Written by Toni Sperlbaum
When I was acquiring my certification as a Certified Worksite Wellness Program Manager at the National Wellness Conference in Minneapolis, MN, our two-day intensive class consisted of professionals like myself sharing their experiences and struggles in wellness. One topic of discussion that was clearly a concern for HR and wellness professionals was the lack of a budget. Conversations were that “my wellness program isn’t successful because we don’t have the money to do things”. Bravely, a wellness coordinator from Saudi Arabia raised her hand, stood up and said, “Our company is massive. The amount of figures in my wellness budget would sicken you, it’s so much. We have all the money you could want and our program. isn’t. working.” She opened everyone’s eyes to show that it’s not a hefty budget that makes a wellness program successful. It’s the cohesion of your programs. It’s the creativity of your people and your vendor. It’s your leadership team’s public support in your efforts (NOT through finances, but by example). It’s these things that give your wellness program a personality and your workplace a culture.
Since 2001, Health Plan Advocate has been providing corporate wellness programs. Although we provide services that require a budget, we also work as consultants in sharing our ideas and experiences with the hopes that your wellness program will be the most successful it can be. Here are 5 of our budget-friendly wellness ideas:
Wellness Committees. If you don’t have a wellness committee, you should. Sure you may have to pay these employees for their time on your committee during the work shift, but these are the people who are out in the workplace who know what will work and what won’t. They will also be your CREATIVE TEAM! As a client of HPA’s, we can run these committees for you, we can sit on them consistently to offer our experiences, or we can do a one time visit – whichever you prefer!
Health Fair. This is one of my favorites. All you have to do is pick the date and time. Your benefit vendors, local health food stores, hospitals, gyms, and more show up and do all the work for you! It’s about introducing local resources to your employees to support them in your journey. Vendors will typically provide decent door prizes, too.
Parking Tickets. During the warmer months, take a trip once a week (or as frequently as you’d like) into your parking lot. On the cars parked the farthest away, leave them a “parking ticket”. On that ticket, it will tell the employee that they have parked HEALTHILY and once they collect 3 tickets, they can turn them in to you to claim their prize. This can be something tangible and low budget like a water bottle, t-shirt (it’s amazing what people will do for trinkets!), or something non tangible like a free jean day, or 4 hours of PTO, whatever you’d like!
Healthy Selfies. We have to give credit to one of the agencies we work with for coming up with this one. They had their employees submit “Healthy Selfies” – photos of themselves doing something healthy. After collecting photos, they sent them out to their staff to vote on their favorites. Not only did they have fun with it (and was it completely FREE), but it allowed employees to see all the other fantastic healthy things their peers were doing, were able to share about this great fitness class they were a part of, share their favorite walking route, and more!
Scavenger Hunt. Have your committee (or some fantastic volunteers) stand at different points of your facility or campus with a clue directing participants to their next destination (ever seen The Amazing Race?) but they have to answer a health and wellness trivia question to earn their next clue Once they reach their final destination, they can earn a trinket or maybe everyone who completes it goes into a drawing to win a day of PTO, tshirts, gift cards – whatever you prefer!
I could go on all day with budget friendly wellness ideas, but I’ll stop here. Talk to Health Plan Advocate to see how we can help you with your program!
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