10 Remarkable Employee Health And Wellness Month Celebration Ideas

The month of June is just around the corner, and with it comes a special occasion for organizations around the world, i.e., Employee Health and Wellness month.

Launched in June 2009, this year marks the eleventh edition of the Employee Health and Wellness month. This month highlights the importance of employee health and wellbeing in all facets of life. It emphasizes the impact of healthier and happier employees on organizational success.

Employee health is one of the prime factors driving workplace productivity and employee performance, thus deserving a month of celebration and appreciation of its own.

Learn More: Employee Health: A Crucial Factor For Workplace Productivity

However, this year’s edition is the most crucial because of the impact of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic on employees’ lives and health. COVID-19 has brought about drastic changes in our lives and caused a lot of stress and anxiety among people around the world. From our physical and mental wellbeing to our financial wellbeing, it has affected all the aspects of our lives.

This year, celebrating the employee wellness month is an excellent opportunity for employers to encourage their employees to focus on the interrelated dimensions of wellbeing in their lives. It is also an excellent time for employers to adopt health strategies and implement corporate wellness programs in their workplaces to create a culture of health in their workplaces.

Download our Complete Guide to Corporate Wellness Programs to create a successful and effective wellness program in your workplace.

Benefits of Celebrating Employee Health and Wellness Month

Here are some benefits of celebrating Employee wellness month and promoting good health behaviors at work for employers and their employees -

• Increased Productivity
• Improved Employee Health and Fitness
• Reduced Healthcare Costs
• Decreased Absenteeism
• Increased Work Satisfaction
• Decreased Workplace Stress
• Reduced Risk of Chronic Health Problems
• Better Company Culture
• Better Working Environment

Fantastic Ideas For Celebrating Employee Health and Wellness Month This Year

If you are an employer, mark the occasion of Employee Wellness Month in your workplace and celebrate it enthusiastically along with your employees. Doing so will help you reinforce wellness in your workplace and create a workforce that is well-prepared to tackle the hardship of everyday life.

Before you get started, ensure to get the word out as much as possible among your employees. If you plan on introducing new health benefits, then educate your employees about them properly.

As the entire month of June is going to be dedicated to employee wellness, make sure to promote your wellness programs and initiatives throughout the month. Spice it up every week with a different wellness challenge or health initiative to keep your employees engaged.

Also, encourage employee participation in your wellness programs by providing attractive incentives for participating in and completing the wellness challenges.

Here are ten fantastic ideas that you can use to make this year’s employee wellness month a memorable one -

1. Biometric screenings and health check-ups

The first step in becoming healthy is having an awareness of your body inside-out. Conducting biometric screenings and health check-ups are reliable ways to help your employees learn about their health status. Such tests help employees determine if they are at risk of certain health diseases and accordingly help them take steps to combat the threats.

A health screening test in your workplace can be a great way to start Employee Health and Wellness month as it will enable your employees and you to focus on concerns that need to be addressed.

2. Walk or cycle to work

Our daily commutes are usually spent sitting on our buses or our cars with no activity. Such sedentary behavior is very detrimental to health and is associated with health risks like diabetes and obesity.

Employee Wellness Month is a great time to commute to and from work by cycling or walking and avoid pollution-causing modes of transportation. Walking and cycling are both very good for health and the environment as well.

This Employee Wellness month, encourage your employees to commute by cycling or if possible, walking. Keep them motivated by providing rewards for every day they walk or ride to work.

Also Read: 10 Ways To Make Your Daily Commute To Work A Productive One

3. Office-workouts

We all know that living a corporate lifestyle and regular exercise is quite difficult. Most of us are usually too tired or are too busy after work to go to the gym or a fitness center and workout. However, regular exercise is crucial for a healthy life, and not getting enough can cause severe repercussions at work as well.

So, why not encourage your employees to exercise regularly at work this Employee Wellness Month? Doing so can be a great way to promote fitness in the workplace and help your employees realize its benefits. Working out at work is not as difficult as it seems, and with the right exercises, your employees can stay fit and healthy by regularly investing very little time.

