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Want to know how to transform your wellness program into an engagement machine? Here’s a few employee health and wellness program ideas and tips that may take your program to the next level.

Do you know why only 11% of Californians smoke while over 26% of the adults in Kentucky smoke? California has less than half of the smoking rate of Kentucky because California has created a culture and environment that discourages tobacco use.

California has made it easier to quit and much harder to smoke than just about any other state. They have created a culture of health at home and in the workplace; it’s much easier to avoid tobacco.

To see similar results at your health and wellness program, you need to start by creating a healthy culture. Below is a list of employee health and wellness program ideas and tips that will help you create a healthy culture at work.

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However, don’t expect improvements in employee health and healthcare cost savings. The WellSteps wellness platform uses these same employee wellness program ideas and tips but integrates them into a strategy that is not only measurable and incentivized but is also effective.

Having Employee Wellness Programs Ideas For Your Organization

When you incorporate these employee wellness program ideas and tips into an organized and structured wellness program, you will improve employee health and reduce healthcare costs. Done right, it looks like this.

These employee wellness program ideas are designed to change policy and improve the work environment, so it is easier for employees to adopt and maintain health behaviors.

Little or no wellness budget? Here are some great wellness ideas and tips that you can do on any budget.

1. Prepare and distribute a list of healthy dining options in 2-mile radius of your office

Employees often commute from outside their local area when going to the office every day for work. This means they won’t always be familiar with the restaurants and dining options that are around them, so they typically choose the first restaurant they see without any regard for its menu choices.

As a manager, you should create a list of all the restaurants within a 2-mile radius of your office which contains healthy food choices. Healthy eating should always be part of employee wellness.

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You could also go a step further and list examples of some of the healthy food choices that are available at these restaurants. That way, employees won’t have to waste any time guessing on what they’re going to order when they get there.

2. Provide discounts for health foods sold at work

People who aren’t used to eating healthy often need a little push to start making better food choices. A common belief that stops them is the idea that healthy foods are always more expensive.

Anyone who’s been to a health food store knows that these healthier options usually cost more than the regular items you’d find at a supermarket or a restaurant. This is why employers should think about offering health food at work at a discount. It gives employees a chance to pick healthier meals without having to spend extra.

Making healthy food more accessible at work means employees won’t have to rush out to a restaurant during their lunch break to find good food. If we don’t provide these healthier options, employees might just stick to what’s closest and easiest, like the unhealthy snacks in the vending machines, when they’re hungry and need something quick to eat.

3. Review the catering menu and make recommendations for healthy options

If your company hires caterers that prepare meals for the employees in a cafeteria, include this in your employee health and wellness program by paying particular attention to the catering menu and the food choices that it has. Foods like hamburgers, fries, and pizza should be avoided altogether.

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Tell your caterers that you want to add healthier foods like salads, grilled chicken, egg whites, wheat toast, and so on. You may not be able to get rid of all the unhealthy foods on the menu, but if you add healthier options, people who care about eating healthy will be able to do so.

If your company holds office parties or holiday parties, then you should recommend healthier foods to the caterers of those events as well. Try adding variety to the healthier food choices in order to get people interested.

Salads, for example, could be broken up into multiple meal choices. You could have cobb salad, grilled chicken salad, garden salad, Caesar salad, etc. This will make the employees think they have plenty of food options to choose from without feeling deprived.

4. Provide vendor communication materials to encourage healthy holiday gifts from vendors

When the holidays come around, vendors will typically supply companies with unhealthy holiday gifts. These gifts typically include cake, chocolates, cupcakes, and other sugary or fried foods.

Some people might make excuses and say that it is okay to have these foods because it is the holidays. However, the truth is that these foods don’t just show up during the holidays and employees need to be encouraged to eat healthy all year round, even on holidays.

Employees will likely consume whatever holiday gifts that are given to them, whether they are healthy or not. If you can have your vendors supply gifts like fruit baskets, tropical fruit bars, or trail mix, then it will help employees make healthier choices.

Supply all vendors with communication materials such as pictures, letters, pamphlets, and infographics which express exactly what you’re looking for. Wellness in the workplace is easier when you have help from vendors. Employee wellness program ideas and tips like these may even help employees choose healthier options outside of work.

5. Coordinate community supported agriculture and/or find accessible farmers markets

It often takes a group effort for people to get hooked on fresh produce. Use this website to find local Farmers markets in your area.

The truth is that many communities do not have supported agricultural (CSA) groups or farmers markets where fresh fruits and vegetables can be purchased. That is why a good employer should help lead this effort for the sake of their employees. If there is currently no agricultural group in your community, go out and start one.

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You could post up advertisements for the group on your company social media pages, website pages, or as a physical advertisement on the bulletin board in your break room. Ask people to join the group and be a part of the effort to bring more agricultural goods to your community.

