Social Wellness Activities to Boost Team Spirit at Work

Did you know? Employees who enjoy strong social connections at work are not only happier, but they're also more engaged and productive. According to Gallup, employees who are conquering at least four elements of well-being (which includes social well-being) are 59% less likely to look for another job.

In this blog, we’ll explore 27 fun social wellness activities and games that can help create a supportive, connected work environment, enhancing both employee health and company culture. Before that, let’s dive into the basics of social wellness.

What is Social Wellness and Why It Matters at Work

Wellness is a multi-faceted concept. It comprises many aspects, and social wellness is one of them. Social wellness is an ongoing process of fostering positive relationships through healthy boundaries, clear communication, and shared experiences.

So, considering social wellness's value, achieving social well-being is a big game changer for both employees and employers. Now, let’s explore how social wellness can transform your workplace.

Employees with intense social well-being bring a positive impact to the workplace. They have the following common skills:

• Better social and communication skills
• Better problem-solving skills
• Better work productivity and performance

These skills contribute to building a nurturing and healthy work environment. Indeed, social wellness and well-being are essential factors for employers to focus on to create a great workplace.

Are you wondering how to help employees achieve social well-being and improve social wellness at work? If so, I am here to help you with that. This blog will dissect fun social wellness activities and games that can help achieve social well-being.

Proven Activities and Games That Improve Social Wellness

Social wellness is all about building strong relationships, effective communication, and a sense of belonging. Here are some engaging activities and games to improve social wellness in workplaces, social groups, or even among friends and family:

Top Social Wellness Activities for Employees To Try

1. Offer Mindfulness and Guided Meditation

Your employees often deal with a wide range of issues. Without the right tools to address these problems, their quality of work life suffers.

Employees can learn about the right tools by practicing mindfulness and guided meditation at work. Mindfulness is the practice of being aware and accepting of one's circumstances, feelings, and emotions.

Several office meditation techniques are available for employees to practice together. These help them harbor a sense of internal peace and nurture their relationships with their coworkers and superiors.

2. Create Weekly Sharing Circle

Stress can have debilitating effects on the human mind and body. These effects multiply when people have no one to share them with. This is where sharing circles can help.

Sharing circles are safe, judgment-free spaces where people can come together and share their issues and stressors. When your employees have someone to share their problems and fears with, they feel heard and gain new perspectives on addressing challenges.

Thus, having a weekly sharing circle at work will make employees empathetic and kind to each other. These circles act as support systems that improve employees' holistic wellness.

3. Arrange Onsite and Virtual Yoga

Incorporating yoga in the workplace has many benefits. Among them is the improvement of employees' social well-being.

Workplace yoga relaxes employees' bodies and minds, reducing irritability and aggression. It builds a sense of harmony among employees, resulting in their social connections flourishing. Yoga improves both physical and mental health, thereby increasing employee productivity.

If you have a remote workforce, you can organize virtual yoga sessions for them. The benefits remain the same.

4. Initiate 5K Runs

Encourage your employees to participate in 5K runs. These runs can be linked to a cause or a theme. Such events are a fun and meaningful way to build and improve connections with coworkers.

Running has numerous benefits for employee health. Running for a cause that benefits society will also give your employees a sense of satisfaction.

5. Organize Sports Club Idea

Playing sports instills and encourages team spirit and feelings of belongingness. Form a sports club with interested employees. Include sports that employees can play in teams, such as volleyball, basketball, soccer, etc.

It would help if you encouraged employees to join local sports clubs and participate in sports leagues. Go a step further and offer to pay your staff part or the entire joining fees.

Involving your employees in these sports will also prevent them from falling into the traps of a sedentary lifestyle. As a result, you have an active and engaged workforce.

Also Read: Office Yoga Poses That Will Help You Relieve Stress And Stay Healthy

Also Read: The Importance of Sports and Wellness in Achieving Work-Life Balance

6. Participating in Marathons and Walkathons

Organize marathons and walkathons for your employees. Much like the 5K runs, marathons and walkathons have many health benefits for your workforce. You can learn about the many benefits of walkathons here.

Related: Virtual Walk-a-thon: How and Why to Organize It

These events instill a sense of healthy competition and camaraderie among employees. During these challenging COVID times, corporations can consider organizing virtual marathons for employees.

Virtual marathons are cost-effective and allow for much-needed social distancing. Employees can participate at their own pace. Their distances are tracked through a fitness app on their phones.

In February of this year, Vantage Fit organized a Global Corporate Virtual Walkathon. It was a major success, with over 70 companies participating from around the world.

7. Organizing Shared Laughter Sessions

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez / Unsplash

Because of the ongoing pandemic, there is uncertainty in every aspect of people’s lives. Both personal and professional lives have suffered massive setbacks. Naturally, with so many unprecedented changes in place, workplace stress is at an all-time high. As you know, a stressed workforce is not a healthy workforce.

To de-stress your team, consider organizing stress management activities in your workplace. One fun and innovative way to do this is to have shared laughter sessions. Laughter is known to improve people’s health and immunity.

You can buy your employees tickets to an online stand-up comedy show. You can also invite an artist to do an online improv sketch exclusively for your remote employees. You can also organize different games and activities that lighten up your employees’ moods.

