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Megan Boitano

Registered dietitian nutritionist Megan Boitano, MS, RD, helps dietitians leverage their expertise and generate income via creation and sale of online nutrition resources. She is the founder of Well Resourced Dietitian, a digital marketplace for dietitians to both sell and buy original, digital materials for use in their nutrition practices, including ebooks, handouts, presentations, webinars, worksheets and more.

18 Workplace Wellness Activities the Whole Office Will Love

When it comes to employee satisfaction, we all know a good paycheck tops the list. But additional benefits or perks – like engaging workplace wellness activities – can improve morale and productivity. And as a bonus for employers, it may also save on absenteeism and health care costs.

Despite the benefits, organizations may struggle to implement programs that resonate with employees. Cost and creativity are frequently cited challenges.

Luckily, though, there are plenty of innovative and economical wellness activities that you can implement across the many dimensions of wellness. Whether you’re an HR manager planning for your company or a freelance dietitian that contracts with organizations, these ideas will help maximize your workplace wellness goals

18 Wellness Activities for the Office

1. Host a lunch and learn

Invite a guest speaker to come to your facility and teach on a wellness topic. For example, you could host a dietitian in March for National Nutrition Month, or a stress management expert in May for Mental Health Awareness Month.

Depending on your budget, you could host a catered lunch for employees (which can help with attendance), or employees could bring their own. You can also stream the presentation for remote employees.

Need some ideas or ready-to-use presentations for a lunch a learn? Here are a few ideas with accompanying slide decks:

2. Purchase plants for the office

Did you know some research suggests that plants reduce stress levels?! And additional studies have shown that indoor plants help improve positive feelings and decrease negative feelings. Inquire if your employees would like an indoor plant to care for at their desks, and consider purchasing inexpensive options for each. If that’s not feasible, consider choosing a few plants to put strategically throughout the office.

3. Train for a team 5K.

A 5k race is a fun challenge regardless of fitness level; experienced runners and walkers can both enjoy training for one. You can hire a running coach to create a training plan and lead group runs at your office. For a lower budget option, download a free online 5K training plan that employees can follow on their own leading up to a 5K race that all participants will tackle together.

Larger offices can have several smaller race teams and one department can challenge another. A little bit of competition can inject fun and camaraderie into the daily grind.

As an addition to training, you could also host a sports nutrition class or provide handouts about fueling for exercise.

4. Organize a health fair.

This will take some planning, but you may find that you can get many community organizations to participate at low or no cost. For example, you could invite the YMCA, local gyms, town nurses, private practice dietitians, local health food stores or restaurants, a local farm with CSA sign ups, your health insurance company, and more. If you allow them to advertise their services, they may be willing to participate for free in exchange for the ability to promote themselves to potential clients.

If you have a bigger budget in place, consider paying for interactive fitness activities, mini expert talks, health screenings, or chair massages as part of your health fair.

Need some help with planning? Read more about how to plan engaging health fair activities.

4. Provide on-site fitness classes.

Hire freelance fitness instructors or personal trainers that can come to your site and lead employees in a fun fitness class. From bootcamp to martial arts to chair yoga, there are opportunities for all fitness levels.

You could do this as an ongoing series, or as a special occasion once a quarter, depending on budget. Before investing, try surveying employees to gauge what types of activities they would be most interested in attending.

For a focus on body positivity, be sure to reference our comprehensive blog featuring 14 workouts and fitness resources.

5. Host a wellness challenge.

Everyone loves a challenge! Whether it’s general wellness, fitness-inspired, or a nutrition challenge, completing activities in a defined time frame.

Here are few ideas for wellness challenges:

  • Sleep Challenge: Encourage employees to track and improve their sleep habits over a month.

Helpful resource: Sleep toolkit including sleep handouts and sleep challenge

  • Less Added Sugar Challenge: Reduce added sugar intake over a set number of days.

Helpful resource: 14 Day No Sugar Challenge, Names of Sugar Handout

  • Step Challenge: Set a goal for the total number of steps employees take in a week or month, with prizes for milestones.
  • Meditation Challenge: Complete a certain number of meditation minutes each week. You can use an app like Headspace as part of the challenge.

Helpful handout: Meal meditations

  • Reading Challenge: Reading is excellent for keeping the brain in tip-top shape, and a challenge can be tracked on paper or on an app like Goodreads.
  • Hydration Challenge: Drink a specific amount of water each day and track progress.

Helpful handouts: Facts on Fluids and 30-Day Water Challenge Tracker

You can incentivize these with wellness challenge prizes, whether that’s a gift, financial bonus, or an experience-based option.