Learn More: 42 Office Exercises You Can Do At Your Desk To Stay Fit

4. Meditation Mornings

Stress affects us in all aspects of our lives, and it can seriously hinder our ability to perform at work. To combat stress, one of the best ways is by meditating. Meditation is an effective method of stress reduction, and it also helps us become more content with our lives.

Hold short meditation sessions every morning at work and encourage your employees to take part in them. Meditating can help them stay focused and productive at work and also eliminate any workplace stress that they might be experiencing.

5. Introduce fun office fitness challenges

Make use of Employee Health and Wellness Month to introduce fun and engaging office fitness challenges in your workplace. Office fitness challenges are excellent health promotion activities to keep your employees physically active and help them live healthier. Also, such initiatives create healthy competition among employees, further increasing employee participation, and facilitating team-building.

In this age of technology, you can use a wellness app to easily create and implement a fun fitness challenge in your workplace. Vantage Fit, our very own wellness application, can help you create the perfect office fitness challenge with amazing features like leaderboard, step count tracker, and many more.

Build a Healthy Workforce!

Download app

6. Walk-while-you-talk

A corporate lifestyle is more or less a sedentary lifestyle, and the latter is very bad for health. As such, it can be advantageous and beneficial to incorporate physical activity into your employees’ daily work routine. And what better way to integrate physical activity than by encouraging walking meetings?

Encourage your employees to take a walk during meetings and team discussions. This way, they can stay active and innovate new ideas at the same time. Walking has many health benefits and is a great way to keep diseases at bay.

7. Smoke-Cessation

Despite being one of the leading causes of worldwide deaths, smoking tobacco is widely popular, especially among corporate employees. Smoke breaks are a common phenomenon among employees around the world. However, smoking can cause many health problems, which can ultimately lead to premature death.

Even though asking your employees to quit smoking can be tough due to the addictive chemicals in tobacco, Employee Wellness Month can be an excellent opportunity to get them started. Encourage your employees to reduce smoking gradually as the month progresses and adopt other healthy behaviors. As time progresses, your employees will realize the benefits of reduced smoking and might even quit it for good.

Learn more : Implementation of Smoke Cessation Programs in the Workplace

8. Healthy Snacks and Lunches

Eating healthy is easier said than done in a workplace setting; however, making the right approach is not too difficult. Proper nutrition is also very beneficial for workplace productivity, so employers need to make sure that their employees are eating healthy at work.

One way to ensure proper nutrition at work is by providing healthy snacks and lunches to your employees. This way, you can promote healthy diets and help your employees adopt healthy eating habits for life.

You can provide your employees with healthy snacks or lunches every time they complete a workout or a fitness challenge throughout Employee Wellness month to keep them energized.

9. Yoga Wednesdays

Yoga in the workplace is gaining popularity among organizations for its numerous benefits to both employees and employers alike. It is an excellent way for employers to keep their employees healthy, fit, and stress-free.

Incorporating yoga at work during this Employee Health and wellness month can be very beneficial to your organization. You can invite a professional yoga instructor every Wednesday or any day of your choice to conduct a yoga session for your employees. Even one session of yoga per week can be enriching to your employees’ physical and mental wellbeing.

10. #WellnessMonth

More and more companies have realized the importance of employee wellness for organizational success, and undoubtedly many are planning their ways of celebrating employee wellness month. As such, it is a great idea to promote your company’s initiatives on social media platforms to motivate other companies and help them recognize your efforts.

So, post and share updates related to your wellness initiatives for Employee Wellness month with #WellnessMonth and ask your employees to do likewise. This way, you will be able to showcase the outstanding wellness programs you have implemented and help other companies join the cause.

Make full use of this Employee Health and Wellness Month and get your employees on board the journey of wellness. Feel free to leave your comments below.

Besides working as a content marketer at Vantage Circle, Shah Alif Ahmed is also an internationally certified nutrition specialist, competitive bodybuilder and a musician. For any queries reach out to editor@vantagecircle.com