A recent study revealed 37% of employers are aiming to invest more into employee wellness programs.
You've probably heard the phrase, "Adulting is hard." While it seems like just another silly phrase, it's a phrase with a loaded meaning. It's more than grocery trips and laundry days.
Being an adult is hard, especially if your employer has created a toxic environment. Employers are starting to combat negative workplaces by providing employee wellness programs- a holistic approach to employee wellbeing.
If your business is interested in implementing employee wellness programs, keep reading below. We'll go over some of the best staff wellness ideas for your company.
What Are Employee Wellness Programs?
Employee wellness programs are programs implemented by employers to help improve the mental, physical, and emotional health of their employees. Because stressful job duties have such an impact on a person's wellbeing, it's important for employers to provide support.
Wellness programs may include gym memberships, mental health resources, provided lunch, flexible opportunities to work from home, and employee gifts. All the little things add up to make a big impact!
Now, let's talk about some of the wellness programs you should consider implementing in 2022.
Mental Health Programs
3 out of 5 employees aren't receiving adequate mental health support from their supervisors.
There are many factors within the workplace affecting an employee's mental health. These factors include hostile supervisors, stressful job duties, difficult clients, less-than-liked coworkers, and low pay.
As an employer, it's important to keep in mind your employees have their own private lives. You don't know what's going on with their home and family life.
Support the improvement of your employees' mental health! Do this by paying for telehealth sessions, allowing mental health days, and creating a calmer work environment.
Telehealth
Perform deeper research into the mental health benefits provided by employee insurance plans. Most plans include telehealth. Promote this to your staff.
Inform them of the benefits of consistent telehealth appointments, and demonstrate how to arrange an appointment with an available therapist. Provide 'quiet rooms', complete with new headphones and chairs, at the office in case someone needs a secure space for an appointment.
If your insurance plan doesn't offer telehealth appointments, adjust your budget to offer a free monthly session for each employee.
Mental Health Days
As you implement employee health and wellness programs, remember that depression and anxiety can have just as great of an effect on the body as the flu.
Poor mental health can leave someone feeling run down, isolated, achy, and confused. Psychosomatic symptoms are real and affecting your staff.
Implement a better system for requesting mental health days, just like someone would request a sick day. Even allowing someone to work from home for the day greatly helps.
Creating a Calming Work Environment
Took a look around the office. Is it stale and boring? Is it covered in trash?
Take steps to create a cleaner and calmer environment for employees. Provide them with office tools to ease their anxiety, such as journals and stress balls.
Add calming accent color walls. Colors like deep blues and emerald greens have soothing effects on the mind.
Create cozy workspaces with soft couches, squishy pillows, and floor cushions. If some employees prefer working in dimly lit areas, set up a dark room lit with lamps, glowing oil diffusers, and branded candles.
Physical Health Programs
Encouraging exercise and providing easy ways for employees to meet their physical health goals is imperative. Exercise improves a person's heart health, productivity, and overall wellbeing.
In addition to weight loss and improved physical health, exercise also provides tons of mental health benefits. Consistent exercise helps us feel happier, more confident, and mentally clear.
Workplace wellness ideas to consider implementing include free or discounted local gym memberships, employee fitness classes, and fitness rewards.
Gym Memberships
Whether you're running on a treadmill or lifting weights, sweating and moving your body feels good. It leaves you feeling stress-free and confident.
If your building doesn't have an employee gym, build a relationship with a gym in the area to provide a free or discounted employee gym membership. Select a gym not too far from the office so your employees can save time and gas.
Think outside of the box when it comes to offering gym membership. In addition to a typical gym, offer classes and memberships at local yoga, pilates, and boxing studios.
Don't forget to provide your employees with awesome new gym bags!
Employee Fitness Classes
Organize opportunities to work out as a group. Reserve group classes at a nearby fitness studio or bring in a private instructor to lead a class on a Friday afternoon.
Utilize open space within the office or grassy patches by your building. Small places of escape are great for group yoga classes and meditation.
If you aren't able to bring everyone together, set up a live stream yoga class. Employees can tune in from home and even include their family! Send them home one weekend with custom yoga mats to remind them to tune in.
Fitness Rewards
While many employee health and wellness programs have focused on weight loss, implement programs and incentives focusing on movement!
For example, provide swag bags with water bottles, gym towels, and granola bars to employees who reach a certain step count on their new pedometers. Reward employees who reach their 5k goals with a massage certificate or gift card.
You can even congratulate employees you've noticed hitting the gym before or after work. Something as simple as a high five is encouraging.
Providing Food
Some of the best employee wellness programs involve free food. C'mon. Who doesn't love free food?
Implement weekly lunch programs. Many employers have started offering free lunch or breakfast on Fridays to thank employees for a good week.
Chat with your staff about goals they'd like to meet on their projects or sales. Offer to provide a free catered lunch when the team meets their goals.
Surprise employees with fresh hot coffee and custom coffee mugs on a random morning. It'll give them a refreshing burst at the beginning of their day.
You can even encourage employees to bring in healthy homemade meals by providing branded lunchboxes and plenty of refrigerator space.
Thinking Outside of the Box
Get creative when brainstorming staff wellness ideas. It's great to provide free lunches and employee appreciation gifts, but implement the element of surprise!
For your next staff meeting, tell people to gather outside. Host a slow walking meeting or a picnic on custom blankets in the sunshine. It feels nice to escape a cold office.
Is there a major holiday coming up? Have your management decorate the office to surprise the staff. (Don't forget the occasional costume and themed baked good.)
Hire a massage therapist to come to the office for a day or two. Provide everyone with the chance to get a 30-minute massage. Working on the computer puts a major strain on our bodies.
Arrange days for surprise guest speakers. These speakers can chat about something serious like financial wellness, or they can entertain staff members with hypnosis.
Connect with a local adoption shelter. Ask if they're able to bring in a few of their best pups to hang out with the staff during lunch. While they're there, talk about the benefits of adoption!
However, whatever you do, guarantee you're not interrupting serious projects. Putting people behind in a project will stress them out more. Schedule surprises on days when you know most people are available.
Chat With Your Management Team
Employee health and wellness programs won't work unless your whole management team is supporting them. Chat with your management team about the importance of supporting the employees.
Encourage integrity and setting an example for the staff. Work with management to create a more relaxed and positive environment through healthy communication and effective leadership.
Provide incentives for supervisors to eat healthier, work out more, and improve their mental health. The healthier they become, the more encouraged your staff will be to do the same.
New Year, Fresh Start: The Best Employee Wellness Programs to Start in 2022
Make the commitment to take better care of your employees in 2022 by implementing employee wellness programs.
Implement programs that encourage the improvement of mental health, more exercise, and more fun. You'll quickly notice an increased level of wellbeing and productivity in the office with these initiatives.
Keep things looking good during your employee wellness programs by providing free employee swag. Bagmasters is here to help with all of your custom company swag and merch needs. Contact us today to get started.
