creativity, and autonomy as keys to employee wellbeing. As a health educator and nutrition coach, I appreciate Leigh’s focus on eating for energy and reducing stress to increase focus; energy and focus are two things employers are looking to boost in their workforce, so using that language is helpful. She covers the newer, hot topic of mindfulness in the workplace and shares its application and discusses its benefits in business and leadership.Because of her training and background as a design architect, she delves into designing the workplace for health by showing the powerful impact of nature and new building standards, among other practical strategies for designing and fostering a physically healthy work environment. As a workplace culture coach, one of the other elements of the book I appreciate is her discussion about culture and the importance of getting to “why” and communicating that in a meaningful and authentic way. She discusses the importance of giving employees autonomy in their day around where, when and how they work, so they can be as productive a possible. If you’re looking to improve the health and wellbeing of your workforce, I highly encourage you to check out this book!

Well researched! Holistic approach, simple frameworks make the research accessible and actionable for all readers.

In her most recent book, The Healthy Workplace, Ms. Leigh Stringer draws on her career as a workplace architect and strategist, as well as the real-life health implications of her own workplace experience, in defining the opportunity for improved well-being in the environments where we spend most of our time. As well, Ms. Stringer points to the scientific research underscoring the impact of the working environment on our well-being, then offering obtainable solutions towards improved workplace wellness, enhancing productivity, creativity, and organizational profitability. The Healthy Workplace is an enjoyable read and an abundant resource for anybody passionate about making a positive impact on the workplace environment towards the improvement of Associate well-being.

With health-related issues costing companies billions of dollars a year in lost revenue, they need guidance on how to reverse this trend. Leigh Stringer provides just that, with a road map for how to create a healthy work environment. You’ll find simple steps and practical solutions that have far-reaching benefits. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to realize a vision for a healthy workplace—and healthy, productive employees.

A very fresh and smart approach to health and well-being in the work place. Well done!Leila K @EYP

I really enjoyed this book, and I have shared it with several colleagues. The ideas are simple and easy to implement. Ms. Stringer’s honesty about her own health journey is refreshing. I like that she encourages the reader to jump around from chapter to chapter. Her passion to design healthier workplaces in inspiring and I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to improve their own health, office environment and life.

The Healthy Workplace is an amazing book. I strongly believe in the emotional, mental and physical well-being of people, especially in the workplace, as we spend the majority of our lives in these settings. This book is great for companies and individuals, to obtain ideas to implement in their work settings. A happy and healthy employee, is a productive employee!

Excellent book for business leaders, which I am recommending. Its a comprehensive primer on the latest trends that prioritize a health oriented workplace and examples of employers that are increasingly supporting this shift. Includes steps companies are taking to help employees increase productivity, reduce stress and foster creativity in the workplace. There’s practical suggestions on how to best design (i.e. office set up, amenities, ergonomics, minimizing irritants etc) the workplace for health. The theme here is that companies that embrace this newer thinking through actions will ultimately be more profitable, as well as attract and retain the best people.

Fantastic book!

In The Healthy Workplace, Leigh Stringer deftly blends her expertise as a LEED-accredited architect with her newfound passion for designing workplaces that are not only good for the environment, but also good for the people who work there. The book is a highly readable resource that provides both the research to make the business case, and the action steps to make doable changes now. Whether your organization is building a new space from the ground up, launching a new wellness initiative, or tweaking a program that’s already up and running, I highly recommend this book! You’ll find a trove of creative and effective ways to better promote well-being in the workplace.

Leigh really gets it. We can no longer expect employees to check their health and positive lifestyle choices at the door of the office. Here, she presents the research that shows that investing in health and wellness has a ROI that can’t be ignored (she cites a study that shows the average payback of good workplace wellness programs is 6:1). A useful read for decision-makers as well as the rest of us who are looking for ways (and reasons) to improve life at work.

