At Benz, we talk about wellness programs so much that even our Office Manager Phoebe knows the ins and outs of how they all work. She recently sent out this great note to the team:
Hi, everyone -
I read these tips recently and was happy to see that we either employ or recommend most of these activities to our clients.
Tips from the New York State Physical Activity Coalition:
1. Provide incentives like t-shirts, caps, aprons, or paid time off.
2. Hold contests or other fun worksite competitions:
- “Wellness Project of the Month”
- “Set Your Goal” competition
- Employee/management and interdepartmental challenges
- Computerized health trivia game with prizes to the winners
3. Announce and publicize a monthly health theme.
4. Conduct recognition activities for employees making efforts at healthier lifestyles:
- Bulletin board announcements
- Personally signed letters from the CEO congratulating employees on their healthy behaviors
- Publicity for success stories or the healthy employee of the month
- Recognition for the coordinators of wellness activities
5. Provide bulletin boards for health information exchange and for people to write milestones they have achieved in health (for example, New Year’s resolutions, miles walked, pounds lost).
6. Provide child care so parents can participate in wellness activities.
7. Have the company health practitioner set a time (weekly, monthly) to check blood pressure, body fat, and weight.
8. Provide one-on-one counseling for high-risk employees and people with disabilities by establishing wellness mentoring programs. (Editor’s note: Take care with this one so you don’t run afoul of state and federal discrimination laws.)
9. Develop a team for brainstorming ideas and to help with wellness activities.
10. Conduct a survey to assess which topics employees want to pursue.
11. At all meetings:
- Start with a stretch, and take a relaxation break in the middle.
- Conduct a wellness activity.
- Recognize an employee birthday or other special event.
12. Rotate departmental responsibility for wellness activities.
13. Use college interns to assist with developing and running wellness projects and events.
These great tips are just some of the countless resources available online. We have a quickly growing list of free resources from around the web. Please check them out and send in other ideas.
And of course, if you haven’t already, please take our Inside Benefits Communications Survey. Ten minutes is all you need!
