18 Employee Wellness Incentives

Employee wellness incentives can help you instill a healthier lifestyle in employees and cultivate a sense of community in the work environment. Here are 18 employee wellness incentives for employees in your organization.

1. Paid Leave for Vacation

Employees can become so wrapped up in maintaining high efficiency, meeting deadlines, and taking care of their families that they forget to take care of themselves. Encourage your employees to indulge in some me-time by giving them paid leave. When an employee meets or goes beyond their performance goals, gift them a vacation or a few days off as an employee wellness incentive. This is an exciting benefit for employees and allows them to come back to work rejuvenated and ready to continue producing excellent results. You may even give them holiday wellness essentials like sunscreen?and?hand sanitizers or antibacterial wipes?for travel safety.

2. Employee Celebration and Recognition Events

Hosting an event to celebrate employee accomplishments is a great way to show employees you appreciate the work they produce. Depending on your company's engagement, host this event annually, bi-annually, or quarterly and offer awards and recognition to all the top-performing workers, teams, and departments.

You can ensure that everyone feels appreciated by gifting all attendees with?promotional items they can use?every day to remind them of their achievements, such as mugs, tumblers, tote bags, and ornaments.

3. Implement an On-Site Fitness Center

One challenge of long work hours is that once workers are done for the day, they lack the energy to do any other physical activity. This can negatively affect your employees’ health and elevate their chances of getting sick when their physical wellness is low. If you have the means, invest in a workplace wellness room to improve your employees’ physical health.

4. Create Employee Activity Clubs

If you want to expand your on-site fitness center and ensure employees feel encouraged to use it, establish an employee activity club. This club can encourage physical fitness at least once a week and includes various physical activities, from bike riding clubs to regular walks.

5. Offer Free Memberships

Do you lack space or budget for an in-office fitness room? Fortunately, there are other ways to promote physical health in the workplace. Issue your employees free memberships to fitness clubs or online gym services if they prefer to work out at home. You may even offer employees other wellness memberships that provide access to healthy food items, meditation apps, health coaches, and health savings accounts.

6. Address Stress in the Workplace

Another great employee wellness incentive is to show employees you are aware of and understand the stress they experience in the workplace. Hold a workshop or meeting to address stress and ask employees to express their concerns.

7. Hold an Exercise Competition

Create some time for employees to take part in in-office company exercise competitions. Have teams or departments work together to compete against other teams in activities like sports events and other physical activities. These friendly competitions offer a fantastic opportunity for employees to bond and work together outside of work tasks. If you have any remote teams, you might also create virtual exercise challenges, such as wellness app competitions, step tracking, and virtual workouts.

You can also foster employee engagement by providing winners with branded prizes, such as promotional water bottles and?drawstring bags or tote bags, that they can use for every occasion.

8. Gift Company Merchandise

Company merchandise can help employees officially feel like part of the company. Company merchandise is also beneficial because it raises brand awareness when employees wear or use it outside the workplace.

Some?branded items you might offer employees?as incentives or competition prizes include headphones, travel mugs, power banks, and keyrings.

9. Encourage Health Assessments With Cash Prizes

Encourage employees to take health assessments and on-site screenings and offer them valuable cash prizes or coupons as a reward.

10. Offer Financial Counseling

Fifty-seven percent of employees state that?financial issues are the source?of their stresses. Financial stress can lead to unhealthy sleep patterns and poor mental and physical health, ultimately affecting productivity and efficiency at work. Start offering financial counseling and advice services to improve your employees' well-being.

These financial incentives will improve motivation and focus during work hours and enhance their overall well-being.

11. Hand Out Workout Gear and Clothes

Workplace wellness programs only feel complete with the correct wellness incentives. Complement your wellness program with workout gear and other active accessories to motivate your employees further to take action. If you plan to address the importance of staying active to maintain physical and mental health, offer your employees?promotional sports and activewear?like t-shirts, sweatpants, zip jackets, and hats.

12. Encourage Healthy Lunches and Snacks

Help your employees feel empowered to make healthy choices by ensuring company cupboards, fridges, and snack stations mostly contain nutritious foods and?snacks such as nuts?and pretzels.

13. Create a Wellness Challenge

14. Arrange a Meeting or Workshop to Track Wellness Goals and Progress

One of the most effective employee wellness programs involves tracking wellness goals. Doing so encourages employees to pursue their goals and feel motivated by their progress.

For example, arrange a regular meeting where employees share their well-being goals for the next month. Once that time has passed, employees can gather again to discuss their progress, what worked for them, and what needs improvement. Employees may even share a few tips and encouragement with other attendees. This is an excellent strategy for motivating employees and allowing team members to connect better.

15. Enhance Workplace Health and Safety

Adding safety equipment around the office can promote a safe and healthy work environment. For example, you can?place hand sanitizer stands in the company building's more spacious or fuller areas. You may even gift workers safety whistles, reflective safety vests, or glowsticks for those who work in construction or hazardous environments.

16. Create an On-Site Gardening Space

Gardening is a beneficial activity that can help reduce stress and improve well-being. Implementing this activity at work will provide employees with a safe space to relax and let go of their worries. Employees can connect with nature and engage in taking care of plants, giving them an extra sense of fulfillment.

If you know any employees who particularly love gardening, they might appreciate it if you assigned them to take care of the gardening space. You can also reward each gardener?with a branded planter set?of their own by keeping it at their desk or taking it home.

17. Provide an On-site Childcare Facility

Some employees with families or young children may not have someone to take care of their children while at work. Some may even need to leave their children at school or daycare for longer hours because they work late. Providing an on-site childcare facility can be more convenient for these employees, allowing them to be at peace knowing their responsibilities are taken care of. You can decorate this space with?various games and puzzles?to entertain children. This wellness program shows that you care about your employees who have families and lets those employees restore their work-life balance.

18. Create a Rest Room

Encourage your team to take a nap when they need an energy boost. Create a designated napping space separate from the work area, and you may even?provide them with eye masks to encourage rest.

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For exciting employee wellness incentives that improve employee engagement, we invite you to?browse our selection of wellness-related items?and?contact our team for more information?today.