10 Exciting Wellness Contest Ideas To Improve Employee Health and Engagement

Wellness contests are a hot topic among companies at the moment. Large, small, or medium companies of all sizes incorporate wellness contests into their corporate wellness programs.

From improving employee health to increasing employee engagement, workplace wellness contests prove quite beneficial for organizations. If you are looking for wellness contest ideas for your organization, you are in the right place.

But before we dive into the different ideas for wellness contests, let us first learn more about what they are and how they function.

Employee Health and the Rise of Wellness Programs

Employee health is often seen at the top of the priority list in organizations worldwide. It is quite simply one of the most important factors determining an organization's success.

An organization that has healthy employees is more adept at thriving in the face of adversity. Healthy and fit employees not only improve the brand image of a company, but they also help -

• Reduce absenteeism
• Lower healthcare costs
• Increase performance and productivity
• Improve the work environment
• Increase motivation and morale
• Minimize workplace stress

For the above benefits and more, employee health is highly regarded, and employers prioritize ensuring the optimal health of their employees.

For this purpose, employers introduce wellness programs. Corporate wellness programs are specially designed programs that help employers introduce wellness challenges and initiatives among employees.

Such programs are highly effective and popular among companies worldwide. The best thing about wellness programs is that they allow employers to effortlessly focus on various aspects of employee health.

Wellness programs are coupled with technology to provide an extra edge over conventional wellness programs in today's world. Incorporating wellness initiatives is an extremely easy task with the availability of wellness platforms and applications.

Wellness Contests: All you need to know

Now that you have understood what wellness programs are let us talk about wellness contests.

A wellness contest is a physical or virtual event that consists of one or more wellness activities. Employees participate in such contests and compete against each other for prizes.

Such contests can be as simple as a step challenge or complex, including various activities focusing on different aspects of wellness.

Note: Wellness contests and wellness challenges are, in essence, the same thing. So, please don't get confused, as it is common for the two to be used interchangeably.

Employers can easily create a wellness contest and include in it their wellness program using a wellness solution. Digital wellness solutions are much convenient as they allow easy implementation and configuration of wellness programs and contests.

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If you are looking for a highly intuitive and advanced digital wellness platform, look no further than Vantage Fit.

Vantage Fit is an AI-powered corporate wellness solution that will allow you to create and customize your workplace wellness challenges and contests as per your requirements. Also, with futuristic features like heart rate monitoring, step tracking, calorie tracking, and more, engagement is never an issue.

10 Wellness Contests Ideas That Are Fun and Engaging

So, let us check out the ten practical wellness contest ideas given below without any more delay.

1. Healthy Weight Contest

A simple weight loss challenge is a great way to incorporate good health habits such as nutrition and workout among your workforce. Maintaining a healthy weight is essential for optimal functioning as well as living a quality life.

To create a weight loss contest among your employees, conduct a biometric screening for all your employees to assess their health metrics. Once the data is in, set a realistic target percentage that employees should aim to achieve.

Provide healthy meals such as lunches, breakfasts, and snacks to help your employees reach their goals. You can also provide free 1-month gym memberships to inspire employees to adopt exercise into their daily routine.

2. Fittest Employee Contest

Fitness challenges are the most popular type of wellness challenge in organizations. They can include various kinds of fitness activities, both simple and advanced. Examples of fitness activities that you can find as part of fitness challenges are push-ups, squats, and planks.

Such challenges can be great at maximizing competitiveness among employees and motivating them to adopt healthy habits. Also, they can be very easy to introduce among your workforce.

Some great ideas for an Employee Fitness Contest are a squat contest, push-up contest, or a 7-minute workout contest.

Vantage Fit has an in-built squat tracking feature that uses AI and machine learning to track squats, helping users perform the exercise accurately.

3. Sleep and Win Contest

You and I both know how important it is to get adequate sleep. Sleep recharges our bodies and minds and helps us function optimally. But even though sufficient sleep is essential, most people have trouble getting enough sleep.

A Sleep challenge can thus be a great way to increase the amount of slumber your employees get and make them healthier.

