Top 43 Employee Wellness Program Ideas In 2024 [Updated Guide]

Are you looking for employee wellness program ideas for your office? We’ve got you covered.

Let’s look at how to design, name, and manage a wellness program at your organization!

But first…

Here’s the List of 43 Employee Wellness Program Ideas

1. Monday motivations session
2. Health resources and newsletters
3. Walking challenges
4. Flexible working hours
5. Encourage breaks
6. Gym memberships
7. Fun games and activities
8. Yoga days
9. Promote and reward healthy eating habits
10. Promote sleep
11. Partner with wellness experts
12. Cooking challenges
13. Incentivize smoking cessation
14. Go meatless day
15. Participate in Marathon
16. Indoor games
17. Run fitness challenges
18. 8-Glasses of water challenge
19. Offer surprise day-offs
20. Reward loyal employees
21. Happy hours
22. Make your office pet-friendly
23. Throw a costume party
24. Create a high five board
25. Implement an employee recognition program
26. Walking meetings
27. Healthy meals in the office
28. Offer mental health support
29. Plants in the office
30. Group outings
31. Volunteer days
32. Practice gratitude
33. Host a comedy show
34. Take stairs challenge
35. Alcohol and substance abuse support
36. Organize a book club
37. Fitbit subscription
38. Meditation app subscriptions
39. Wellness/happiness budget
40. Employee assistance program (EAP)
41. Massage therapy coupons
42. Health Screenings and Check-ups
43. Financial Literacy Courses

How to Design and Run an Employee Wellness Program

If you implement wellness programs properly, it provides a significant return for a business.

Johnson & Johnson has stated that their wellness program has saved the organization $250 million over a six-year period, resulting in a wellness program ROI of $2.71 for each dollar invested!

Sure, this stat sounds good. But how do your design and run a successful employee wellness program?

Here are some steps to establish and design a workplace wellness program:

Conduct an employee survey

Doing an internal pulse survey is a great way to determine what kind of things your employees want and would value. You can ask questions like:

“What are your health goals?”

“Do you think conducting wellness programs during office hours is helpful?”

“Do you feel that we could do more to support you with your physical and mental health? If so, how?”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides guidance on designing an employee survey, including examples of survey topic areas.

Leadership Support

Here’s a harsh truth: Your employee wellness program will not work without support from the leadership team.

Building and launching a successful employee wellness program takes time, money, and resources. And leadership buy-in is critical for funding purposes, guidance, getting support throughout the organization, and for approving program policies and processes.

Appoint Well-being Champions

The next step is, creating an internal well-being champions’ team to lead your program and build a wellness culture in the organization.

Make sure that management sets clear and measurable objectives and supports them with a budget. Here are some responsibilities of the wellness champions’ team:

• Evaluating the current workplace programs and policies
• Assessing employee needs and preferences
• Developing a wellness program plan and process (which includes a vision statement, goals, objectives, and activities) 
• Monitoring and evaluating the wellness program

Establish a budget

It’s a critical step. Without a sufficient budget, the program will stall. While creating a wellness budget, include the cost of incentives or rewards, activities cost, marketing, and program design cost.

Decide wellness program incentives and rewards

Incentives or rewards are effective tools to increase participation rates and encourage individuals to complete a program. You can offer reward points that can be exchanged for shopping, gifts, food, or monetary awards.

Springworks’ employee recognition and rewards platform automates the process of creating, promoting, and incentivizing your employees.

Communication

It’s time to write and communicate the organization’s wellness policy. Well-executed wellness programs require exceptional employee communications. You can create a  dedicated wellness program webpage, signage, and posters in the office. Use flyer maker and poster templates to create visually compelling posters and flyers that effectively communicate your company’s wellness policy. To create a lead-generating webpage, you need to know how to develop a website, at least in general terms. This knowledge will enable you to avoid costly mistakes and speed up the delivery.

Alternatively, you can create a document with all the information and send it to your company-wide Slack channel. Also, appoint a dedicated team to answer any questions or concerns your employees may have.

Keep posting new program updates in the Slack channel, company-wide newsletter, and emails.

Evaluating the results of the program

Did employee health improve? Are your employees more or less happy in the office? What’s the program participation rate? Program completion rates? Healthcare cost reduction?

Evaluating the results of your employee wellness program can answer all your questions. It’s the only way to determine if it’s working or not and understand what you can do to improve the results.

Top 43 Employee Wellness Program Ideas

You know the saying, “healthy mind, healthy body.” It’s a cliché, but there’s some truth to it. If your employees are stressed, they’re not going to be as productive. That’s why it’s important to invest in their wellness. Luckily, there are a lot of employee wellness program ideas out there. However, you must find the right one which fits your company’s culture and budget. Incorporating online prescription tools can further streamline healthcare support for your employees, making wellness initiatives more accessible.

