Let’s face it, work can lead to high-stress situations, which can reduce employee engagement and lead to decreased productivity and employee satisfaction. An Employee Wellness Program is a great way to promote a positive work environment, company culture and encourage employees to be themselves. The workplace wellness program should promote health and allow opportunities for self-improvement and should also include some amazing perks as an incentive.
We’ve outlined some of favorite ideas that will set the precedent of physical and mental health across your organization:
Book Recommendations: Whether it’s through a Book Club or one-on-one recommendations, the encouragement to continually be reading can be a huge benefit for mental health and physical health. Managers specifically can motivate employees through gifting books in an area where they think it would be helpful for an employee to grow or to be further educated on, or offer to buy lunch or snacks for book club meetings.
Here are some of our top book picks, available to send to your team with a custom message through Swag.com:
Bestselling author Brené Brown uses research and anecdotes to illustrate the top qualities in impactful leaders. This book is a great read for new managers stepping into their roles, or to inspire your whole team to encourage each other’s growth.
If you’re sensing your team has fallen into a slump or needs some fresh motivation, this inspiring read will help them find their rhythm again. Sometimes all you really need is a few words of encouragement and an easy framework to get back on track!
Fitness Reimbursement Stipend: One of the biggest wellness benefits is encouraging physical fitness. Employees can save money on local gym memberships, fitness classes, personal training sessions, or other related health benefits provided by the employer’s program. There is double the perk if your company has a gym and showers in the building! Having healthy snacks in the office can help create a positive impact to ones health too.
If your team is working remotely, we have plenty of ways to support them in their work(out)-from-home endeavors, too.
Give your employees the gift of a full fitness studio from the comfort of their own home. This 12-month membership provides access to over 60 expert fitness instructors and 3,000 classes – so there’s something to get everyone moving.
Sometimes the hardest part about staying motivated with fitness goals is simply showing up. Help your team get out the door with a custom gym bag that’s perfect for traveling with their athletic gear or extra workout clothes to change into.
Team Coordinated Active Events: This perk may take some commitment to plan, but should be relatively easy once the ball gets rolling! Have a group of employees commit to monthly outdoor activities beyond just walking to meetings. There are plenty of seasonal events such as tree lighting, flower shows, or street fairs that take place in local communities. This inspires team bonding as well as can help employees with their fitness and overall health. This sort of corporate wellness program featuring physical activity can help promote weight loss and a healthy lifestyle behavior change with your team members.
Wearing coordinated uniforms is proven to bring people together and boost team morale. Design your own custom t-shirts or hoodies to show spirit for your organization – this is a great idea especially for team sports or a company field day!
Who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? Supply your team with a step tracking device and award prizes for the employees with the most steps over a given time period. You’ll be amazed at how prizes get them to participate!
Parental Leave: When it comes to well received wellness ideas, a great fully paid maternity and paternity/bonding leave can be a huge way to attract candidates and retain employees. Additional related perks can be at home back-up care for children or for adults/elders who are recovering from an illness. Combined with an environment that encourages healthy living and lifestyle, this can benefit all parties involved. Having accessible facilities for all to use is also beneficial.
While you can’t necessarily be there to help your employees care for their new babies, you can give them a small token of appreciation and support, to remind them that you’re there to help in any way you can while they adjust to parenthood.
Let’s be real – infants tend to outgrow their clothes quickly, and/or spit up on them quite often. Keep new parents prepared with an extra outfit on hand. A soft, gender-neutral onesie is an adorable way to welcome your newest junior team member to the world!
Mental Health: It’s important that employees are continually outputting their best work. To ensure that employees have their mental and emotional well-being in place, companies such as Lyft offer their employees free access to licensed therapists. Similarly, Genentech has begun offering its employees Headspace, an app that teaches users how to lead a more mindful life.
Encourage your employees to take a calm moment to themselves with a gorgeous essential oil diffuser. There’s a scent for every mood and occasion, so they can keep their workspace optimized for positive thoughts. It’s the little things in life!
