WELLNESS GUIDEWinter 2014

It’s Winter!Why Wellness NOW?

Make 2014 your healthiest year yet.

Winter wellness is challenging, we know. Rain, snow and cold make it much more difficult to sneak in that run before work or head out for a walking meeting. To help you get your employees motivated about wellness during the winter months, we put together a guide full of fun seasonal challenges.

Why Wellness in the Winter?

The average person gains 5-7 pounds in the winter

+5 - 7 lbs

Adults who exercise consistently show significantly lower rates of depression and 20-30% fewer colds than those who did so irregularly

20-30%zz z

FEWER COLDS WITH EXERCISE

Source: CDC, Berkeley Lab, Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, Mayo Clinic

Eating healthy and loading up on fruits and veggies help to add extra

cold-fighting antioxidants to your diet.

75%

>50%

DO NOT EAT ENOUGH FRUIT

DO NOT EAT ENOUGH VEGETABLES

Wellness Program Success Secrets

• Define your wellness objectives and goals - knowing what you want to achieve should drive your plan

• Build employee communications - create an annual communications plan and identify the best channels to reach your employees

• Conduct research - identify what your employees want in a wellness program and ask them to rank reward options

• Make it simple and easy - plan a variety of activities for all levels of participation

• Show executive support - encourage a highly visible leader to promote participation with a video, photo or email

• Provide rewards - reduced health insurance premiums, gift cards, cash and other perks can help increase participation

• Award and acknowledge top participants - recognition is a great motivator

Need a creative jump-start for your winter wellness activities? Here are seven of our favorite winter challenges that will keep your employees healthy and happy through the chilly season.

Winter Wellness Challenges

Take the Stairs Challenge

1 Track steps Encourage employees to track their steps using activity trackers (like Fitbits). Set the trackers to automatically upload to your wellness portal to make participation easy.

Announce winners Announce progress – and winners – through leaderboards or other public forum to keep participants motivated.

DecorateTry adding fun signage along staircases, doors, hallways and the elevators announcing the challenge and rewards.

It’s no secret that taking the stairs vs. an elevator burns more calories and contributes to your daily activity log – whether you’re counting steps or just trying to sneak more movement into your day.

Here are some tips on launching a stair climbing challenge at your office:

2Be Well Brown BagsTis’ the season for new goals and new health challenges. Serve as a resource for your employees and plan a series of lunchtime events that touch on different wellness topics – like nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress.

Follow these tips to make sure it’s a success:

Invite local experts to meet employees, share tips and offer additional services if participants want to learn more.

Provide a healthy lunch Everyone likes a free meal! This will generate interest AND reinforce the importance of well-being at your company.

Hold a series to show you’re committed. You might offer them every week for a month or every month for a season.

3Indoor-No-More Events

While summer is usually the prime season for employee runs and hikes, there’s no need to put a hold on the outdoors just because it’s winter.

Here are ways you can get your employees outside and active:

Organize a winter excursion Skiing, snowshoeing or ice skating are all great options.

Start a team Emphasize the social aspect by setting it up as a team vs. a one-off activity. If budget allows, purchase team swag.

Provide incentives A gift card to a sporting goods store, healthy restaurant or even a small cash reward will drive participation.

Wellness Resolution Challenge4Winter is the season for resolutions – and we all know that most of them are health-related! Whether it’s losing weight, getting fit, eating right, sleeping better or reducing stress, studies show that when people share their goal, they are more likely to achieve it.

Here are ideas for launching this challenge at your company:

Share tips on creating specific, achievable goals

Some example goals

“Bring a lunch to work every day for a month”

“Run at least one mile, five times a week”

“Take a cooking class”

Post a bulletin board in a central location and ask employees to post a wellness goal they want to achieve by spring

Hold an event to celebrate

the end of the challenge and encourage employees to

share how they completed

their goal

5Junk Food Cleanse

It’s hard to encourage employees to eat healthy if the food in the office doesn’t measure up. How many meetings feature pizza, cookies and soda? Getting rid of junk food is a fairly quick and easy way to make healthy eating accessible to employees.

Overhaul the vending machine selections, replacing candy and chips with nuts, trail mix and dried fruit. Put healthier options at eye-level and make them cheaper than the junk food. Replace soft drinks with filtered water and unsweetened fruit juices.

Create a labeling system to make it easy for employees to choose healthy menu options:

Overhaul catering and forget the pizza meetings. Reach out to

restaurants that offer healthy protein- and-veggie-rich salads, hearty soups

and sandwiches.

Here’s how to get started:

GREEN = healthy YELLOW = so-so RED = you’ve been warned

6Cold Weather Cooking ChallengePeople tend to downplay the availability of fresh produce in the winter, but it’s quite a bounty! Root vegetables are abundant and great for roasting, sautéing and rounding out stews.

To help employees eat healthy through the winter months, try these activities:

Offer a cooking class at the office or off-site at a local restaurant or cooking school.

Launch a healthy recipe challenge or healthy meal cook-off. The first is easy to launch online, while the second can be a great lunchtime event.

Promote healthy entrées in your company’s cafeteria. Choose one healthy entrée each week and offer it to employees at a discount.

7 If you have an on-site gym or a partnership with a local health club, offer sponsored workouts that keep people active during the winter.

Take It Inside

Offer a variety of classes like cycling, Zumba and yoga. This helps you reach a range of people and is a risk-free way for employees to try something new.

Hire a personal trainer to help employees develop workouts to address specific issues.

Offer rewards to incentivize people for participating, whether that’s points, a gift card, a free gym pass, free fitness class, etc.

Client Successes

With the 2014 Winter Olympics just around the corner in Sochi, Jamba Juice is challenging their employees to try a new winter sport featured in the Olympics. From snowboarding to curling, figure skating and all sports in between, the company is pushing their employees to stay active in the winter months and try something new! Participants are awarded points as part of their Limeade wellness program.

About Limeade

©2014 Limeade, Inc.

Limeade is an enterprise engagement, wellness and incentives company focused on building happy, healthy, high-performing workforces. Limeade’s flexible technology platform and refreshingly positive approach has made it the market-leader for employee engagement and results. Limeade clients include Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For, leading healthcare providers and high-performing employers.

Learn more at

www.limeade.com