7. Create a wellness activity bingo game.

This can be a fun and interactive way to promote a variety of healthy habits in your workplace. You can purchase a pre-made template, or design your own bingo card. Fill it with simple wellness activities like “drink 8 glasses of water,” “take a lunchtime walk,” or “meditate for 5 minutes.”

Employees can check off activities as they complete them, aiming for a bingo or a full card. You can offer prizes for completed cards. If on a smaller budget, consider having one prize that’s raffled off to anyone who turns in a completed card.

8. Partner with a local farm to become a CSA drop off point.

CSA – short for community supported agriculture – is a subscription of sorts to a local farm. You pay up front, and then get an assortment of fresh vegetables (and sometimes fruits) each week during the harvest season. 

Often, employees may be hesitant to sign up for a CSA if they have to drive out of the way to the farm to pick it up. If you can get enough interest, though, the farm may be willing to offer a drop off directly at the office.

Take it one step further by also offering a presentation about the benefits of eating seasonally, or offering ideas for what to do with all that fresh produce with these resources:

9. Set up a smoothie bar.

Invest in an office blender and create a schedule for a DIY smoothie bar. Depending on your budget, this might be a weekly occasion or could be a quarterly special event. Set up a station with a variety of fruits, vegetables (frozen zucchini and cauliflower rice are great additions), yogurt, and other add-ins like chia seeds or protein powder.

Provide a handout about building a balanced smoothie to help employees create a nutritious option. Want to take it a step further? Host a two hour smoothie workshop!

An assortment of different types of smoothies in glasses.

10. Switch your meeting to walking meetings.

Sitting for long periods of time negatively impacts heart health and physical fitness. Rather than feel drowsy in yet another meeting in the conference room, get moving and talk on the go. It can help employees move more in their day, allow their eyes a break from screens, and reinvigorate energy levels.

Two employees having a walking meeting outside instead of an indoor meeting.

11. Host a goal setting workshop.

Did you know that most people drop off their New Years’ goals after only two weeks? Give your employees a better chance at success by hosting a goal setting workshop in the New Year. Teach them how to set better goals and strategies to stick with them.

These resources are great to use as part of your workshop:

And while New Year’s can be a great time to host this, you can also schedule this multiple times each year to help employees stay on track.

12. Organize a Meatless Monday group lunch.

About 5% of US adults identify themselves as vegetarian. Having a Meatless Monday lunch is an opportunity for your fellow co-workers to try new recipes and think outside of their usual turkey sandwich.

While the vegetarians in your office may not represent a large portion of total staff, cultivating an office that is more inclusive of all eating patterns helps everyone. Bonus? Most vegetarian meals include more veggies – that’s good for everyone, whether you are a vegetarian or not.

Here are some helpful resources that you can provide to employees as part of this initiative:

13. Offer “deskercise” opportunities. 

Chair yoga, seated stretches, and resistance band exercises are all options that can be done at the desk for low or no cost. Provide a session teaching them the different exercises, and then offer encouragement, reminders, and/or incentives to help them stick with the routine.

14. Flex culinary skills with a healthy cooking class. 

Cooking classes are a great nutrition activity that can teach employees new skills that they can use out of the workplace. Depending on your facility (space and equipment), these could be done on-site by hiring a chef to lead a class, or could be done off-site at a teaching kitchen.

If your budget doesn’t allow for an in-person group class, consider providing access to inexpensive virtual group classes.

Helpful resources:

15. Volunteer together 

Volunteer days allow employees to work together and give back to the community. Find an organization that aligns with your employee’s interests, whether that’s helping at an animal shelter, building a house with Habitat for Humanity, or serving up a food at a local pantry. This can create stronger connections in the workplace, build morale, and reinforce the company’s commitment to social responsibility.

16. Get in touch with your inner child with a Field Day! 

Remember participating in field day as a kid? The excitement of potato sack races and kickball games?! Bring that to the workplace with a (voluntary) summer field day event. Consider a mix of physical activities like relay races, obstacle courses, or organized games. It’s a great low-cost option to help employees unwind, move their bodies, and have fun.

17. Bring in a financial planner for 1-1 sessions. 

This could be targeted towards budgeting or retirement and investing. Many retirement plans actually offer this as part of their contracts with organizations. If you don’t have that option, you could hire a fiduciary financial planner for a day to come provide mini sessions. Financial wellness is often an overlooked sector of holistic wellness, so it’s a great option for worksite planning.

18. Set up a gratitude wall. 

Simple and free! Set up a physical or digital space where employees can post notes of gratitude. These could be for colleagues, little things they’re thankful for, small wins at work…anything. Paying attention to gratitude can create a culture of appreciation and kindness.

Page preview of Quick Guide to Workplace Wellness.
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Woman sitting with one leg crossed underneath her smiling and holding a green smoothie.
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