Tips for Designing a Successful Corporate Wellness Program

At the beginning of the new year, many individuals are hoping to create a healthier lifestyle by making resolutions to eat better and exercise regularly. Unfortunately, most people give up on these resolutions almost as soon as they get started working on them. But corporate wellness programs, especially those with an emphasis on healthy eating, can serve to help employees stick to their resolutions and make the long-term positive lifestyle changes they desire.

Benefits of Corporate Food Wellness Programs 

Healthy eating initiatives, when coupled with an active lifestyle, have been shown to lead to lessened stress, elevated moods, and reduced risk of heart disease for employees. Food wellness programs at work help employees achieve their personal goals, and can also have a positive impact on employee productivity. These factors, in addition to the cost-effectiveness and ease of implementation of these types of initiatives, make corporate wellness programs beneficial to both employers and employees.

Tips for Designing a Corporate Wellness Program

Below are a few top initiatives that are recommended when designing a corporate wellness program that has healthy eating as the main focus:

• Organize regular “lunch-n-learn” programs, having speakers come in to discuss topics such as healthy eating habits at work.

• Provide employees with healthy eating materials and information. For example, the American Heart Association offers a free downloadable Healthy Workplace Food and Beverage Toolkit. This particular toolkit is full of useful information, including ideas for incorporating healthy food practices into corporate wellness programs.

• Contact your vendor to substitute unhealthy vending machine items for ones that are lower in sodium and are made with natural sweeteners.

• Instead of providing pastries and other baked items at meetings, offer more nutritious options like salads, fruits, and vegetables.

• Encourage a reasonable lunch break so that employees don’t have to rush to eat their lunch. By having more time, employees will be more relaxed and can be more mindful about their lunch selections – they will also have time to actually taste and enjoy their food!

Additional Tips for a Successful Corporate Wellness Program

Below are two best practices that were identified in corporate wellness programs that tended to produce the results desired by both employees and employers.

Practical and Accessible Programs

Successful wellness initiatives are comprehensive, offering a wide variety of practical and easily accessible programs to employees. Some examples include on-site yoga classes, healthy cooking classes, and stress management seminars. 

Health-Conscious Work Environment

Offices with wellness programs that offer healthy vending machines and cafeteria options, as well as make nutritious foods available at meetings, are frequently on the top of the list as being environments that encourage healthy behaviors on a day-to-day basis. These simple measures display that the company values healthy eating and seeks to help employees become more health-conscious overall.