10 Ways to Promote Employee Wellness
YEC (Young Entrepreneur Council) surveyed some folks about how they promote employee wellness programs. Here are their answers:
How does your company promote wellness?
1. Company Gym Memberships
We pay for a full membership for any employee who wants to go to the gym that is located behind our office. If you choose to go to the gym during your lunch break, we offer an extra 30-minute break so you can get your full one-hour workout in, have the time to get to and from the gym, and still grab some lunch.
– Kristy Knichel, Knichel Logistics
2. Group Rock Climbing
This is a great activity that the entire eFin team participates in regularly. Our CTO leads intense indoor rock climbing sessions. So far everybody has participated in these events. It has gotten quite competitive lately as our COO is not able to make it up the wall but is trying harder each and every day!
– Charles Moscoe, eFin
3. Team Walks
While I would love to buy everyone a gym membership, we just don’t have the capital to afford it. But we can go outside and take “free” walks. The first benefit is that the team is active, even in a small way. The second is that every time we go outside, different teammates walk together. Deeper bonds improve our psychological wellbeing.
– Aaron Schwartz, Modify Merch
4. Insurance and Wellness Benefits
We contribute two-thirds of each employee’s medical and dental insurance and fully pay for life insurance as well as short and long-term disability. In addition, we contribute $75 per month per employee to a wellness plan which accrues up to three months. They apply this to any wellness benefit they wish from yoga classes, gym memberships and CrossFit, to massage, nutritional coaching etc.
– Ryan Wilson, FiveFifty
5. Recreation Credit
Being located in Whistler, the No. 1 ski resort in North America, isn’t just a strategic decision; it’s a lifestyle one. To ensure our employees can take advantage of the opportunities that come with living in a mountain town, we provide a recreation credit. For the most part this is used on a winter ski pass but it’s also valid for any other activities such as yoga or mountain biking.
– Mark Edmondson, Guestfolio
6. Friendly Competition
Many of our team members utilize Nike+ in their personal lives. We all add each other as friends on Nike+, which creates a natural fitness competition each month. It started out as a game, but soon evolved into a motivational tool. Everyone wants to be at the top at the end of the month. My running increased 30-50 percent some months just because I didn’t want to fall behind.
– Jarrett McCraw, Mighty
7. A Mini In-Office Gym
Wellness is an important part of our company culture. We have a Slack channel for wellness discussions and we provide healthy snacks such as KIND bars, raw nuts and fruit to our employees. We also set up a mini in-office gym with various equipment for functional movement exercises and stretching so that our team can take a break from their work to get some exercise and get their blood flowing.
– Stephen Gill, Tiller
8. Workout Competitions
We have an opt-in competition where participating team members must work out for three days per week or put $10 into a pot. At the end of the term, we use that money to go do something fun for everyone who participated.
– Erik Huberman, Hawke Media
9. Healthy Meals and Snacks
In order to promote wellness, we provide nutritional meals for our staff several days a week and make a point to keep healthy snacks in the office. Eating right promotes a happier, healthier and more motivated work environment.
– Alex Lorton, Cater2.me
10. Flexibillity
We recognize the importance of getting away from the office and unplugging in order to recharge and perform at our best. Flexible work schedules that encourage our employees to work from either of our two offices or at home prevents stale energy at the workplace and keeps perspectives fresh. We also laugh a lot. To drive physical fitness, we sponsor an all-company “Ski Day” every winter.
– Peggy Shell, Creative Alignments
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Young Entrepreneur Council
Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective (http://businesscollective.com), a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.