Winter Wellness Tips for the Workplace: 2019 Edition
We know, we know, the winter blahs are starting to kick in. You arrive at work in the morning in the dark and it’s dark when your finish your workday. With shorter days and less sunlight, many people experience the winter blues, further fueled by sadness and fatigue, which can leave people unmotivated, irritable, and vulnerable to colds, flu and other sickness.
There is something to be said for building a positive work environment not only in winter but year round. Want to help your employees battle the winter blues? Why not establish a winter wellness plan for your office, shop, or place of work. Here are ten thing you can do you help battle the winter blues.
Winter Wellness Ideas for the Workplace
1. Stock the office with hand sanitizer – depending on the size of your company, consider giving each employee a gift of their own hand sanitizer for their workstations.
2. Conduct once-a-week fun activities – schedule out some fun activities maybe for Thursday afternoon consisting of a 15-20 minute team building activity. There are lots of fun team building games that you can choose from. Consider dividing your team into groups and having them take turns to decide the team activity.
3. Conduct a “daily office walk” – if your work environment is conducive to this, encourage everyone in the office to get up and walk a lap (or two) around the office. This will prevent folks from being sedentary and will encourage a little physical activity while not disturbing anyone.
4. Provide some healthy snacks – depending on the size of your organization this could get a little expensive, but it doesn’t have to be, especially if you only offer these “bonus snacks” during winter months. Providing these snacks can satisfy those midday cravings, and encourage employees to eat healthier.
5. Corporate yoga – Bring in a yoga trainer or fitness trainer perhaps every second week. There are a number of organizations and options available.
6. Create winter hydration stations – encourage people to drink more water by setting up little water coolers throughout the office. You could offer lemon water, cucumber water, mint water, citrus water, etc. For inspiration here are 14 cucumber water recipes.
7. Song of the day – at a certain time each day, play an uplifting song for your staff and potentially customers. Maybe it’s just in the lunch room, maybe it is over the loud speakers, and maybe it’s just in a certain space of your workplace. Make it fun by having a different team member select the song (from a given playlist). Look for classic one-hit wonders or just fun songs that your staff might enjoy. Bring some musical fun to the workplace. #DanceLikeNoOneIsWatching
8. Conduct Winter Potlucks – divide the office up into teams and have a monthly potluck lunch. Try a different theme like a “Dog Days of Summer… but its Winter”. Keep it healthy and fun.
9. Create an office “Zen Den” – create an environment/room where employees can go to relax for 10 or 15 minutes to recharge their batteries. Have appropriate lighting, relaxing music and perhaps even some aromatherapy via a diffuser.
10. Offer a January Jumpstart program – help your team set some healthy goals for the New Year. Consider having some kickoff challenges ready to go for the first few weeks, and create a newsletter with healthy eating, exercise tips and a recipe or two.
There are lots of ways to promote winter wellness in the workplace. Get creative and have fun with it. Your employees will thank you.
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