Employee wellness programs started as a way to promote employees’ physical health and keep them coming to work more. But, over time, employers have embraced wellness because it promotes the overall health, emotional, mental, social, and physical, of employees.
Wellness also plays a critical role in effective recognition programs and creates authenticity as employers work to help employees find a more balanced way of life.
1. Start a Peer Recognition Program
Peer recognition creates a sense of belonging, encourages employees, and builds strong teams. It’s one of the most important steps you can take to help your employees feel appreciated and valued at work.
2. Encourage Breaks
Encourage employees to take their breaks during work so they can manage stress better.
3. Gym Memberships
You may not have an on-site gym, but paying for a gym membership encourages employees to get fit and work out, promoting physical wellness.
4. Flexible Schedules
Flexible schedules give employees a greater sense of autonomy and encourage better balance between personal and work life.
5. Provide Healthy Snacks
Offer healthy snacks to your employees. Usually, chips, soda, or candy are the go-to snacks in an office. Instead offer fruit, vegetables, nuts, granola, yogurt, and low-sugar drinks for a healthier alternative. In most areas, you can outsource this service so it doesn’t have to take up a lot of time for a staff member.
6. Balance Ball Chairs
Provide balance ball chairs as an option for employees to use. Balance balls engage more muscles than traditional office chairs and are a healthier alternative.
7. Remote Work Options
Employees have other responsibilities outside of work. Even if most of your employees work in the office, offering the option to work remotely can help to ease their stress when a child is sick or something unexpected happens. Stress contributes to many health problems. Ease their stress by offering remote work when personal obligations need more attention.
8. Paid Time Off
If you don’t offer paid time off, consider adding at least a few days. Rest allows employees to recharge. PTO gives all employees that chance and doesn’t disproportionately require financially struggling employees to work, even when they need a break. Employees will come back rejuvenated and mentally healthier.
9. Yoga Days
Sponsor a Yoga day once or twice a month. Bring in a Yoga instructor and provide a quiet space for employees to participate in Yoga. Yoga can improve mental and physical wellness. It helps to calm the mind and increases muscle strength and flexibility.
10. Offer Free Health Screenings
Give employees resources to be screened for health risks such as cancer or heart disease so they can be aware of potential risks. Sponsor a screening day, or provide free screenings in your benefits package and encourage employees to participate on an ongoing basis.
11. Offer Mentoring
Mentoring can help employees grow, provide a friend, and give guidance during difficult problems.
12. Health Coaching
Health coaching can provide employees with individual plans and coaching for healthier living. A health coach helps employees to make healthier decisions and can guide them to available resources.
13. Promote Sleep
Most adults don’t get enough sleep, but sleep impacts health. Sleep deprivation contributes to increased sicknesses and overall fatigue. It can impact mental health and make it harder to deal with external stressors. Encourage employees to get enough sleep and provide education around its importance. Challenge employees to sleep at least 7 hours a night and reward winning employees at the end of the month.
14. Standing Desks
Purchase standing desks for use around the office. Allow employees to use the desks and rotate through them. If you find that the standing desks are always full, purchase more so all your employees have a chance to use them as much as they’d like to. Or purchase desks that can move between standing and sitting for all your employees.
15. Employee Counseling Benefits
If you don’t already, consider offering employee counseling benefits. Counseling provides employees resources to learn better skills, overcome trauma, and improve their relationships. Counseling should be provided by outside professionals and completely confidential.
16. Team Activities
Improve the emotional wellness of your employees by offering team activities on a regular basis or after the completion of a project. Team activities can help to promote unity and lower stress. Even remote teams benefit from team activities.
17. Volunteer Days
Volunteering can improve mental health and create a sense of team and belonging. It often increases feelings of gratitude and raises endorphins. Sponsor team volunteer days or give employees a paid day off to volunteer.
18. Financial Classes
Bring in an expert monthly or quarterly to talk about financial topics. Financial education can greatly impact the stability and emotional health of employees by helping them to better control their finances and understand important topics.
19. Cooking Challenges
Hold a potluck of healthy recipes they made. Have the office vote for the best recipe. Collect and compile the recipes and share them with the team.
20. Lunch and Learns
Use lunch and learns to approach wellness topics such as financial literacy, healthy cooking, an exercise class, or meditation.
21. Encourage Hydration
Many people don’t drink enough water, but water provides countless health benefits. It can even improve your mood! Encourage employees to drink water by providing water coolers and ice machines in convenient locations around the office. Hand out water bottles so employees can take water with them to their desks or on business calls. Create a challenge and give out prizes to employees who drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.