Spending time outdoors is proven to boost serotonin and help mental health. Whether it’s a walk around the neighborhood during lunch or a weekend adventure, support quality time outside with necessary SPF protection.
Quarterly Blood Drives: Giving back to others is always a win-win feeling. By hosting in-office blood drives through the Red Cross Blood Donations, an employee can potentially save up to 3 lives, while feeling the importance of volunteering. There are also other exercise and other fitness based charities one can contribute to in the work place, as well as seasonal initiatives for employees like flu shots.
Pass around stickers after your company blood drive or charity event, to raise awareness for your cause and show appreciation to participants. Whether they put them on their shirt for the day or on their laptop, they’ll remember their impact!
Weekly Chair Massages: Most often people spend the day hunched over their computer. By offering the perk of weekly in-office chair massages, everyone can take a 10-minute break, drop their shoulders down, relax their jaw, and unwind. It will be a midday treat for everyone who participates and something to look forward to each month! Desk wise, one can also look at standing desks or adjustable desks to improve health in the office and employers can look at investing in fitness or yoga classes for staff.
Yoga classes are a great option to engage employees in your workplace wellness initiatives. Host a virtual or in-person beginner session, and send out fully custom yoga mats to make sure they have a comfortable place to practice.
Taking care of a plant is proven to improve mental health and daily happiness. Plant the seeds to this mini bonsai tree and enjoy watching it grow each day on your desk. Bonus points for creating a Slack channel to share progress photos!
Dog-Friendly Office: Who doesn’t love a dog-friendly office? It’s a huge stress-reliever for dog owners who don’t have to run home to walk or feed the dog and also don’t have to pay for dog care services. Also, non-dog owners will be so happy to furry friends to play with.
Make pet bathroom-break clean-up easy and convenient with a bag dispenser that clips onto a leash or keychain. Dog owners at your office will appreciate this handy gift and be able to help keep the workplace clean when their furry coworkers visit.
50oz Asobu Dog Bowl Lite Bottle
There’s nothing better than a gift that serves more than one purpose in one. This extra-large size Asobu bottle includes a detachable pet bowl, so you and your best friend can keep hydrated together wherever you go.
Nap Pods: If you come across a person who doesn’t love a good nap during their work day – don’t trust them. Sleeping can make a huge difference in your quality of life. That’s why Google and many other Silicon Valley tech-startups began offering nap pods in their offices. If employees need some downtime to rest, they can quietly take the time they need in a comfortable area or break room and come back when they are refreshed to begin working.
The only thing better than a midday nap to perk up your energy, is a cozy blanket to go along with it. Keep a few of these in stock in your nap room, or distribute them to employees to ensure they’re comfortable while working remotely.
We hope you get some inspiration from these wellness activities and Employee Wellness Program ideas so that your team can be well oiled and the blood pressure down. It’s always great to have employee health and wellness programs where there is no need to pressure individuals to participate.
Whether via healthy food such as fresh fruit (instead of some of the traditional office snacks and vending machines!), healthy team building initiatives or incentive within the workplace, a healthy workforce can have real benefits for your bottom line and any money you invest in workplace healthcare costs and wellness initiatives can actually improve your return on investment long-term and keep employee health problems away from your human resource department. This in turn can encourage top talent to work for your company over the long haul. What’s your go-to perk that encourages employees in a way everyone loves?
Additional Resources
Find out more about how to make employee appreciation day every day
View ideas for healthy work lunches
Awesome Employee Wellness Swag Ideas:
- Perfect for book Club notes: Recycled Essential Journal
- Classic bag for trips to the gym: The Gym Bag
- Versatile hoodie for outings or exercise: Bella Zip-up Hoodie
- Help employees measure their fitness: Fit Tracker Watch
Interested in learning more about employee wellness gifts? Fill out the form below to get in touch with one of our expert swag curators!