This could even involve making deals with the closest farmers markets and trying to get them to give you a bulk discount deal on purchasing their produce on a regular basis. Perhaps, you could get them to give your employees a discounted rate on their food products as well.

6. Facilitate delivery of fresh fruits and veggies to break room

The break room is the place where employees gather to eat their packed meals or snacks. Sometimes they’ll even head for the vending machine and pick unhealthy junk food—like potato chips or candy bars. Instead of vending machines, have fresh fruits and vegetables periodically delivered to the break room for employees to eat for free.

If that is too expensive for the company, start a healthy food fund where each employee chips in a certain amount of money every month in exchange for fresh produce to be made available to them in the break room anytime they want. Either way, having fresh fruits and vegetables in the immediate surroundings of employees will encourage them to make healthier snack choices.

7. Facilitate a healthy recipe exchange and potluck lunch

Employees love special events that happen in the workplace. Anything that distracts them from the daily grind is a good thing. Take the opportunity to integrate a few special events that will make them healthier.

Consider organizing a healthy potluck lunch where employees are encouraged to prepare and share a nutritious dish with their colleagues.

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You could set it up so each employee submits a healthy recipe that another employee will have to prepare. The decision on which employees cooks the recipes will be from the pick of a hat.

Just put the names of every employee in a hat or bag, and then have each employee randomly pick one name from it. Once they choose a name, the employee will have to cook that person’s healthy recipe. This makes it fun and exciting for the employees while giving them an incentive to eat healthily.

8. Coordinate a “healthy snack of the month” club

The idea of eating the same fruits and vegetables every month gets boring for most people. This could cause your employees to relapse and go back to their old ways of eating unhealthy foods.

Therefore, try adding more variety to the healthy eating choices in your workplace by starting a “healthy snack of the month” club. Employees who want to participate could submit a few dollars every month in order to join the club. Snacknation offers healthy workplace snacks at a fair price.

The benefits for them will be having a new healthy snack being served in the workplace for that month. Here are some example snacks you could use:

  • Plain mixed nuts
  • Strawberries
  • Celery with fat-free dip
  • Greek yogurt
  • Dark chocolate
  • Protein bars
  • Smoothies

Perhaps you could serve one of these snacks on the last day of each week during the course of the month. Then when the next month comes along, switch to a new snack.

9. Arrange for bike racks and provide “bike to work” promotional materials

The choice of transport employees use to commute plays a significant role in their daily lives. While the majority rely on cars, there’s an underutilized alternative: bicycles.

In countries like Japan and Thailand, cycling to work isn’t just a norm but a preference due to its cost-effectiveness compared to the expenses of car ownership. However, for your workforce, the push towards bicycling could be driven by the desire to enhance their physical well-being.

By distributing “bike to work” informational materials and installing bicycle racks near your workplace, you could inspire a shift towards cycling among your employees.

These materials might cover topics such as:

  • Where to find the best deals on bicycles
  • Guidelines on bicycle safety and recommended commuting routes
  • Information on bicycle parking
  • Tips on securing bicycles against theft

With the right resources and support, employees might feel more inclined to consider biking as a viable and appealing option for their commute.

10. Encourage stairwell use by providing posters for display in strategic locations

Unless your workplace building is very tall, then chances are your employees won’t necessarily need to take the elevator just to travel between a few floors in your building.

Encourage your employees to use the stairwell if they are only traveling between one to three floors. In case your employees don’t know where the stairwell is located, place posters up on the walls throughout your building to guide them there. These posters should not only act as a guide, though.

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Posters can also encourage employees to use the stairwell by illustrating the physical health benefits it will give to them throughout the day. You could put up infographic posters which outline how substituting the elevator for the stairwell will increase the health of your heart.

As employees see these posters every day at work, they may be more motivated to try using the stairwell and they’ll feel good about doing it too.

11. Arrange for installation of an outdoor multi-sports court

Ever notice how grade schools and colleges have multi-sports courtyards for students and faculty to use? Why aren’t these courtyards integrated into all workplace environments?

If they were, employees would have a chance to loosen up and relieve their stress by being physically active during their break time. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to install a gymnasium or big sports arena outside of your workplace.

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A multi-sports courtyard only needs to be 1-2 acres in size, and it can be split up into multiple sections for playing different kinds of sports. You can make sections for playing tennis, basketball, badminton, and so on. Once you do this, it will likely make your employees much happier because they’ll get more of a chance to exercise.

Exercise causes endorphins to be released, which naturally relieve stress. Anytime you have happier employees, the quality of their work will improve and productivity in the company will be increased. This might be the most expensive of the employee wellness program ideas and tips, but if your company has the resources, it may become the most popular.

12. Negotiate corporate discounts for health club memberships

Many corporations are partnering with various health clubs in their community so that their employees can get discounts on memberships if they were to join one of these facilities.