Leigh Stringer reminds us of the inextricable link between how/where we live and work, and our health. She makes a strong case for rethinking our approach to how we work and offers her personal journey, as well as defensible and practical ideas for improvement.

Leigh has written a very digestible book on how to improve wellness in the workplace. What makes her work the more relatable, is that she already had considerable experience in designing sustainable workplaces, yet experienced the toll that traditional workplace expectations and practices take on health and wellbeing. Like many, she gained weight, lacked energy and could see burnout looming if she continued doing what she had always done. She shares her personal and professional journey exploring how to manage her energy levels, incorporating good nutrition, recovery, exercise and restorative sleep into her daily activities and what can be done within workplaces to support employees to manage their energy levels . Along the way she has provided some valuable insights into what leading organisations are doing to support employees to manage their energy levels and how that has changed the wellness profile of those organisations. She also clearly articulates the business case that better health results in improved performance as the companies investing in their people are outperforming their competitors when measured using traditional financial metrics.

Leigh outlines the philosophy but also practical steps – a great book for theory as well as practitioners who want to have a workplace that will support the most important part of the company – the people.

Great book. Really appreciated the work ineeded for creating such a comprehensive book.

Full disclaimer: I got to hear a lot of the stories in the book from Leigh as she was researching this book. (She is also a great speaker/storyteller, by the way). I found these stories compelling and they come together well in the book. Like Leigh, I’m an MBA who manages people — in my case, they are “creatives” who get asked to just “put in a little more” when management is trying to hit objectives. Healthy Workplace helped me articulate how we could achieve better productivity. How? By being intentional about some of the core elements of our workday we might not even realize are making us sick. (How is the space and individual workspace organized? Where/how do we take meetings? Where is the food coming from? What is it? What are we asking for from senior management?) I think it’s also a great resource for HR Partners who want to work with line managers to get greater buy-in on wellness initiatives. I think it makes for great conversation among teams and could even be chopped up into chapters for committees who are working on those kinds of initiatives.

I received this book as part of my registration for a luncheon program and went back to the office and ordered more to share with my colleagues. Finally we’re talking about healthier work places rather than just walking programs and flu shots! Laura is a fantastic author and thoroughly enjoyable speaker. Thank you, Laura!

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. How many times have you heard people talk about a healthier workplace, yet that’s all they do – just talk? Leigh highlights so many actions readers can take to actually achieve greater personal and operational well-being that I’ve read the book twice already to keep new opportunities top-of-mind. FYI… The actions that she highlights are a not all working practices, either, as there are plenty of what I would call ‘personal practices’ that help make your life a bit healthier, too. One of my greatest takeaways was from her advice on sleep. I now write down my toughest work (or life) problems and associated thoughts before I go to sleep, in order to let my brain rest from the stress and work to find a solution while I am sleeping. It not only helps to stop the worry that would have kept me up, but I also wake up more refreshed and ready to find a solution. I am about to read the book a third time!

Great read! Highly recommend to those that want to be healthier at work but just don’t know how to get started. Leigh gives great examples that you can start immediately!

I very much enjoyed this book. It’s brimming with solid, data-driven research. There are hundreds of shallow listicles of tips about having a more healthy, productive workplace. This book brings the real stuff in an entertaining package.

Leigh Stringer truly understands workplace wellbeing. Her work is research based, easy to relate to and insightful. It is a must read for anyone working in the wellness industry or anyone wanting to learn more about how to promote a healthy work life balance. In fact, at Wellness Corporate Solutions it is required reading for our program management team. I highly recommend this book!

I really enjoyed reading The Healthy Workplace because it combines several different factors: First, the author’s personal experience. Second, numerous science-based “how to” suggestions that can be incorporated into the workplace immediately (or almost), and third, she highlights many successful innovative programs that other companies have put into place. Stringer encourages everyone to break down the barriers to good health by incorporating very easy action steps that encourage better health. I found it to be not only inspiring, but action-oriented so that steps and changes can be made right away. which we are in the process of doing at my office. I highly recommend it.