Tracking how many hours of sleep your employees can be quite tricky, especially without sleep tracking devices. So what you can do is set aside 30 minutes every day during work hours for the contest. Ask employees to take a nap and spend some shuteye time.

A Sleep challenge can be a win-win for both your employees and you, as even a 30-minute nap can significantly increase your employees' productivity and improve their health.

4. Biking to Work Contest

Introducing a cycle-to-work contest can be a great way to show your concern for the health of your workforce and the environment. Cycling or biking is very beneficial for health as it increases muscle endurance, strength and improves mood.

A cycle-to-work contest would surely benefit both you and your employees. It would save employee transport costs and also improve employee health.

For this contest idea to work, you might have to provide employees with access to bicycles. Or what you can do is offer incentives to employees who buy bikes to motivate them. Also, do not forget to reward your employees with attractive prizes at the end of the contest.

5. Healthy Eating Contest

Besides physical activity, the one thing that comes to find first when thinking about health is good nutrition. Proper nutrition is essential for a healthy life and to keep chronic diseases at bay. In fact, along with improving physical health, eating healthy foods enhances mental health as well.

You can create a healthy eating contest by using a nutrition tracking app like Vantage Fit. Ask your employees to track their meals throughout the contest. Set a daily target of calories, protein, carbs, and fats for the contest. Reward the employees who reach the daily target the most times.

Vantage Fit also has a social feed to ask your employees to post pictures of their foods to prevent cheating.

6. Walk the Most Contest

When all else fails, go for the plain old Step challenge. Such a contest will be effortless for your employees to participate in as all they have to do is walk.

Use a wellness app or a step tracker to track your employees' step data. A step tracker will help you gather accurate information about your wellness contest and help you reward employees accordingly.

First, decide on the duration of the contest and then set a step count target accordingly. Put up amazing rewards for grabs, such as a free gym membership or paid leaves upon completion of the contest.

7. Healthy Lifestyle Contest

You can only achieve optimal results from a wellness contest if it consists of activities encompassing various aspects of wellness, such as mental, physical, and spiritual. So, why not create a wellness contest that includes multiple activities such as exercise, healthy eating, meditation, and more?

All you need to do is set different tasks for your employees that increase in difficulty upon completion. For example, for the first task, you can ask your employees to drink eight glasses of water for three days. Once that is completed, increase the number of glasses to 10 glasses for another three days.

Remember to club tasks together that focus on different aspects of wellness, such as including a water drinking challenge with a workout challenge.

8. Show Appreciation Contest

Showing appreciation rarely comes to mind when we think of wellness. However, it is equally important for overall health.

Appreciating our peers and colleagues can play a big role in our happiness and wellbeing. So, go ahead and create a wellness contest that focuses on appreciating others. Doing so will surely help your employees become more appreciative and bond with each other.

To create an appreciation contest, you can ask your employees to make gifts for people they think deserve to be appreciated. You can reward the employees with the most creative ideas with prizes.

9. Mindfulness Contest

Mental wellbeing is extremely important in today's world. Especially for corporate employees, mental health is of utmost importance due to the constant workplace stress in their lives.

Mindfulness meditation is one of the most effective ways to improve mental health and combat stress and anxiety. A wellness contest focused on increasing the amount of mindfulness meditation among employees can be quite beneficial.

To create a mindfulness contest, you can ask your employees to meditate every day for at least 10 minutes. Vantage Fit allows users to take guided meditation sessions for different time durations, which can be very useful for employees to stay focused.

10. Yoga for the Soul Contest

Yoga is an ancient practice that combines breathing exercises with physical movements to create relaxation and awareness. It is widely popular worldwide for its amazing benefits, not limited to improved mood and increased flexibility.

You might also like: 14 Fantastic Benefits Of Yoga In The Workplace

A yoga contest can be quite a hit among your employees. Such a contest will benefit both you and your employees significantly. The best thing about yoga is that it can be simple enough to be done by anyone, anywhere.

Incorporating daily yoga into your employees' routines will greatly improve their health and increase their performance. Moreover, your employees will thank you for the long-term benefits of yoga that they reap.

Are you looking forward to creating a successful wellness contest in your organization? Schedule a Vantage Fit now and transform your wellness program.