22. Flu Shot Program
Participate in a flu shot clinic. Bring in free flu shots for employees and encourage, but don’t require participation.
23. Team Sports
Sponsor a team sport for any employees who want to participate. Soccer, basketball, and softball are all great options. Or offer to pay the entrance fees for team members who want to join a local league.
24. Health Resources
Make sure employees know where they can find a list of health resources available in your community. Be sure to include benefits resources.
25. Health Vision Board
Create a vision board and post health information. Let employees track goals or post inspirational messages or photos for themselves.
26. Take the Stairs Challenge
Encourage employees to take the stairs by setting up a take the stairs challenge. Or, promote “Stair Wellness” by making stairs a friendlier place for walking. Increase the lighting and add images to stairwells.
27. Add Office Scooters
Encourage employees to move around the office on scooters. It will add a little fun to the office and provide an alternative source of movement.
28. Bring in a Chef
Bring in a chef to do a cooking demonstration on a healthy recipe. Even offering one simple, the doable meal can help employees feel empowered to make changes at home.
29. Ergonomics Health
Assess how ergonomically healthy your office is and make a chance to make it better. That might mean changing desks, chairs, keyboards, or computer screens. But, it will also mean greater wellness for the entire staff.
30. Don’t Forget Remote Employees
Remote employees can often feel greater stress to prove that they are working. They face more interruptions and can struggle to carve out personal time. Remember to include remote employees on wellness initiatives.
31. 20% Time
Give employees carved out time for creative projects or to explore their own work initiatives. 20% time is credited with the creation of Gmail and many other projects at Google. It shows employees you trust them and provides a sense of autonomy. Plus, employees can explore creativity in solving work-related projects. It also helps create flow, an essential element that increases employee job happiness.
32. 1:1 Nutritionalist Sessions
Sponsor one-on-one sessions with a nutritionist. Nutritionists can help employees create custom meal planning, manage specific medical conditions, get inspired, or make better diet choices.
33. Wellness Wednesday
Sponsor a healthy activity on Wednesdays. Employees usually experience a lull in the middle of the week and a wellness activity can help ease the lull and create something fun to look forward to.
34. Healthy Lunch Options
Prepare a list of healthy lunch options within 3 miles of your office. Include information such as their phone number, address, type of foods, and whether they deliver.
35. Fitness Classes
Sponsor on-site fitness classes so employees can participate. Offer a variety of times so those with alternating shifts can go before or after work. Some employees may not have ever participated in fitness classes. The encouragement from their colleagues and the convenience of doing it at work can make all the difference for employees.
36. Cater Healthy Lunches for Crunch Time
Instead of ordering Pizza when the team needs to stay late, or skip the lunch hour, order healthy options. Stick to salads, wraps, taco salad bars, or soups.
37. Incentivize Employees to Quit Smoking
Incentivized employees are more likely to quit than non-incentivized employees. Offer rewards for employees who quit smoking for different intervals. As they continue non-smoking offer larger rewards. Or, provide an additional benefits discount for non-smokers.
38. Walking Challenges
Introduce walking challenges to encourage employees to walk more. Provide Fitbits to track steps or provide an app all employees can use that creates fun challenges for team members.
39. Pet-Friendly Office
Pets can reduce stress and help with emotional and mental wellness. Consider ways your office can become pet friendly. Perhaps a fish, bird or other small pets can be allowed. Or designate a space for pets. Just make sure to be aware of allergies and pet aversions some employees may have to dogs or cats.
40. Thank You Notes
Encourage feelings of gratitude by providing thank you notes and postage for employees to send out a thank you card to someone. Or, share this link for free ecards. You can also focus on sending thank you cards to your employees all year around.
41. Twenty-One Days of Grateful
Gratitude boosts our emotional wellness. Sponsor a gratitude challenge and encourage employees to write down three things they are grateful for every day. Or, encourage employees to share something they are grateful for every day for a month.
42. Celebrate Work Anniversaries
Show employees that they are a valued part of the team by celebrating work anniversaries. It helps to build commodore and a sense of belonging- both important to emotional wellness.
43. Bring in a Comedian
Laughter is the best medicine and helps to relieve stress and get endorphins going. Bring in a comedian during or after you wrap up a particularly stressful project. It can help your team to relieve some of the stress and feel fresher.
