Want to improve employee wellbeing but have limited resources? This article offers 22 inexpensive ways to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of your employees.
1. If you already have health insurance for employees, find out what your insurance provider includes in this (e.g. annual health checks), and encourage your employees to take up the offer. Some insurers offer incentives like smart watches at reduced prices for people who do a minimum number of steps a day, for example.
2. Ask for volunteers to set up a wellbeing committee. Make it their job to find out what employees want, and devise initiatives to suit. It will be their responsibility to promote initiatives, champion the wellbeing effort, and encourage employee involvement.
3. Find out what free information is available already. Charities like Mind and articles like this one from the Telegraph provide suggestions and advice for boosting wellbeing.
4. Contact your local hospital – they might provide free or low-cost assistance with things like giving up smoking or weight-loss programmes. In addition, other healthcare providers (e.g. health centres, mental-health charities or voluntary organisations) may provide educational speakers free of charge or for a donation.
5. Organise competitions or other events, like a sponsored walk, bike ride or swim, fun run or an activity day with organised sports like five-a-side football. You could also involve employees' families and friends in these events, or, if you work in a building that houses many smaller organisations, consider asking them if they would like to be involved (and give the proceeds to charity).
6. Look on your doorstep – one of your employees may be an expert in something like mindfulness or meditation, and may be willing to share their expertise with colleagues for free or at a reduced cost.
7. Ask local gyms about a bulk deal to offer reduced-cost memberships to employees.
8. Issue quick quizzes to get employees thinking about their health and where they could improve. They could access these quizzes on the intranet and submit their answers online.
9. If employees are trying to lose weight or give up smoking, organise a sponsorship for them and donate the proceeds to charity.
10. To promote healthy eating, ask employees to find creative ways of incorporating more fruit and vegetables into their diet, for example by devising a new flavour of smoothie. Share recipes on the intranet and/or create a company cookbook.
11. Run a 'Fitness Challenge' with rewards (e.g. t-shirts, gym memberships, spa days) to encourage employees to commit to some form of aerobic exercise over one, two or three months. For example, issue pedometers and encourage employees to reach up to 10,000 steps per day. Chart everyone's progress over the course of a month and award a prize to the employee who consistently beats the target.
12. Put quick health and fitness tips on payslips each month, or use payslips to advertise wellbeing initiatives.
13. Create a 'Cycle to Work' day or week – involve local bike clubs and shops, and ask them to give demonstrations and talks about the rules of the road, safety etc.
14. Send daily or weekly tips on how to sneak activity into your working day, e.g. by doing stretches at your desk, taking walking breaks, visiting colleagues rather than emailing or phoning, taking the stairs instead of the lift etc. You could utilise email, social media, bulletin boards, posters, or signs on toilet cubicle doors.
15. Run a 'Family Fitness Fair' - invite local sports shops, health clubs, health food stores, bike shops, ski shops, sports clubs and gyms to participate by setting up stands or displays, offering hands-on activities and demonstrations. Encourage them to provide safety tips, samples, vouchers and raffle prizes.
16. Offer stairwell prizes to encourage employees to take the stairs rather than the lift. Put a box or an envelope on each landing, and in each provide raffle tickets that automatically enter the recipient into a draw for a healthy treat (such as a voucher for a day at a local gym). (Be aware that this scheme relies on trust and honesty from employees!)
17. Ask employees to contribute their favourite local walking, running or cycling routes, and distribute a list of these via email/social media/intranet. Ask them to give each route a creative name - to encourage participation, the most inventive name could win a prize.
18. Offer flexible working and give employees more control over their day-to-day work.
19. Review training and development needs to ensure that all employees have the skills and abilities to perform their role effectively, so as to reduce job-related stress.
20. Discourage long working hours and any culture of presenteeism. Encourage employees to take regular breaks and their full annual leave allowance. Senior managers should set a good example and do the same wherever possible.
21. Acknowledge work efforts and successes – thank employees for work well done. Employees who feel valued are more motivated and perform better at work, which has a positive impact on bottom line profits.
22. Provide fresh water and fruit for staff (with an honesty box to cover payment, if necessary), and offer healthy options in vending machines and staff restaurants.
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