Healthy Employees, Healthy Business (How to create a wellness program for your team that gets them motivated)
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During these tough times, we all know that staying healthy is crucial. You and your team spend most of their life working and you want to help them stay healthy and productive. So how do you create a Wellness Program that entices your team to participate? One that will bring your team together, make them healthier, more productive, and saves money on health care costs, all while having fun?
That’s what I’m going to show you. I’ve put together some ideas below to make it easy for you to create one or if you already have one in place, these ideas will improve what you’re already doing. Let’s first look at some statistics from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, so we know why we need one:
The top two chronic health conditions driving health-related costs for employers were depression and obesity.
Employees who scored low on “life satisfaction” stayed home from work 1.25 more days per month than those with higher scores, adding up to about 15 additional days off per year.
If an individual does the following five things, they typically spend 33 percent to 50 percent less on healthcare costs: Walking 30 minutes per day, eating healthy, not smoking, having a waist size less than half their height, and drinking alcohol only in moderation.
Studies show that well-designed wellness programs have a return on investment of $1.50 to $3 per dollar spent over a 2 to 9-year timeframe.
Wow! If we can help our employees not to feel depressed and we can get them to a healthy weight they will not only be healthier, they’ll be more productive at work, save money on healthcare, and by helping them win in life, we win too. That’s my favorite…a win-win for everyone involved. So let’s get a wellness program in place ASAP!
Tip #1: Look around your office, what do you see? Is it a healthy environment for your employees? Do your employees look happy, do they look healthy?
Look at their desks:
Plants: Do they have a plant nearby? Plants reduce stress, clean the air, and increase productivity.
Ergonomic: Are their desks and chairs ergonomic? Do they have sit-stand stations? Did you know you can increase productivity by 46% with a sit-stand station? Coming from someone who’s used one for years I can attest to it being a game-changer. Our bodies weren’t made to sit at a desk for hours on end. Wrist, neck, back pain, etc. came out of me trying to do it, and being in pain, missing work because of migraines, etc. definitely wasn’t good for anyone. Here’s my ergonomic guide to computer-based workstations.
Stress relief: What do you have at their desks or in the office to help them release stress?
Stress Relievers: A stress reliever may not seem helpful, but when we’re stressed we clench our bodies. The simple act of squeezing a stress reliever helps us to stop clinching. This fun one changes color with the heat from your hands.
Remember playing with putty as a child and how much fun it was? This putty is made to relieve stress and never dries out.
Relaxation lotion: Self-care is important for all of us. By having a lavender-scented lotion like this one at their desk it calms down their mind so they can think clearer.
Look at the common areas:
Do you have work-free zones for them to take a break, play a game, read a book, color, stretch, meditate?
Do you have signs up encouraging:
Take the stairs
Park further away
Drink more water
Have walking meetings
Eat healthy
Tip#2: Make it fun and get them engaged! Besides adding the things above to what you’re already doing you’ll need to get your employees engaged and what better way than by making it fun and competitive. People are competitive by nature so use that to get them on board.
Healthy habits: Think about what healthy habits your employees need. Here are a few ideas:
Losing weight
Drinking more water
Eating healthier/portion control
Stop smoking
Sleeping more
Exercising regularly
Stress reduction
Contests and challenges: These are a great way to get people involved and can last for a day, week, month, quarter, etc. Just do one see what worked and what didn’t, tweak it and repeat it. Here are a few ideas of ones you can do”
Most weight lost
Most steps taken
Most water drank
Healthiest lunch of the day
Random Act of Kindness (good for the soul)
Trivia contests for health
Most times used the stairs over the elevator
21 days of gratitude
Most walking meeting
Have a “High 5 board”. A board set up in a common area/online where people can post the following:
Healthy recipes
Best hikes
Recognize others
Challenges/contests that are currently going on
Inspirational quote of the day/week/month
Exercise groups
Daily walk group schedule
Stretch break schedule (place and time to meet to stretch during the day)
Classes
Calendar for the month
Team walks for a cause: Do fitness walks as a team. My son and I do the Alzheimer Walk with Anthem Blue Cross’ team and I’ve done the 39-mile walk against breast cancer for the past 6 years with my KRTY (radio station)team. It’s much more fun to do as a team instead of by yourself or just with one other person. There are walks being done all the time. Just pick a cause you want to support and they’d love to have you. It’s also good as a role model and for business to show that you give back!
Have events around your wellness program such as:
Health fair
Obstacle course race
Presentations from experts
Baseball, Kickball, etc. tournaments
Tip#3: Reward healthy behaviors! We all know that rewards help all of us achieve our goals so make sure you put it into your wellness program. Here are some ideas:
Have a team and individual rewards depending on the challenge. Team building is great to build into this.
Have “Healthy Bucks” (fake money with your company name on it that they receive when they are “caught being healthy”. They can then redeem it for company swag, time off, prizes, etc.
Most people love a good massage and what a great way to be rewarded after working hard. Have a chair masseuse come in or make a deal with a massage company to have your employees go there.
Have a prize wheel that they spin when they achieve their milestone/goal.
Give health-based prizes branded with your logo. The employee will love it and you’ll advertise your business to everyone that sees it.
I’ve given you a lot of ideas here so you can easily implement/improve your Wellness Program. Your employees and bottom line will thank you for doing it too. Save money, get healthy, be productive, and ultimately live the life you and they dream of because you have the energy to do it.
If you need help coming up with branded items for your wellness program we can handle it all for you. From pedometers to headphones and everything in between to help your employees get healthy and reward them for doing so. For more ideas to include in your wellness program click here and download your BONUS to this article. Our TOP 10 promotional items to include in your Corporate Wellness Program AND what 10 other SUCCESSFUL companies are doing for theirs.
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Shana Anderson-Nute
President
Spitfire Advertising, Inc.
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