You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get started with workplace wellness programs, but the payoff for productivity and employee morale can be huge.

If you’re tasked with organizing employee activities or simply want to help your co-workers feel happy, healthy and productive without breaking the bank, you may be looking for helpful and inexpensive ways to promote well-being. physical and mental.

Make wellness a priority in your workplace with these simple, inexpensive tools and activities.

1. Monday Meditation

Employees deal with stress both inside and outside the workplace every day, which can affect their mental health and productivity. It’s essential that you take the appropriate steps to deal with burnout, such as starting your week with meditation.

Meditation is a great way to improve mental well-being by boosting focus, reducing stress levels, improving clarity of thought, boosting memory function, and simply learning how to stay calm in situations. difficult.

It can be difficult at first if you are new to meditation techniques. But by making it a regular part of the week and using the right tools, you can create a habit that could make your employees happier and more productive.

A useful tool is Preview timeran app that offers guided meditation practices, music tracks for relaxation, live yoga sessions, wellness content, and more.

With daily recordings, a wide range of mindfulness activities, features to connect with other users, and courses to help you learn more about practicing meditation, Insight Timer can help you start the week on a positive note.

To download: Insight timer for android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

2. Create a virtual water fountain

Creating a virtual water cooler can be an effective workplace wellness initiative, especially for remote workers who may not have the opportunity to socialize with co-workers in person. By making connections and sharing common interests outside of work, you can help foster a sense of community within your team.

It could be as simple as creating a water cooler discussion group on a workplace communication tool like Soft, where employees can share jokes, funny memes, exciting news articles and discuss their daily lives. This helps break the ice and encourages employees to get to know each other better. It can also help generate supportive links and boost morale.

If you’re worried about running out of inspiration to generate conversations or virtual water cooler activities, you can automate this process using a Slack integration like donut. You can also use this tool to overcome isolation when working from home, as it helps inspire interesting and fun discussions for your Slack group.

To download: Slack for android | iOS (Free)

3. Encourage work breaks

While staying focused and productive in the workplace is essential, this can be difficult to achieve during long periods of sedentary work.

One way to overcome this is to encourage employees to take breaks to rejuvenate their minds and bodies. Not only does this help reduce the risk of burnout, but taking short breaks can also promote creativity and productivity.

You can help your employees follow this rule by leaving fun little reminders around the office that encourage breaks, or by using a break reminder app like Work Break.

Work Break lets you plan your breaks with personalized reminders. You can then take advantage of your break to take a nap, get up, take a walk or drink water.

To download: Work break for android (Free)

4. Start a virtual book club

Reading is one of the most effective ways to improve your mental well-being, reduce your stress levels, and enhance your creativity.

Starting a virtual book club can engage employees, pushing them to explore new genres and find new interests outside of work. Learning new information from surprising sources can have significant effects on your motivation and bring new inspiration to your work.

You can create a Slack group for your virtual book club and invite a few co-workers to choose books for you to read and discuss later. Alternatively, you can use a dedicated app, like Libraryto share your reading experience.

You and your colleagues can share your progress using the app’s social features or take advantage of its video calling features. You can also customize your calendar to manage your meetings and enjoy personalized book recommendations.

To download: Library for android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

5. Set weekly wellness challenges

Setting weekly challenges is a fun and effective way to keep your employees engaged in their workplace wellness initiatives. This can include committing to drinking more water, walking or biking to work, taking the stairs, eating healthy snacks, etc.

For example, you can start a step counter challenge (10,000 steps per day) at your workplace using Count it.

You can connect Count.it to some of the most popular wearable fitness trackers to monitor your level of physical activity and organize friendly competitions with your colleagues.

You can also add it to your Slack workspace for daily or weekly live leaderboards.

Not only can it help improve workplace well-being, but it can also serve as a fun bonding activity for your team.

To download: Count it for android | iOS (Free)

6. Encourage exercise

Exercise can play an important role in workplace well-being. It is good for the physical health of employees, helps reduce stress levels and increases energy levels.

You can encourage co-workers to be more active throughout the day by suggesting short walks during working hours to increase physical activity and stretch muscles and joints after long periods of sitting.

To mix things up, use a fitness app like fit on.

Choose from its long list of workouts, including strength training, cardio, yoga, and more. This tool also provides insightful content on wellness, fitness, nutrition, and self-care.

To download: FitOn for android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

7. Play fun games on Slack

You’ll probably be happy to hear that Slack isn’t just for work-related conversations. You can also use it to play fun social games with your colleagues. It can help improve employee well-being by inspiring fun and thoughtful discussions in your Slack workspace.

You can play several fun Slack games, including Trivia, Tic-Tac-Toe, and more. Most of these games are easy to set up and give you a quick way to relax and socialize with your co-workers.

Try these wellness ideas for a happier, more productive workplace

Employee wellness is an area worth focusing on to promote a healthy lifestyle and reduce the risk of burnout.

By implementing some of the tips in this article, you can encourage healthy habits in your colleagues and create a happier, more balanced work environment.

Read more

About the Author