“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Benjamin Franklin’s old adage rings just as true now as it did 200 years ago. Certain preventive health practices have been shown to greatly improve wellbeing. We offer ideas on how to use health and wellness giveaways to encourage your team to practice protective wellness.
Exercise and healthy eating
Exercise can improve job performance and reduce anxiety. Plus, who doesn’t feel good after getting their heart pumping? To help your team perform at their best, send them an yoga mat and an exercise band. Create fun exercise challenges like whoever logs the most exercise minutes in one month or whoever comes up with the most creative exercise. Reward winners with a prize like a salad shaker, so packing a healthy lunch for work is even easier. Be sure to include various levels of contests, so people of all abilities can participate.
An infuser sports bottle does double duty—staff can drink plenty of water while also getting a flavor boost from fruit. Stock your work fridge with washed and ready strawberries, pineapple, blueberries and other fruit for staff to add to their infuser bottle for a delicious, nutritious drink.
Nurture with nature
Spending time in nature is literally a breath of fresh air. Encourage employees to get into the great outdoors, whether they walk, hike, bike or snowshoe. Ask employees to post social media posts about their picnics, hikes and biking adventures and enter everyone who does into a drawing. Everyone who participates gets individually wrapped trail mix while the drawing winner gets a cooler tote.
If the air is still a bit chilly, provide staff who pledge to get outside more with a reflective beanie. It will keep their head warm while they enjoy the fresh air. For those who fulfill their pledge, reward them with a hydration backpack they can take with them on the trail.
Workplace wellness
Get your staff on their feet by promoting movement breaks. Provide each employee with a multi-function pedometer and challenge them to get their steps in. Up the ante by making it a competition. Whoever gets the most steps wins, or whoever improves the most from one week to the next wins. Competitions can include everyone—whether they’re working on site, at home or a combination of both. Hand out an impressive reward, like a packable windbreaker.
Keep workplace germs at bay by giving each team member a hand sanitizer to keep at their desk. Remind staff to stay home and rest up if they’re ill. And keep the office stocked with hydrating beverages like bottled water and tea
Wellness at home
Help staff stay healthy at home too. Send each staff member a wellness kit that includes aromatherapy candle, healthy snacks and more. Aromatherapy not only smells great, but it can also reduce stress and tension. Staff may be more apt to skip the chips and opt for healthy snacks, like fruit and nuts, if they’re readily available. Remind staff to take a break from their computer during mealtimes to reenergize and refresh.
Encourage staff to get plenty of rest with a sleep mask to block out light. If they struggle with getting enough sleep, encourage them to reduce their caffeine intake and choose herbal teas instead. Gift clients and employees an assortment of teas as a reminder that you care about their health and wellness.
Protective wellness can be simple
With ideas like hosting a great outdoors contest and providing health and wellness giveaways for work and home, encouraging staff to practice preventive wellness is easy.