American spend 90,000 hours of their lives at work – that’s a lot of time and stress in the office. Because of this, it’s important that your HR team and community managers work towards making wellness opportunities available to everyone in your company. There are various wellness initiatives that promote stress relief, exercise, or community involvement. Learn more about them and discover which ones work best for your company.
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Go green with reusable water bottles
In the United States, 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away each and every day. An easy way to go green is by removing disposable plastic cups, polystyrene cups, and plastic bottles from the office.
Your company can instead provide reusable water bottles or coffee mugs for team members. This can even be a brand play – with your place of work adding their logo to the side of the bottle/mug. If you decide to go this route, make sure that your actions are actually green and not just perceived to be green.
For instance, in a study completed by the University of Victoria in Canada, it’s explained that a regular ceramic mug would need to be used more than 1,000 times to “out-eco” polystyrene cups. That’s a big commitment, so before your company takes the leap, make sure that you’re using green materials and that your employees are prepared to give up their plastic for the long haul.
Zeel massages
From stress relief to digestive well-being, massages provide a wide variety of benefits. As a way to improve corporate wellness and give your employees a morale boost, a Zeel chair massage is the perfect wellness perk for your team.
A licensed massage therapist will come to your office for chair massage sessions (12-20 minutes) and bring all the necessary equipment. All you have to do is send your employees a link to online sign-up. Then, you just sit back and enjoy the feeling of tranquility. Your team will love their short in-office vacation (and you), be sure of it!
Standing desks
The average American spends over 12 hours a day sitting. And this is having some negative effects on us.
Standing desks are a great option for your company, as they give workers an easy way to be active while in the office. For the average American, standing an hour will burn 48 calories. If employees stood 4 hours a day, that would equal 191 additional calories a day, or 955 additional calories during the work week. Not only will this improve heart health and help prevent diabetes, but it could also help your employees lose weight. If you look at this over a year’s time, these extra calories are equivalent to several pounds burnt just from standing. You’ll have healthier and happier team members.
If you want to take this to the next level, have standing or walking competitions at work. Adding a little competition to everyday office life can make things even more exciting.
Wellness newsletters
Sometimes people want to exercise and eat well, but they don’t know where to start. Wellness newsletters or emails can be the perfect way for you to promote healthy options to your employees. Whether that’s a new initiative that your company’s hosting, like in-office chair massages with Zeel, or other company-wide health and wellness events.
Your newsletter can also include everything from places to run and eat healthy foods, to bike shares and local gyms.
Agricultural initiatives
Staring at the side of a cubicle all day can have negative effects on your employees’ physical and mental health. As a result, employee gardens are popping up like weeds around the country. Backed by companies, these community gardens are places where you and your coworkers can tend to fruits, vegetables, and flowers throughout the day.
Why not start a gardening club at the office? Or organize community volunteering outings? Working in a garden improves self-esteem, heart health, lowers the risk of stroke and Alzheimer’s, promotes mental health, and even dexterity. If you work in a place without significant outdoor space, there are plenty of options for an indoor plant garden, as well, which have been known to improve air quality and mood.
Healthy living challenges
Do the people in your office have a competitive edge? Sometimes the best way to encourage healthy living is through challenges and competitions. From step challenges to basketball tournaments, there are countless opportunities to encourage your coworkers to be more active. Check out some of these popular ideas for group activities and challenges:
- Stair challenge – Challenge everyone to ditch the elevator for the week.
- Employee field day – Make a mini Olympics for the office.
- 5k race for charity – Support a good cause and promote wellness at the same time!
- A week without TV – Challenge workers to unplug for a week and give rewards out to people who meet their goals.
- Healthy eating challenges – Spend a month going through a diet together created by a dietician. By doing it as a team, you’ll be more likely to succeed.
- Healthiest lunch – Give cash prizes to the workers with the healthiest lunch in the office.
Start today!
There’s never a bad time to get started on wellness initiatives and perks. Many of these options are easy to begin and take only a little time to set up. Speak with your HR team today to get the ball rolling on these fun and healthy options for the office. Since so much time is spent at work, there should be options available to keep you and your employees on the right track.
Read more: 18 Small Gestures That Make Employees Feel Appreciated