Wellness events for employees that people actually show up to

Start with the people

The best wellness events for employees fit the people you actually have, not the ones in a stock photo. A desk team and a warehouse team want different things. Half your staff might be remote. So before picking anything, it's worth asking two blunt questions around the office: what would you actually enjoy, and when could you actually come?

The ideas below go from quick and cheap to a full day out.

Quick ones that fit a workday

• A lunchtime fitness class. Low impact, for every level, in the office or a nearby park.
• Guided breathwork or mindfulness. Twenty minutes in a quiet room. Good before a busy season.
• Stretch and mobility break. For desk teams who sit most of the day.
• A virtual class. So remote and hybrid people can join from home.

Team days

• Workplace wellness day. A rotation of restorative sessions at the office, from massages to mindfulness.
• Team challenge. A friendly competition in mixed teams. Our list of team fitness challenge ideas has plenty to choose from.
• Recovery afternoon. Breathwork, stretching, maybe a sauna session off site. See our recovery events for the feel of it.

Bigger days

• A group trip to a wellness festival. Corporate access to our festivals means your team can spend a day together at one, outside the office.
• A custom event. Your own day, planned and run around your goals. That's what our corporate wellness events are.

Make it regular

One great day is nice. A habit is better. Monthly workouts keep the energy going between bigger events. That's the idea behind our corporate wellness programs, with recurring monthly workouts, private classes and wellness days.

What gets people to show up

• Make it on company time. Wellness that eats into lunch or the evening is a harder sell.
• Make every level welcome. Say so in the invite. Nobody wants to be the slowest one in front of a coworker.
• Keep it optional. Required fun isn't fun.
• Ask after. A two question survey tells you what to do next time.
• Have leaders join. When a manager is in the class, people relax about being there.

Why it's worth doing

Stress, sitting all day and not moving enough are everyday health risks at most jobs, and a good wellness event chips away at all three. There's a softer upside as well: people who have laughed through a plank together tend to work better together on a bad Tuesday. Over time it helps with keeping good people and hiring new ones, because a place that looks after its team is simply a better place to work.

Want help?

STRENGTH IN THE CITY plans and runs employee wellness events at your workplace or one of our partner locations, on site or virtual. Write to community@strengthinthecity.com or use our contact page. You can also see what our community is doing on the events calendar.

Questions people ask