18 Brilliant Ways to Boost Workplace Wellness on a Budget (Our Picks)

Transcription

1 18 Brilliant Ways to Boost Workplace Wellness on a Budget (Our Picks) As an HR, wellness, or benefits professional, we have no doubts that you d like to make your office a happier, healthier place. Even if you re in a good place with employee well-being, there s always room for improvement, right? Sometimes even the bestintentioned wellness programs can fall short due to limited resources and already full plates: who s going to execute this initiative? Can we afford it? How long will it take to get approval? Who will measure success, and how? Will our employees even like it? We re here to help! Don t get discouraged; there are some programs and initiatives that are so low-cost and low-effort that you can implement them quickly, easily, and with little to no red tape. Brought to you by:

2 Get your employees engaged and excited with these simple wellness program ideas. 1 Corliss, Julie. Mindfulness Meditation May Ease Anxiety, Mental Stress - Harvard Health Blog. Harvard Health Blog RSS. Harvard, 08 Jan Web. 17 May Short Meditation Sessions Spending just minutes a day practicing meditation can have a huge impact on physical and mental health. Better yet, meditation can help create a landscape of stressfree employees! 1 Check out the free app, Headspace, for easy exercises! 2. Take to the Outdoors If it s nice outside, encourage outdoor walking meetings instead of more time spent in a stuffy conference room. You ll kill two birds with one stone: light exercise for physical health and fresh air and sunshine for mental health. 3. Workout Buddies We all know that there s strength in numbers. By implementing a buddy system, your employees can double their chances at fitness success by having a partner to help them stay committed, encouraged, and accountable!

3 2 Seliger, Susan, and Brunilda Nazario, MD. Massage Therapy for Stress Relief, Tension, Headaches, Muscle Tightness, and More. WebMD. WebMD, 1 June Web. 23 May Five-Minute Hand Massages Our hands contain some of the reflexology points that can greatly affect other parts of our body 2. Stressed? No worries, spend 5 minutes massaging your hands to feel a little more zen. Stretch your fingers and palm out, making sure the entire hand is loose. Gently rub from the base of each finger to the tip. Squeeze the skin between your thumb and index finger to loosen up any tightness. Slide your thumb from your palm to the base of each finger. 5. Musical Desks In case people get tired of staring at the same brick wall each day, or frustrated by their chatty neighbor, organize some small-scale workspace moves every few months. A change of scenery is great for mental stimulation! 6. A Daily 60 to 5 Ratio For every 60 minutes of work done on or off the computer, motivate your employees to take five minutes to stretch, relax, and clear the mind. 7. Refresh with Yoga Start mornings once a month with a short sequence of sun salutations to keep employees engaged in meetings and more importantly, awake! 8. Employee Olympics Get your employees up and moving with the ultimate field day event - perfect for boosting enthusiasm, morale and team building. Find an open space, divide into teams and compete in games like Wiffle ball, kickball, cornhole, and frisbee. Maybe even pick a small prize for the winning team! 9. Green Tea Tuesdays Encourage the office to load up on antioxidants with Green Tea Tuesdays. Did you know green tea can also help with things like arthritis and asthma? 3 Offer to treat employees from a local coffee shop for those who are interested. Let s try replacing those sodas with healthier choices! 3 Shea, Taylor. 11 Health Benefits of Green Tea Reader s Digest. Readers Digest. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2016.

4 10. Masterchef (Healthy Edition) Let s find out who your office Masterchef is! Organize weekly/ monthly lunches and designate a chef (or a few!) to come up with a healthy recipe for the group. Have employees anonymously rank each meal so you can pick an annual winner (plan a small reward). This is an awesome way for employees to come together over healthy eating. 11. The 30-day of Gratitude Challenge Here s how it works: every day for a whole month, participants write two to three things they re grateful for, whether it s simply a perfectly made coffee or public transportation finally going their way. Have everyone post their note on a shared wall/bulletin board to make the office a more positive place! Recognize those who complete the challenge. 12. The Wellness Wall Implement a Wellness Wall where employees write short, fun facts related to healthy eating, workout routines, financial wellness tips, stress relievers, etc. Create a community of healthy individuals helping each other! 13. Movie Mondays Peak your employees interest and rid them of the Monday blues with Movie Mondays! Keep a comedy playing, on low or mute volume, in your common area for an enjoyable lunch or coffee break. 14. Indoor Greenery It s been proven that green plants can reduced both mental stress and strain on our eyes. Particularly for those winter months when flowers are not in bloom, some indoor plants can help give employees a visionfriendly boost! Click here to read all about how Green is Good in our blog post! 15. Monthly Twinning Throwing it back to high school, add a little fun into the 9-5 by calling for comfy twinning outfits among your employees., Think: On Wednesdays, we wear pink. Make it a competition by appointing winners for the best matching! An excellent way to get office squads engaged.

5 16. Casual Fridays TGIF, are we right? Reward your employees for a hard week of work by letting them dress down for the day. It s a simple program that can go a long way in making people more comfortable. At 2020, we re all about the Flannel Fridays (except in the summer), which gets a pretty impressive turnout! 2020 On-site Optometry Last but certainly not least, there is one more corporate wellness initiative that is low-cost and pretty darn easy to implement: on-site vision care with 2020 On-site Optometry. If you d like to learn more about how bringing eye exams to the office can help boost health and well-being in the workplace, please contact us at info@2020onsite.com, or visit our website at 2020onsite.com Copyright: 2020, Inc Nothing contained in this article should be interpreted as medical or professional advice or diagnosis or as a substitute for such advice or diagnosis. You should contact a health care professional with any questions regarding your health or any symptoms of any health condition. Eye exams are available on 2020 On-site Optometry mobile vision centers from independent doctors of optometry. The independent doctors of optometry are not employed by 2020, Inc., which does not provide eye exams. For more information visit Book Club For all the bookworms in the office who have little spare time to read for fun, an office book club is a great opportunity to make new friends and boost mental stimulation around something other than work! 18. Paint Therapy Thursdays Painting stimulates the creative mind and allows for mental rest. Thursdays are always full of end-of-week deadlines, which leads to stress. By providing optional Paint Therapy Thursdays once a month or quarter, you can help employees alleviate stress - even if just for a few hours. Bring in an expert to lead a class, or just provide supplies (and maybe some wine?) and let your employees get creative on their own!