Given that we are spending our days talking with organisations about their wellbeing plans for 2020, now seems like an opportune time to share some insights into how you can plan and deliver your organisations wellness calendar. More to the point, insights into how to actually make these programmes exciting, motivating and effective to ensure your staff or tenants want to participate and improve the wellness culture in your workplace.
1. TIMING & CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING
One of the most sought-after and rewarding health initiatives that we deliver are skin cancer checks for employees and tenants in a range of settings. This one is so exciting because the upsides to detecting a serious melanoma or skin lesion are literally life-changing for the people involved, and the tests are so simple to administer with the right training and qualifications. However, engagement of participants in skin cancer checks can vary significantly for a range of reasons, and a seemingly obvious variable to get right is delivering skin checks at a time of the year when employees actually see the sun. The same goes for any part of a wellness calendar. Matching your wellness initiative with the appropriate time of the year will increase participation. As well as assist in creating monthly or quarterly wellbeing themes that keep the message relevant and contextual for your employees.
2. FUN FACTOR!
Wellness Calendars will often involve a mix of staple health initiatives such as flu vaccinations and health checks. But they should also involve some more stimulating and educational items such as wellness seminars, exercise or meditation classes and expos. Throwing in some fun and innovative ideas is crucial in capturing the attention of your staff and keeping them engaged. Consider balancing or prefixing the “standard fixtures” of your programme with some ideas from left field – such as pedal-powered smoothie makers, foyer Zumba classes, tai-chi, health skill tester challenges, employee manicures, table tennis competitions and anything you can think of that gets people involved!
3. TECH FACTOR
Along the same lines as the above – is there anyone these days that doesn’t like to know how many steps they have taken, kilometres they have cycled, hours they have slept, calories they have consumed, etc etc? Probably a few – but increasingly so, the average employee’s thirst for knowledge these days is a big motivator for them to engage in healthy activities in the first place. Technology can be used for “wow” factor in health initiatives, and also appeal to the data analyst in all of us! We have engaged innovations such as Heath ATMs (health score and key metrics in a few minutes), online platforms and apps that generate curiosity and interest from a wide population. Even the wellness calendar itself can be accessed by an interactive app with notifications that entice employees.
4. ACTIVATE YOUR WORKSPACES
Nothing shows a company or building’s commitment to encouraging a healthy and well culture like physically living and breathing wellness in full view of the workplace. Foyer Pilates classes, seated massage, meditation meeting rooms, roaming healthy snack suppliers – there are so many ways to deliver aspects of your health programme that showcase various parts of your building (from break-out areas to end-of-trip facilities). Activating these spaces is essentially marketing for your wellness programme and building layout, but also showing the workplace that you expect a positive attitude towards being healthy.
5. LINK WITH NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES
Finally – it’s a good idea to mirror at least a few of your wellness calendar initiatives with the corresponding “Health Week” or relate your workplace focus areas to those of the broader Australian or global population. Examples of these can be Nutritional & Diet Assessments in Heart Health Month, Mental Health Initiatives in Mental Health Week, and fun events such as National Ride2Work Day that already have large reach, marketing material and awareness campaigns that can help promote and engage.
Try a few of these ideas to spice up your plans, and get your employees raving about their workplace!
Push for better with Pinnacle Health Group
An engaging and fun employee wellness program is about so much more than just activities and social media opportunities. It’s an essential part of ensuring that your staff are getting the support they need to live happy and healthy lives. Wellness is what lets us all push for better from ourselves, and for those around us.
If you’re looking for a guiding hand in creating an engaging and rewarding employee wellness program employer wellness for your organisation, you can get started by getting in contact with us at Pinnacle Health Group. Fill out a workplace wellness enquiry form or get in touch by calling 1300 2 PINNACLE today!