Workplace Wellness: Low-Cost Activities That Work

Workplace wellness programs that support employees and the environment that they work in not only have a positive impact on employee morale, they often present a positive return on investment for the employer, too. Workplace wellness programs can be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small employers to make positive changes at little or no cost.

Program Activities

Nutrition

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

• Offer employee-led campaigns, demonstrations or programs.
• Provide healthy eating reminders and prompts to employees via multiple means (e.g. posters, e-mail, payroll stuffers).
• Offer appealing, low-cost fruits and vegetables in vending machines and in the cafeteria.
• Provide taste-testing opportunities at the workplace.
• Offer local fruits and vegetables at the workplace (i.e. workplace farmer’s market or community-supported agriculture drop-off point).
• Provide cookbooks, food preparation and cooking classes for employees’ families.
• Ensure on-site cafeterias follow healthy cooking practices and set nutritional standards for foods served that align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• Offer healthy foods at meetings, conferences and catered events.
• Use point-of-decision prompts as a marketing technique to promote healthier choices.
• Provide healthy cooking demonstrations that teach life-long skills (e.g., fruit and vegetable selection and healthy preparation).
• Use competitive pricing - price non-nutritious foods in vending machines and cafeterias at higher prices.
• Make kitchen equipment available to employees.
• Provide an opportunity for on-site gardening, if possible.

Sweetened Beverage Consumption

• Make water available throughout the day.
• Offer appealing, low-cost healthy drink options in vending machines and the cafeteria.
• Modify worksite vending contracts to increase the number of healthy options.

Physical/Weight Management Activities

• Allow access to on-and off-worksite gyms and recreational activities before, during, and after work hours.
• Offer and encourage participation in after work recreation or sport activities/leagues.
• Provide cash incentives or reduced insurance costs for participation in physical activity and/or weight management or maintenance activities.
• Provide shower and/or changing facilities on-site.

General Health Education Activities

• Have a current policy outlining the requirements and functions of a comprehensive workplace wellness program.
• Have a wellness plan in place that addresses the purpose, nature, duration, resources required, participants and expected results of a workplace wellness program.
• Orient employees with the wellness program and give them copies of the physical activity, nutrition and tobacco use policies.
• Promote and encourage employee participation in the physical activity/fitness and nutrition education/weight management program.
• Provide health education information to employees.
• Have a committee that meets at least once a month to oversee the wellness program.
• Offer regular health education presentations on various physical activity, nutrition and wellness-related topics. Ask voluntary health associations, health care providers and/or public health agencies to offer on-site education classes.
• Host a health fair as a kick-off event or as a celebration for completion of a wellness campaign.
• Designate specific areas to support employees, including educational opportunities for diabetics and nursing mothers.
• Conduct preventive wellness screenings for blood pressure, body composition, blood cholesterol and diabetes.
• Provide confidential health risk assessments.
• Offer on-site weight management/maintenance programs for employees.
• Add weight management/maintenance, nutrition and physical activity counseling as a member benefit in health insurance contracts.

Tobacco Cessation

• Establish a company policy prohibiting tobacco use anywhere on the property.
• Provide prompts/posters to support no tobacco use policy.
• Establish a policy supporting participation in smoking cessation activities during duty time (flex-time).
• Provide counseling through an individual, group or telephone counseling program on-site.
• Provide counseling through a health plan sponsored individual, group or telephone counseling program.
• Provide cessation medications through health insurance.