Here, we will explore some of the most popular employee wellness program ideas so that you can choose what’s right for you.

1. Monday Motivations Session

Help your employees gear up for a long week by starting Mondays with a powerful motivation session. This will go a long way in boosting their morale and supporting their mental well-being. 

2. Health resources and newsletters

Start a company newsletter highlighting the importance of health and wellness at the workplace. Introducing new ideas around fitness, nutrition, and wellness education can make your employees more aware and sensitive towards them. 

3. Walking challenges

“All work and no walk make employees dull!” Introduce walking challenges at the workplace so that your employees will improve their wellness and get a break from the entire day’s sitting regime. 

4. Flexible working hours 

Remember that your employees have a life outside of work, which is why the least you can do for them is to provide flexible work hours. Whether they’re working from home or at your workplace, as usual, make sure you respect their work hours. 

5. Encourage breaks 

The workplace can become a breeding ground for stress. And this can impact even your most hardworking and productive employees. Ask your employees to take short breaks between long work hours. 

6. Gym memberships

Provide your employees with a gym membership for their physical fitness.

7. Fun games and activities

Ask your employees to participate in fun games and activities and make your office a fun place to work. Let them rejuvenate and bring out their competitive sides.

8. Yoga days

Partner with a trainer or professional organization to organize a yoga workshop (once or twice a month) at your office. 

9. Promote and reward healthy eating habits

Encourage healthy eating habits at the workplace. You can hold healthy eating challenges and reward people who manage to ditch the packet of chips for fruits or other healthy fast food options.

10. Promote sleep

The most underrated key to wellness is a goodnight’s sleep. Invite experts and conduct webinars or sessions to promote the importance of sleep.

11. Partner with wellness experts 

Partner with wellness experts for a session full of wellness education.

12. Cooking challenges

Let your employees have a potluck of healthy recipes cooked by themselves. Let the office vote for the best.

13. Incentivize smoking cessation

Incentivize your employees to quit smoking. Research suggests that financially motivated staff is more successful at quitting than non-incentivized. 

14. Go meatless day

Meat-rich diets are linked to inflammatory diseases and are bad news for the planet. Ask employees to go meatless at least a day of the week. 

15. Participate in Marathon

A marathon can be a great initiative. You can hold a marathon for your employees and reward them with marathon medals after they complete the run. This will give your employees a break and encourage an overall sense of well-being.

16. Indoor games

Fun indoor games at the workplace can be a real stressbuster on any hectic workday.

17. Run fitness challenges

Be it scavenger hunts, wall sit-ups, or pushups, organize workplace fitness challenges to encourage wellness. 

18. 8-Glasses of water challenge

Make your employees track the days they have at least eight glasses of water. The winner at the end of the week wins the reward!

19. Offer surprise day-offs

Nothing gives a rejuvenating break than a surprise day off. 

20. Reward loyal employees

Offer special perks to your old employees to make them happy and engaged. Your loyal employees are your most valuable assets, and long service also needs to be properly recognized and rewarded.

21. Happy hours

Take your employees out for happy hours at the end of long stressful weeks.

22. Make your office pet-friendly

Allowing pets in the office can help in reducing stress and making people friendlier. Work/life balance is valuable for employees, and bringing one’s dog or cat to work can help employees feel they are closer to achieving that balance.

23. Throw a costume party

Costume parties are way more fun and encourage people to bring out their best, ultimately promoting well-being at the workplace.

24. Create a high-five board

Put up the names of your employees on aboard. Bring some magnetic hi-five hands and ask employees to move them to the side of the employee who did something positive.  

25. Implement an employee recognition program

A lack of recognition is one of the most common reasons why employees leave an organization. Implement an employee recognition program and make your team happy at work.

26. Walking meetings

Take your meetings for a brief walk instead of a boring room. Let your employees breathe in the fresh air. 

27. Healthy meals in the office

Offer healthy lunches and snacks to your employees. These perks make a big difference in how they feel about their company.

28. Offer mental health support

Not everyone talks about their emotional well-being openly. For this reason, you must organize mental health support sessions in the workplace.  

29. Plants in the office

Plants can add more to an office than a decorative touch. A little green goes a long way in encouraging employee well-being at the workplace. 

30. Group outings

Probably one of the best wellness activities for groups you can do is group outings. Arrange a group dinner or sports day to build a bond with them outside the work.

31. Volunteer days

Take some of your employees to volunteer for a cause every month. Not only will this be an excellent group physical exercise, but it also encourages team bonding. 

32. Practice gratitude

Ask employees to write three things they’re grateful for every day on a shared Google sheet for 21 days. This exercise will make them happy and improve their well-being.

33. Host a comedy show

Get tickets to a comedy show or invite a stand-up artist for an amazing heart-lightening session of laughter.