Related: 13 Mindfulness Meditation Exercises To Improve Your Employees Well-being

8. Scheduling Walking Meetings

Instead of the usually seated meetings, switch things up a notch. Turn your regular meetings into walking meetings. Many studies have pointed to the correlation between walking and a happy and healthy mind.

Walking meetings are a little less formal in nature. It gives employees the chance to loosen up and be more confident among their peers and superiors. You can organize these walking meetings either indoors or outdoors.

9. Organizing Fitness Challenges

Office fitness challenges are another fun social wellness activity for the workplace. These challenges can run from a week to a few months, depending on several factors. A few examples of these fitness challenges include:

• Cycle to Work Challenge
• Nutrition Challenge
• Water Challenge
• New Day, New Workout Challenge
• Take the Stairs Challenge
• The 7-Minute Workout Challenge

Also Read: Office Step Challenge: Creating A Fruitful One With Vantage Fit

You can easily incorporate these fitness challenges with your corporate wellness program. Employees can participate in teams, or they can indulge in healthy competition.

Don’t know where to begin with a corporate wellness program yet? Our guide will help you!

10. Having Impromptu Contests

Apart from fitness challenges, you can also organize impromptu contests in the workplace. Such impromptu contests will help break the ice on difficult days.
These can be anything from “who can hold a plank for the longest” to “who can perfect a yoga pose in the least time.”

11. Celebrating Work Anniversaries

Your employees are the most prized assets in your organization. What better way to let them know this than celebrating employee work anniversaries?

This is the best time to let employees know that they are valued. Please send an email to the team to remind them of their peers’ work anniversaries. You as a leader can also send them a handwritten note or email, thanking them for their service.

Doing so will boost employee morale and increase their faith in the company.

Also Read: 50 Great Work Anniversary Wishes and Quotes for Employees and Peers

12. Organizing Themed Dress Up Days

Some days can be just about fun.

Organize a dress-up day with your employees. These are much more fun with a theme. For instance, ask them to dress up in something green for Earth Day. Or, ask them to dress up like a favorite character from a book or a movie!

The ideas are limitless here!

13. Having a Games Room

Have a dedicated games room in the workplace. Such a space is helpful to employees when they need to de-stress and take work breaks in between. Such a room will offer your employees the chance to converse and bond with each other.

14. Organizing Company Retreats

Plan and fund a company retreat once the pandemic dies down. Going on a trip together is a great way to improve relations with coworkers. You and your employees will get to know each other beyond your work roles. Thus, there’s a better chance of understanding each other and improving your social networking.

Related: 32 Company Outing Ideas To Strengthen The Bond Within Your Team

15. Acknowledging Peers

Encourage your employees to acknowledge and recognize each others’ efforts. This creates a healthy work environment. It also improves the workplace culture.

With Vantage Circle, employees can recognize each others’ efforts on a public feed. They can also present each other with spot rewards for their determination, enthusiasm, and hard work. Such validation boosts employee morale, makes them feel valued, and improves their social wellness.

16. Organizing Office Quizzes

Office quizzes are fun and informative at the same time! Divide your employees into different teams and quiz them on trivia related to the company.

The team which answers the most questions gets a reward! Plus, everybody gets to learn something about their organization!

17. Forming a Book Club

Book clubs are an innovative way of forming strong employee relations at work.
Encourage employees to form reading clubs, where they can share reading recommendations and feedback. Such groups formed over shared interests will lead to healthy relationships.

18. Organizing Team Lunches

Photo by Spencer Davis / Unsplash

There’s hardly any bonding like that of bonding over food and shared meals. Team lunches and potlucks are a great way to unwind and celebrate company milestones as a team.

You can also organize lunch and learn sessions with your employees. Encourage discussion on any interesting topic or brainstorm ideas with peers. Ensure that every employee is comfortable enough to pitch their views and opinions.

19. Incentivizing Healthy Activities

It is crucial to recognize and incentivize employees to participate in any of these social wellness activities. Doing so will give your employees a much-needed dose of external motivation.

Download our complete and comprehensive guide on Employee Motivation to keep your workforce motivated.

A corporate wellness solutions platform like Vantage Fit is ideal in such cases. With Vantage Fit, you can acknowledge every big and small effort your employees make towards wellness. This incentivization can be either monetary or non-monetary. Moreover, the real-time leaderboard acts as a motivation for employees to improve their activity levels.

20. Organizing Team-Building Activities

Team-building activities are also social wellness activities. They are effective ways to build a culture of teamwork in the workplace. When employees come together and work in sync, it improves their communication with each other. They have an increased sense of trust and confidence in each other, thus improving their social wellness.

Here are a few examples of team-building activities that you can introduce at the workplace:

• Blind Stick
• Scavenger Hunt
• Frostbite
• Tied Together
• What’s My Name
• Birthday Line Up
• Mystery Dinner
• Two Truths And A Lie
• What’s My Name

Want a few ideas on Virtual Team Building Activities for Remote Employees? Check out this article!

Wrapping Up!

Coworkers are hardly the best of friends. But the idea of improving social wellness in the workplace is about building a framework of trust, mutual respect, and healthy communication among employees.

We hope that the ideas discussed above help you find a starting point. Have any more ideas? We would love to hear from you in the comments!

We are excited for you to start your corporate wellness journey! Every step counts!

Begin with a Vantage Fit Demo! Schedule one now!