Global Employee Health and Fitness Month is celebrated every May. It’s an international observance of health and fitness in the workplace.
It’s goal? To promote the benefit of a healthy lifestyle to employers and their employees through worksite health promotion activities and the environment. (you can learn more about the observance here.)
To help your organization join in on the movement, we put together a list of ways you can encourage health and fitness during the month of May and beyond.
1. Promote the power of physical activity
Post signs in the breakroom or email out information on the power of physical activity and what getting 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week can do for your health! ( We have an infographic you can use here, or find more great resources from GEHFM here.)
2. Give gift certificates for activity trackers
Activity trackers are a great way to help motivate employees to take control of their health and wellbeing. Help your employees’ reap the benefits of a more active lifestyle by offering a gift certificate through our Wellness Outlet Store. You can provide any dollar amount and the site features already discounted Fitbit and Garmin wearables.
Best yet, the store is free to join! Reach out to our sales team at the following email if you are interested: sales@motionconnected.com.
3. Encourage healthy habits with this reading list
Healthy behavior change is hard. Encourage employees to learn more about ways they can make healthier choices by sharing this reading list of books on the topic.
4. Have a weekly workout class for the month
Hosting workout classes in the office is a great way to promote new social interactions and let employees try something new. Don’t want to hire an instructor? Just use videos online. We love Fitness Blender. They feature simple, straightforward and effective workouts you can stream for free! Simply search for bodyweight only exercises and get moving.
5. Host a walking challenge
We’re big cheerleaders for walking challenges. They are fun, motivating, build social interactions, bring multiple locations together, tap into employees’ competitive nature and more.
Though we understand budget can restrain you from offering ones that feature real-time leaderboards and integration with the top devices like Garmin, Fitbit and Apple Watch, we still want to promote it as an option to celebrate. You can either join in our fun by offering our newest, affordable, turnkey product, Motion Connecteed Select, and be up and running with the platform in as little as 5 days, or offer our DIY option in this blog here (scroll to #11).
6. Find sit/stand areas for employees
If you don’t have the budget to get standing options for each employee, get creative. We dedicated two cubicles to standing options, using an old treadmill at one for a walking option. You could go a step further and provide a second monitor for employees to plug into, along with phone and laptop charging options.
7. Dedicate part of your office to a stress-free zone
Do you have an empty area of your office; maybe an office stuffed with an overflow of old computers and dust? Take that area and invest in making it a relaxing area for employees to take a break. Include comfy chairs and lounging options.
8. Hold standing meetings
By now most everyone has heard of walking meetings. While we agree they are great, maybe they aren’t feasible for you and your location, or maybe you need to take notes during the meeting or show a slide deck. When this happens, a great alternative is to encourage those who can, to stand.
9. Take the celebration outside
Last year we put together a great list of activities to try out in spring and summer. The list of 20 includes starting an outdoor garden, joining a volleyball or other sports-related league and more. Check out the full article here.
10. Host a healthy happy hour
Something we’ve recently implemented in our office for a spring refresh is a weekly happy hour with healthy, non-alcoholic drinks. We’ve had lemonade, cucumber water, tea, coffee, punch, etc. We rotate weekly who brings in the drinks and, if yummy enough, people can share the recipes. It’s a great way to encourage healthy habits, bring employees together and have them try something new!
Any initiative you choose to focus on this month is time well spent. We hope you found a few to inspire action.
What ways will you be celebrating this month? Sound off in the comments if we’ve missed any!