Not everyone’s a wellness guru, so here are some tips on how you can create a program that appeals to everyone.
An employee wellness program can help your team come to work with energy, happiness, and a sense of team spirit. Many companies are seeking to incorporate fitness activities into their culture to enhance employee satisfaction, and for good reason. A recent study showed that 85% of companies that create employee wellness programs see a significant uptick in employee engagement, which positively impacts both productivity and retention.
Create a Wellness Committee
Announce your plans to create a wellness committee by calling for committee members. Encourage employees to sign up, particularly those who are passionate about wellness and those who are interested in improving their daily habits. Once you have a good amount of people who raised their hand to participate, curate a team of enthusiastic wellness ambassadors from a variety of departments.
Send Out a Monthly Newsletter
From in-office fitness challenges to offsite sporting events, keep everyone in the company in the loop about wellness activities by delivering updates straight to their inbox. To ensure that the newsletter is regularly sent out, make it a collaborative effort among committee members by keeping a Google Sheet that anyone can update with trends, recipes, tips, and events. Once you select submissions to feature in the newsletter, allow creative committee members to pull them together with compelling messaging and eye-catching images.
Schedule a Daily Wellness Walk
The side effects of slouching at a desk for most of your waking hours are known to wreak havoc on your health. Implementing a regular scheduled wellness walk that welcomes all employees is an easy and delightfully free way to get employees moving. In addition to its health benefits, a wellness walk can result in improved collaboration by bringing people together from different departments who otherwise would never interact.
Stock the Kitchen with Wholesome Snacks
When it comes to choosing the right snacks to power through their day, employees will appreciate the efforts of your wellness program making sure the kitchen has healthy options that are conveniently located onsite - and if you can swing it - free. Need some ideas? Check out 9 nutritious, energy-boosting office snacks that everyone will love.
Offer a Fitness Stipend for Employees
Review employee benefits and consider offering a stipend to offset the costs of qualifying gym memberships. Just $20 a month could serve as the deciding factor on whether or not someone joins a gym. Considering that a study of 200 employees who began to exercise regularly showed that on workout days they were 21% more productive and 41% more motivated, this small investment can result in big gains for your bottom line.
Advertise Adult League Sports Teams
Joining a team can be intimidating if you don’t know anyone, so your wellness committee should dedicate some time to spreading the word about adult leagues that employees can join together. That way, their coworkers can sign up knowing they’ll see a familiar face on the first night of practice and strengthen their bond beyond the hours of 9 to 5.
Host Wellness Classes at the Office
The convenience of an onsite wellness class can better accommodate the busy schedules of working parents and convince couch potatoes that there’s no excuse to attend once the workday is over. Partner with a local gym to bring an instructor into the office once a week to host a free class in yoga, Zumba, weights, pilates, or mediation. Not sure which type of class will be the most appealing? Send out a survey to gauge employees’ interest.
Hold a Healthy Cooking Competition
Everyone swears by an unbelievably delicious recipe that’s surprisingly healthy. What better way to put those best-kept secrets on display than to host a companywide potluck contest of low-fat dishes that don’t have you missing a thing? Invite everyone on staff to cook up their favorite healthy meal to share with staff. At the potluck, hold a vote for the winning dish. To ensure competition is fair, limit the potluck to a recipe category or a set of featured veggies as main ingredients.
Gamify Wellness with Attractive Rewards
Gifts guaranteed to please are the perfect way to get everyone in on the game when it comes to your wellness committee’s activities, from healthy cooking competitions, and team-based steps challenges. That’s where Giftogram comes in. Fitness fanatics and couch potatoes alike will enjoy competing for gift cards they can cash it at hundreds of popular retailers. Inspire colleagues to engage with your employee wellness program through personalized gift card rewards they’ll love just as much the good vibes they’ll get from all the awesome and creative perks your committee will offer. Check out Giftogram today!