Ideas for health promotion activities

If you are thinking about developing a wellness program in the workplace the first thing that you need to realize is that there are many different types of wellness programs that you can choose from. What type of wellness program you implement in your workplace is going to depend on what type of employees you have and what you think will work the best for getting your employees involved in the wellness program. No matter what type of wellness program you implement in your workplace there are different activities that you can do for health promotion.

Here are some ideas for activities based on different wellness programs that you can do with your employees.

• General health activities
  • Allow employees who have certain health conditions that require appoints on a regular basis paid time off to attend the appointments
  • Provide health risk assessments to your employees so that they see what health and lifestyle related behaviors they are using
  • Provide your staff with paid time off to go in for employee health screenings that are being given at a place other than work
  • Have health and wellness awareness days or events
• Alcohol and Substance Abuse
  
  • Provide your staff with a clear policy that is designed to raise awareness of these issues
  
  
  • Make sure that all of your staff is trained in how to implement the policy
  
  
  • Provide support and referrals for any members of your staff that have an alcohol or substance abuse problem
  
  
  • Openly provide information about agencies and organizations that deal with these issues
• Healthy Eating
  
  • Provide your employees with healthy eating options in the break room or vending machines
  
  
  • If you have a catering staff provide them with training to help prepare healthier food choices
  
  
  • If your employees want to meet with a dietitian about eating problems allow them to take paid time off for those appointments
  
  
  • If any of your staff have an eating disorder or are suffering from diabetes allow them to eat or drink at regular intervals if it is needed for medical treatment
• Physical Activity
  
  • Provide your employees with discounts to local health clubs or you can even provide them with memberships to the health clubs
  
  
  • If people are riding a bike or walking to work allow them to arrive 5 to 10 minutes late and leave 5 to 10 minutes early without being penalized for it
  
  
  • Arrange company games and sport teams that encourage employees to play against each other, such as management teams versus staff for softball or basketball
  
  
  • Provide exercises onsite for things like yoga, tai chi or something similar before work, during lunch or even after work
  
  
  • To encourage your employees to walk around the office on their breaks you can provide marked routes with distances
• Smoking
  
  • Implement a policy on smoking and include in it ways to protect staff from secondhand smoke
  
  
  • Ban all smoking in the workplace so that you can provide a smoke-free environment
  
  
  • If you do decide to allow smoking restrict it to designated smoking areas and to designated smoking time
  
  
  • Provide help for any staff members who want to quit smoking, the help can be training volunteers who want to help others quit smoking or paid time off to attend smoking counseling
• Stress and Mental Health
  
  • Awareness raising sessions for everybody that focuses on recognizing stress and mental ill health symptoms in themselves and others
  
  
  • Avoid stigmatization of people who have taken time off or sick leave for mental health reasons
  
  
  • Provide counseling services in-house or a referral to an outside agency
  
  
  • Develop a stress action plan to handle problems