34. Take stairs challenge

Make your employees ditch the elevator and switch to stairs for a healthy lifestyle. Post a note near the elevator reminding people to take the stairs instead.

35. Alcohol and substance abuse support

Help your employees overcome any issues by organizing workshops and one-on-one sessions with counsellors.

36. Organize a book club

To encourage your employees to read, you can start a virtual book club. It will enable them to engage in critical thinking and be open to differing opinions.

37. Fitbit subscription

There are a number of different ways to incorporate a Fitbit subscription into an employee wellness program. Here are a few ideas:

– Offer a discount on the monthly subscription price for employees who sign up for a Fitbit account.

– Give employees the option to purchase a Fitbit through their health insurance plan.

– Provide Fitbits to employees as part of a corporate wellness initiative.

– Encourage employees to participate in fitness challenges and competitions that use Fitbit data to track progress.

38. Meditation app subscriptions

Meditation apps are a great way to encourage employees to take a break and clear their minds. There are many subscription-based meditation apps available, such as Headspace and Calm.com.

Encourage employees to sign up for a meditation app by offering a free or discounted subscription. 

Meditation apps can help employees reduce stress, improve focus, and boost productivity. Encourage employees to use the app during work breaks, before meetings, or any time they need a mental break. You can also seek assistance from reputable agencies for application design to create an app for your employees to help them focus.

39. Wellness/happiness budget

When it comes to employee wellness programs, one size does not fit all. The key is to find what works best for your company and your employees. But where do you start?

One way to get started is to create a wellness/happiness budget. This will help you allocate funds towards wellness initiatives and measure the return on investment (ROI).

40. Employee assistance program (EAP)

An employee assistance program (EAP) is a confidential counselling and referral service that can help employees deal with personal and work-related problems. EAPs can provide employees with counselling, legal services, financial planning assistance, and other services. Many employers offer EAPs as part of their employee benefits package.

EAPs can help employees deal with various issues, including stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, relationship problems, and financial difficulties. Employees can typically access EAP services by calling a toll-free number or meeting with an EAP counsellor at their workplace.

41. Massage therapy coupons

“Massage therapy coupons are great to show your employees you care about their wellness. By offering them a discount on massage therapy, you can help them relax and rejuvenate. This is a great way to show your employees you care about their wellbeing and want to help them reduce stress.”

42. Health Screenings and Check-ups

Arrange on-site health screenings or partner with local clinics for regular check-ups. Early detection of health issues, encourages preventive care and shows a commitment to employee health.

43. Financial Literacy Courses

Offer courses on financial literacy to empower employees in managing their finances, helping them understand the importance of financial literacy. You can also offer sessions with financial advisors to assist employees in planning for their retirement.

Things to Avoid – Employee Wellness Program

It’s important to understand what things you need to avoid to build a successful employee wellness program:

Don’t put too much pressure on employees

Don’t put too much pressure on employees (or biome overly aggressive). It can negatively impact your employees’ health and engagement.

Let them choose what activities are suited for them. If someone is not comfortable with a diet program, it’s not a good idea to push them hard.

Cost Prohibitive

Don’t spend too much money, resources, and time on your employee wellness program. If you don’t focus on program objectives and results, it can get expensive.

Distracting from Work

Does your wellness program fit into your company’s environment and culture? Wellness activities should not hamper one’s daily work and business. Avoid having these activities on days when you have critical business meetings.

One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Avoid adopting a generic wellness program that doesn’t cater to the diverse needs and preferences of your workforce. Consider individual differences and offer a variety of wellness options to accommodate various interests and lifestyles.

Inaccessible Activities

Offering wellness activities that are inaccessible or inconvenient for all employees can lead to exclusion. Consider diverse schedules and locations to make wellness initiatives inclusive.

How to Name Your Employee Wellness Program

What should you call your employee wellness program? Did you give it a name?

Take some time to choose a name that inspires your employees to participate in wellness initiatives. Here are some points that you should consider:

Memorable

Come up with a name that is easy to remember. Use a logo maker and create a perfect logo for your program. It should look good on t-shirts, web page logos, and posters.

Catchy

Write a pun or a rhyme that helps your employees think positively about your program. Here are some of the possibilities:

Simple: Health Buddies

Rhyme: Dump the Plum

Acronym: M.B.F (Mindful Body Fitness)

Connect with your brand

Ask your marketing or branding team to write down all wellness words and connect them with the brand direction.

Inclusive words 

Try to use inclusive words like “team,” “group,” “heroes,” etc. Avoid gender-specific or body-type words like “guys,” “strong,” “six-packs,” etc. Inclusive words encourage everyone to participate.

FAQs

Originally published on Jan 22, 2021 11:42 AM, updated Dec 01 2023