44. Participate in Community Walks
Sponsor and communicate in community walks such as Walk of Dimes, walks for Cancer, Heart Disease, or other benefit walks your team members care about.
45. Benefits Awareness
Many employees get so busy that they may forget to really read the employee benefits handbook. Regularly communicate to employees about the benefits available to them. You can send out an email monthly or quarterly that highlights a specific benefit and how they can use it.
46. Celebrate Work Anniversaries
Show employees that they are a valued part of the team by celebrating work anniversaries. It helps to build commodore and a sense of belonging- both important to emotional wellness.
47. Sponsor a Food or Clothing Drive
Set up a space for employees to donate food or clothing to be donated. Helping others contributes to feelings of gratitude and happiness. Plus, in the case of clothing, it can help employees get rid of extra clothing and free up clutter and space in their homes.
48. Team Outings
Take the team on a team field trip. This can include a team hike, service project, or a fun game of bowling. Studies show that employees who feel like they belong to a team are more likely to be content in their job and feel like they contribute positively to their community.
49. Honor Employees With Retirement Parties
Demonstrate how much you value employees by throwing retirement parties. Use the time to create meaningful team experiences. And, use the reminder to sit down with employees to set goals and find out how you can help them in their careers.
50. Hand Out Workout Passes
Give employees an extra hour of paid time off to go work out. Employees can use the passes to take an extra hour at lunch, come in an hour later or leave earlier so they have time to workout. Passes can be awarded on the Thanks Platform.
51. Provide Health Benefits
If your company has under 50 employeesl, consider providing health benefits even though you aren’t required to.
52. Ask For Employee Feedback
Employees who contribute to work decisions and are able to offer honest feedback are more likely to have positive feelings about their work and employer. Create a culture where employees can offer feedback and have input to company decisions.
53. Provide Alcohol and Substance Abuse Support
Include support for any employees (or their families) struggling with substance abuse. Pay program fees and allow employees to choose a program that fits their lifestyle best.
54. Encourage Nap Time
Naps are often taboo in the office, but a short nap can leave employees feeling rejuvenated and refreshed. Encourage naps by turning an empty office into a nap space. Add a recliner or hammock for a comfortable space.
55. Map Out Walking Trails
Map out walking trails for your employees around and inside your office space. Include indoor and outdoor options and track the distance so employees can track how far they are walking.
56. Don’t Forget Your New Employees
Onboarding is a critical time that can reaffirm that employees made the right decision to come to your company. Be sure to recognize new employees and their progress through training
57. Journal Giveaway
Journaling can be a great way to express emotions and create mindfulness. Give away nice journals to employees. They can be leather-bound, thankful journals, or a 3 line a day journals. Then, send out journaling prompts to make journaling easier.
58. Mile a Day Challenge
For a month, employees tract each day that they walk at least a mile a day. The winner gets a prize. Or, make it more challenging by allowing employees to enter extra miles they walk.
59. Office Recess
Schedule an office-wide recess for everyone to step away from their desks. This can give employees time to go outside, socialize, or take a needed break. Choose a lower-production time, such as early afternoon when many people get drowsy.
60. Breakroom Remodel
Reimagine your breakrooms as something that can provide employees with a break from the stress and a place to chill. Remodel breakrooms with a fresh, comfortable look. You can include board games, game tables, comfortable lounge chairs, and healthy snacks.
61. Create a Culture of Inclusion
Inclusion is about more than diversity. It’s about allowing employees to be their authentic health. That kind of culture fosters better wellness for everyone!
62. Play Office Music
Music can improve mood and decrease stress. Play office music to provide a comfortable background. Choose music without words and be sure to play it on low so it’s not a distraction.
63. Add Office Plants
Give employees potted plants to improve their mood. Hire someone to water them each week so it’s not another item employees have to remember. Studies show that plants can help decrease stress and boost morale and energy levels.
64. Post Your Company Values and Mission Statement
Employees who feel that they contribute to their community or the world with their word are more likely to be happier at work and feel a connection to their job. Post your corporate mission statement and values where employees can see them regularly. Don’t forget to talk about your corporate values at employee meetings. Even better, tell company stories that demonstrate the impact you have on the community.
65. Mindful Mondays
Encourage mindfulness by sharing mindfulness tips on Mondays or bringing in an expert to talk about how employees can be more mindful.
66. Encourage Frustration Breaks
Everyone gets frustrated at times. Instead of ignoring it, encourage frustrated employees to take a walk. Walking boosts mood and gives a change of scenery so they can come back refreshed.