Employees love to receive discounts on products and services, even if they aren’t something they would have purchased for themselves before. If there is an employee who has been thinking about joining a health club but doesn’t want to because of the expense, then the employee discount will give them an extra incentive to join the club.

Some of these discounts are fairly substantial as well. While regular members might have to pay $20 to $30 per month, most corporate discounts give employees the chance to join for $10 or less per month. Who wouldn’t want to join a gym and improve their health for such little money?

13. Provide training on how to hold walking meetings

The idea of conducting meetings while walking may seem laughable to some people, but this is an easy thing to add to your employee health and wellness program. Traditionally, corporate meetings have always been held in offices, conference rooms, or board rooms where all attendees are sitting down.

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However, new studies have shown that taking walks while conducting important business meetings can increase the creative thought process of all parties involved. So, what you’ll want to do is train your lower-level managers on how to conduct these walking meetings with their employees and clients.

Of course, you don’t want to surprise people with these walking meetings because you may have clients or employees that are not physically able to participate, or they may not be dressed appropriately, especially if you go outside.

The best way to arrange these meetings is to conduct them in small groups and request approval from all the attendees ahead of time. You don’t even have to emphasize the health value of walking meetings all that much. Just talk about the benefits it provides such as mental clarity, enhancing creative thinking, and less stress or nervousness.

14. Post maps for outdoor walking routes or trails

If your company is located near any outdoor trails or walking routes, let your employees know about them by posting maps of these routes on the indoor and outdoor walls of your building. Since a lot of employees like to take walks around the parking lot on their lunch break, give them a better option by letting them know about other areas where they can walk on their break.

If the outdoor trail lies on the company’s property, you can post up maps along the trail as well, so the employees don’t get lost while trying to come back to work. Also, post reminders at the beginning of the trail for people to bring their cell phones with them. This will allow them to call for help just in case they get lost on the trail! This is one of the most helpful and least expensive employee wellness program ideas.

15. Arrange for work stretch breaks

If employees are subjected to conditions which require them to sit or stand in the same place for long periods of time, they may want to stretch. Managers should arrange times throughout the workday when employees can take a few minutes to just stretch their arms and legs.

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Start at the beginning of the day and add in additional stretch breaks, every 3 hours or so. You may want to have a designated employee who will lead the stretching exercises for all the other employees.

These exercises include wrist twists, stretching and rotating arms, neck rotations, turning left, turning right, and so on. Simple stretching exercises can be done at a desk or while standing.

16. Coordinate and market running and walking clubs

Work environments need to encourage exercise as much as possible. In addition to stretch breaks or brief walks, companies can create or partner with running and walking clubs.

The next step is to notify all employees about these running and walking clubs. Let them know how they can join these clubs and then give them a schedule of the times and locations where club members will meet for a group run or walk.

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People are often motivated to exercise like this when they have others around them doing the same thing. Running and walking clubs are great for employees because it gives them a chance to better their health and it also allows them to meet more people who have a similar interest as them.

You can coordinate these club get-togethers through your company’s social media accounts or by sending out paper memos to all employees within the company.

17. Start a Smoke-Free policy at work and provide cessation resources

Most people know the dangers of smoking tobacco. Not only is the smoker hurting their own health, but they are also hurting the health of those around them through secondary smoke. Most companies have tried to solve this problem by creating designated smoking areas within the building where employees are allowed to smoke.

However, this is not good enough because the employees who are smoking are still damaging their health. This, in turn, degrades their overall performance in the workplace.

That is why a smoke-free policy needs to be issued throughout the entire workplace with no designated smoking areas whatsoever. On top of that, making cessation materials freely available to employees will help teach them how to quit smoking altogether.

Among the different health and wellness program ideas, this one is especially challenging for smokers. Communicate your intentions clearly and often. As part of your employee health and wellness program, make sure all your employees know they are valuable contributors to your worksite’s success.

Incorporate these employee wellness program ideas and tips into your employee health and wellness program and you will be amazed at the impact they can have!

FAQs about Employee Wellness Program Ideas

What should be included in a wellness program? Check out our article on what makes up a good employee wellness program.

What are examples of wellness activities? For more activity ideas, check out our article on 18 more corporate wellness ideas and activities.

About The Author

Dr. Steve Aldana

Dr. Aldana is the CEO of Wellsteps, a worksite wellness solution that leads the nation in wellness program deployment and engagement. Dr. Aldana authored over 75 scientific papers and 7 books on health risk management, healthy living, and health promotion programs. He has given over 350 keynote speeches across the U.S. on the ability of good nutrition and regular exercise to prevent, arrest, and reverse many chronic diseases.

1 Comment

  1. This is a great list of ideas and many of them are quite easy to implement. Thanks for sharing these. – I will be sharing the tips with others to ramp up their wellness program.

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