A good wellness program has the potential to reduce absenteeism by 14-19%. And it can even help you snag your next great hire, as 87% of job seekers say they consider potential employers’ health and wellness offerings. With the best of intentions, workplace wellness efforts start strong in the beginning and then dwindle as the months go on. Summer is the perfect time to pause, regroup and refocus on workplace wellness. Bonus: Working together toward wellness goals (especially when fun fitness promotional ideas are incorporated) can promote collaboration, communication and support among team members, which in turn can help build relationships and contribute to a more positive work environment.
Here are several employee health and wellness ideas to inspire your team to keep working toward their wellness goals:
- Walking meetings
- Rewards and incentives
- Active-ly giving back
- Gamification
- “Desk-ercise”
- Healthy potlucks
Encourage walking meetings
Walking meetings not only encourage physical activity, but they can also boost creativity a whopping 81-100%. Encourage employees to hit the pavement next time they need to meet.
Kick-start your organization’s “meet on your feet” efforts by giving every employee colorful shoelaces imprinted with a motivational message. Also provide maps of nearby walking paths and nature trails. Set tennis shoe pens on team members’ desks as daily reminders to go outside and walk, and bottled water in a mini fridge near the door to keep them hydrated during.
Give rewards and incentives
Help employees meet their wellness goals by holding regular check-ins and rewarding those who stay on track. Is an employee regularly crushing their weekly exercise target or continually hitting their water intake goal? If so, give them a fun gift, like a wellness-focused mystery box.
Assemble a smoothie box that contains a smoothie bottle, nutritious smoothie or shake recipe, and an acacia wood and resin coaster set. Or fill a stacking lunch box with reusable food storage bags and snack containers.
Catch employees participating in wellness activities, and reward them on the spot with a useful gift. See someone leaving to hit the gym during lunch? Hand them a branded cooling towel. Notice a team member taking time to stretch or meditate? Enter them in a prize drawing for a sound machine with wireless charger.
Active-ly give back
Coordinate fitness with giving back to the community. Sponsor active charity events, like fun runs, obstacle course races and biking challenges. Encourage employees to form teams and fundraise for a cause—together. Consider matching employee donations to make an even bigger impact.
Outfit participants in company-branded T-shirts. And provide athletic belts they can use to keep necessities close while running, biking or walking. Slip in useful items, like bandage dispensers and pistachio snack cups.
Gamification for more fun
Kick up some competition to increase participation. Create a fortune prize wheel with instant-win slots featuring fitness promotional items, like dumbbell stress relievers and cooling bandanas. When a team member achieves a specific goal or completes a workplace wellness challenge, they get to spin the wheel to win a prize.
Enter them in a drawing for a prize pack when they check a wellness goal off their list. Stock a beach bag with a can holder, Life is Good® T-shirt and EcoVessel® Metro vacuum tumbler. What a great motivational fitness giveaway idea!
Promote “desk-ercise”
Sitting for long periods of time can contribute to heart disease, diabetes and chronic joint pain. Simply moving more and taking a break from sitting every 30 minutes can counter the effects of too much sitting.
Promote “desk-ercise”—exercises people can do at their desks—to help team members move throughout the day. Hand out stretch bands and illustrated guides that show simple exercises employees can do at their desks, like leg raises and shoulder rolls.
Give out fitness dice, imprinted with different exercises, to get team members’ blood pumping during short breaks. Keep motivation high by implementing monthly challenges. For instance, stand every 30 minutes daily for one month. Or do three desk exercises each day during the workweek. Fitness promotional items, like a fitness mat and slider disc set, make great incentives.
Host healthy potlucks
Looking for an employee health and wellness idea everyone will enjoy? Host a healthy potluck. Ask employees to bring nutritious homemade dishes to pass. Team members can share their recipes in an online messaging channel so everyone has access to these healthy meal ideas. As a thank-you for participation, print and place the recipes in three-ring binders so everyone has their own cookbook to take home. Slip a good nutrition pocket slider and a good health pocket calendar inside.
Up the ante and turn your potluck into a friendly competition. Team members can vote on dishes for being the tastiest, best presented, most gourmet and easiest. Winners get a branded recipe journal. Small bags of trail mix can be handed out as consolation prizes.
Stay healthy, stay well
With these health and fitness promotional ideas, your organization can keep its team members going strong with their wellness plans and end the year with a bang.