67. Invite Family to the Office
When family and friends are supportive of work, employees thrive more. Allow employees to invite family and friends to the office to see what they do.
68. Offer Tele-Health
Provide telehealth to employees so they can gain access to fast and low-cost doctors and be treated remotely. Tele-health options usually waive copays and allow employees greater flexibility than office visits.
69. Free Fruit Day
October 1 is National Fruit Day at Work Day and July 1st is International Fruit Day. Give away free fruit at work for employees to enjoy. Or, bring in an assortment of familiar and unfamiliar fruits for employees to try. You may find a new favorite!
70. Post a Poster Reminding People To Take the Stairs
Sometimes all it takes is a simple reminder. Post a sign by your elevator reminding employees to take the stairs.
71. Celebrate An Obscure Holiday
There are a number of fun and obscure holidays you can celebrate with your team. National Employee Health and Sports Day on May 19th is one of them. You can also celebrate International Day of Thanks, Work Like a Dog Day, You Matter to Me Day, National Healthy Snacks Day, or another random and fun day. Having fun at the office is an important part of building healthy teams and creating work friendships.
72. Start an Employee Recognition Program
Check out how to start an employee recognition program here.
73. Arrange a Dedicated Helpine Service
Give employees a place to go when they run up against an issue.
74. Motivational Workshops
Bring in a motivational speaker to spread positive vibes.
75. Hobby Clubs
Encourage employees to share their hobbies through hobby clubs, which can meet during lunch or after work.
76. Celebrate a Healthy Halloween
Instead of candy, cater in healthy pumpkin treats.
77. New Years Goals
Bring in an expert who can teach your employees how to set and achieve goals more effectively.
78. Language Courses
Learning a second language improves memory and problem-solving skills.
79. Wellness Retreat
Sponsor a team wellness retreat with families included.
80. Team Hike
Take the team on a local hike or to a nature preserve to decrease office stress.
81. An Office Garden
Start an office garden. If you don’t have the space, buy employees a pot each and provide seeds for them to grow their garden plants in.
82. Office Memory Wall
Ask employees to write down a favorite work memory or share a photo and post them on a memory wall.
83. Get Employees Involved
When employees have input into corporate initiatives, they are more likely to adopt habits into their personal lives.
84. Match into HSA or HRA Accounts
Encourage employees to participate in HSA and HRA accounts by matching dollars.
85. Summer Fridays
Give employees mental breaks by taking Friday’s off early during the summer.
86. SWAG
Help employees feel included by giving out company gear to everyone.
87. Open a Free Library
A bookcase and some business-related books are all you need to start a free library. You could also allow employees to contribute their own books.
88. Meatless Monday
Going meatless one day a week is a great way to encourage better eating.
89. Walking Meetings
Train managers on how to hodl walking meetings and communicate so employees with limitations can participate.
90. Look at How Your Company Addresses Failure
Many managers aren’t aware of the best ways to address failure and can hurt employee morale.
91. St Patrick’s Day Eat Your Greens
Host a salad bar on St Patrick’s Day.
92. Set Up a Chair Race
Hold chair races and give out goofy prizes.
93. Desk Customization
Allow employees to post photos of family members and decorate their desks or cubicles to help reduce stress.
94. Motivational Posters
Post motivational posters around the office to encourage employees.
95. Offer Herbal Tea in Drink Choices
Herbal tea is healthy and can help reduce stress.
96. Offer Paid Maternity Leaves
Paid maternity or parental leave promotes physical and emotional health.
97. Donation Matching Program
Encourage giving by matching donations to charities.
98. No Talk Tuesday
Choose a day of the week when meetings are banned.
99. Offer An Emotional Awareness Class
Emotional intelligence boosts emotional wellness.
100. Light Therapy
Fight Seasonal Affective Disorder by changing lighbulbs to daylight and offering additional lamps to employees.
101. Employee Field Day
Host an employee field day and get employees out of the field for outdoor games and activities.
102. Fitness Apps
Pay subscription fees to fitness apps so employees can track their fitness on their phones.
103. Employee Autonomy
Lack of autonomy kills employee morale and engagement. (link to 5 critical aspects of employee wellness)
104. Celebrate Employee Success
Employee recognition provides critical encouragement, lifts, and motivates employees. Don’t neglect your recognition program. Encourage and support employees’ success. Be sure to use recognition that speaks to all 5 recognition languages.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.