As an employer, you stand to benefit from supporting your staff’s well-being through a corporate fitness program. Encourage them to take movement breaks, use ergonomic workstations, attend active team trips, and eat a healthy diet. By incorporating exercise and nutrition aspects, you can create compelling initiatives that motivate your employees to achieve whole-body health. As further support for your workforce, team up with Givhero and offer them our employee wellness platform, which helps users track their wellness engagement and reach their health goals.
Below, we detail 4 motivators that can inspire your employees to exercise more:
1. Movement Breaks
To kickstart your staff’s exercise efforts, give them opportunities for frequent movement breaks. Research has found that regular sedentary behavior contributes to decreased insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and arterial buildup, all of which increase the risk of heart disease. Therefore, stationary workers should move their bodies every 30 minutes to mitigate these risks.
Encourage employees to engage in whatever movements are convenient for them. They can do lunges or squats at their workspace, or take a brisk walk around the building or block. Even getting up to use the restroom or fill up a water bottle can decrease the hazards of sedentary behavior.
Speaking of physical activity, organizations with suitable resources could offer their employees access to a local gym or discounts on equipment. Organizations that lack such resources can create an in-office exercise space by setting up a room or cubicle with exercise mats, bands, and weights.
2. Ergonomic Workstations
Next, create ergonomic workstations designed for comfort while working. Specifically, you could offer sit/stand desks that allow employees to change positions.
The ideal sitting-to-standing ratio falls between 1:1 and 1:3. Consider encouraging your employees to stand for 30-40 minutes every hour. If possible, they should pair standing with some movement.
Furthermore, equip your office with devices that encourage good posture and easy exercise. Seated movements with foot pedals or raised chairs allow for leg swinging. Alternatively, saddle chairs promote a neutral spine for improved comfort and posture.
3. Active Team Trips
Merge company morale-boosting, team-building, and exercising through active team trips. Employees will have the opportunity to do something physically challenging and socially engaging, such as rock climbing or an adventure course.
You could also enroll your team in a local sports league, which provides an easy way for employees to exercise while having fun. Find out which sports appeal to your group and sign up your team to compete against other local teams.
Volunteer opportunities, such as community clean-up or helping at an animal shelter, also incorporate physical activity. Plan for one of these events every month or quarter to encourage additional activity outside of the gym. You can also use Givhero’s social wellness functionality to fuse employees’ wellness activities with charitable giving.
4. Healthy Diet
Finally, incorporate concern for a balanced diet into your workplace wellness program. March is National Nutrition Month, an ideal time for organizations to support their employees in making informed food choices that inspire healthy eating habits in- and outside of the office.
As a dietary health initiative, many organizations will hire a nutritional coach to talk with their employees. You might try doing so alongside a wellness program wherein participants report their daily intake of healthy foods. This practice can reinforce a nutritional coach’s suggestions and further motivate exercise activities.
Challenge your employees to get involved in company wellness opportunities with Givhero. Well-being requires incremental progress in exercise, so set group and individual goals to encourage long-term wellness. Your employees will be more productive as a result.
Givhero: Supporting Dynamic Corporate Fitness Programs
Givhero catalyzes corporate fitness programs with an intuitive platform for implementing and tracking exercise initiatives. You can give your employees the ability to manage their wellness journeys with fitness tracker integration. Moreover, our one-tap onboarding—backed by a fully automated platform—reduces administrative workload by 80%. Contact us today at (240) 801-5927!
