15+ Wellness Activities for Employees: Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Social & More

The hustle culture is fading, and work-life balance is taking its place.

Which is surprising because the modern workplace demands more from employees than ever before. 

However, this doesn’t mean that wellness should take a back seat. In fact, prioritizing employees’ health and wellness is the key to achieving long-term success for the company.

This article discusses wellness activities for employees, including how to implement a successful corporate wellness program.

Let’s get to it!

TL;DR - Fun Wellness Ideas for Employees

The table below summarizes practical wellness activities for employees:

Keep reading to understand how each wellness idea contributes to employees’ holistic well-being.

What Are Wellness Activities for Employees?

Wellness activities are initiatives and programs organized by a company to promote its employees’ holistic well-being. The activities focus on diverse wellness dimensions, including physical, mental, emotional, financial, and social health.

The primary goal of wellness activities is often encouraging employees to undertake healthy behaviors and reinforcing them so they become part of your organization’s wellness culture.

Benefits of Implementing Wellness Activities at Work

Introducing workplace wellness activities helps boost employees’ well-being as the primary goal, and the company’s productivity and performance as secondary objectives.

Let’s highlight the key incentives of workplace wellness activities:

• Improved Quality of Life: Simple wellness activities like stretching breaks, flexible work schedules, and mindfulness support employees to achieve work-life balance.

• Employee Motivation: Employees perceive wellness activities as a company’s commitment to their well-being, which helps boost their motivation and job satisfaction.

• Reduced Healthcare Costs: Physical and mental wellness activities help improve employees’ health and fitness, reducing medical-related costs associated with workplace injuries and illnesses.

• Improved Productivity: Wellness activities help reduce employee absenteeism and help keep them focused, which translates to better company performance.

• Competitive Advantage: Implementing wellness activities helps your organization attract top talent, integral to your company’s long-term success.

Effective Employee Wellness Ideas and Activities

Corporate wellness programs should comprise essential wellness components to promote employees’ holistic well-being. This means introducing activities that cater to employees’ physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, and spiritual wellness.

We have outlined 15+ wellness activities to help employees achieve their desired work-life balance.

Physical Wellness Activities

These initiatives aim to improve employees’ health and fitness or help them manage chronic conditions.

Examples include:

Mental Wellness Activities

At SoHookd, we consider mental health to be integral to employees’ holistic well-being.

Here’s some insight from B.J. Wiley Williams, our founder and CEO, about the impact of mental health wellness:

“We realize the need for mental health, even though it has become a buzzword. We are challenged. We're dealing with burnout. We're dealing with being overwhelmed with all the different things that are happening on a macro global perspective, and being able to have tools and resources, to be able to navigate that effectively is critical.”

Wellness activities can help employees relax and reduce mental fatigue, so they come to work recharged the next day/shift. Recommend the following activities:

Emotional Wellness Activities

These initiatives help employees recognize and process their emotions effectively, so they don’t interfere with their performance.

Examples of emotional wellness activities include:

Social Wellness Activities

These are programs that help employees nurture strong bonds or relationships with colleagues and the community at large. 

Some practical wellness activities include:

Financial Wellness Activities

These initiatives equip employees with financial management skills. Some wellness ideas include:

Spiritual Wellness Activities

These activities help employees find meaning in life and expand their sense of purpose. Also, they allow employees to stay rooted in their virtues and personal values.

Common social wellness activities include:

The wellness activities listed above should help employees achieve their lifestyle goals, which enables you to meet business objectives.

Still, we recommend aligning these activities with wellness challenges and incentives to encourage employee participation.

At SoHookd, we help organizations design and implement balanced wellness programs that cater to employees’ holistic needs.

Start by downloading our free eBook to learn how employee wellness activities with psychology-backed incentives help drive meaningful change for your organization.

How to Implement an Effective Wellness Program in the Workplace

Wellness programs have become a cheat code for companies. Imagine helping your employees keep fit and benefiting from lower medical-related costs and better overall company performance.

However, you need a well-balanced wellness program to help employees achieve holistic well-being.

Here’s a detailed guide on how to start a corporate wellness program in the workplace:

• Assess Employee Needs: Leverage employee surveys and environmental audits to determine your workers’ lifestyle needs and understand their expectations about the proposed wellness programs.

