Challenges are becoming popular everywhere you look, whether in social media, in groups of friends, and more recently at the workplace. The premise behind workplace wellness challenges is to promote a healthy lifestyle among your employees through a little friendly competition. There is typically no monetary investment required; all that is needed is a challenge to complete.
Make It Short
The challenge should span a short amount of time. Instead of starting with a monthly challenge, try just a week-long challenge first, to gauge interest and encourage maximum participation. Activities that require a long-term commitment might not be as well received among employees, especially those who fear commitment. Or, the excitement of the challenge could begin to wear off after the first week or so. Instead, starting small lets everyone give the challenge a try without a large up-front commitment.
Challenge Ideas
There are limitless challenges that can be performed at work, but a few that promote overall health and staff wellness include:
· Drinking 8 glasses of water a day
· Walking a mile a day
· Bikeing to work 3 out of 5 times this week
· Taking the stairs rather than the elevator each day this week
· Bringing a healthy brown bag lunch instead of eating out this week
Provide points for each time a participant completes the daily challenge and verbal recognition or a small reward at the end of the specified time period. This will help boost employee morale and encourage future participation in workplace wellness challenges.