• Partner with Wellness Brokers: Work with experienced wellness brokers like USI and Mercer for expert guidance on designing wellness programs that meet industry standards.

• Secure Top Leadership Buy-in: Present the proposed wellness program to the executive, highlighting what the company stands to gain. For instance, correlate health and wellness initiatives to lower medical-related expenses.

• Define the Company’s Wellness Goals: Determine what you want to achieve with your wellness program and organize the objectives into short, medium, and long-term goals. Wellness brokers come in handy in this step to help you align your wellness program with employees’ wellness needs to maximize your wellness dollars.

• Set a Wellness Budget: Break down the projected costs of implementing the wellness program. Account for one-time costs, like purchasing on-site gym equipment, and recurrent expenses like monthly gym subscriptions.

• Develop the Wellness Program(s): Design the corporate wellness program based on your organizational wellness culture and the identified employee lifestyle needs. For health-focused wellness initiatives, ensure the program meets statutory and industry standards, especially the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) guidelines.

• Monitor and Iterate: Track essential program performance metrics, including enrollment, participation, and completion rates. You could also track employee-specific performance metrics to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. For example, check whether employees have reported better health and fitness after implementing physical wellness initiatives. Use our Wellness Program Audit Checklist to check the effectiveness of your wellness initiatives.

Common Mistakes in Designing Employee Wellness Initiatives

Like other projects, not all employee wellness programs are successful. For example, mismatches between wellness initiatives and employee lifestyle goals could discourage workers from enrolling in the programs.

Below are common pitfalls to avoid:

• Lack of Personalization: Employees often have diverse lifestyle needs, which should be accounted for when designing wellness programs. Ensure the wellness initiatives cater to each employee’s lifestyle needs so workers don’t feel left out, which would be demotivating.
• Ineffective Communication: Failing to communicate the wellness programs’ benefits to employees reduces their willingness to enroll and participate in the initiatives. Engage employees starting from the planning phase and inform them about the wellness programs’ goals.
• Overlooking Incentives: Lack of rewards discourages employees from participating in wellness initiatives, making the programs unsustainable. Partner with wellness marketplaces like Sohookd for personalized gifts that align with employees’ lifestyle goals. Also, watch our free webinar to learn about wellness incentives that inspire wellness engagement and drive real change for your employees.
• Ignoring Sustainability: Some programs are unsustainable due to budget limitations. For example, small businesses might not afford to take their employees for wellness retreats every quarter. Go for affordable wellness programs that you can support until the desired healthy behaviors become part of the organization’s wellness culture.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Let’s finish by answering commonly asked questions about introducing wellness activities for employees.

How Often Should Wellness Activities Be Conducted?

There’s no limit on how often wellness activities should be conducted. Some companies organize wellness programs monthly or quarterly. However, we recommend integrating wellness activities into employees’ daily schedules. For example, employees can have stretch breaks every day to boost productivity.

Do Wellness Programs Work for Remote or Hybrid Teams?

Yes. Wellness programs work for remote and hybrid teams. For example, you could provide step trackers to encourage remote employees to take regular walks. Employees can compete with their colleagues, with winners receiving wellness incentives.

What Metrics Should Be Tracked in a Wellness Program Dashboard?

Essential performance metrics to track in a wellness program dashboard include:

• Enrollment rate
• Completion rate
• Health indicators
• Physical activity levels
• Employee satisfaction rate

Is It Necessary to Hire a Wellness Consultant?

Yes. It is necessary to hire a wellness consultant to help you with the following:

• Implement a reward system to boost employee participation rates
• Personalize wellness programs with employees’ lifestyle needs
• Provide ongoing support and reduce administrative hassles
• Align wellness initiatives with organizational goals

Conclusion - Workplace Wellness Ideas

This article should help you implement workplace wellness activities to boost employees’ productivity, improving your company’s overall performance. We emphasize conducting employee surveys to understand their lifestyle goals. 

Also, we recommend working with a wellness solution provider to help you implement health and wellness activities that empower employees to achieve work-life balance.

At SoHookd, we have nearly 10 years of experience providing ready-to-implement wellness programs that help companies hit the ground running. Our services include ongoing support, including monitoring employee participation and managing wellness rewards, to reduce your administrative tasks.

Let’s partner to implement wellness programs that drive real change for your organization—schedule a demo.