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Performance, health, and wellbeing have always been studied together as essential topics. They are interdisciplinary subjects as one affects the other. Wellbeing is a term that not only reflects one’s health but satisfaction with life and work. So, Healthy wellbeing activities in the workplace are equally important for the employees as well as for the employer.

Work is important in most people’s lives for reasons other than providing a means of income. In addition to giving us a chance to socialize and form connections with our coworkers, it can offer us a sense of purpose and accomplishment and increase our self-esteem.

That’s why it is important to include some wellbeing activities in the workplace to boost creativity and performance. But what can be those? Don’t worry!

We’ll help you through this article by listing some wellbeing activities for the workplace.

Read till the end!

Why Are Wellbeing Activities For The Workplace Important?

For many individuals, wellbeing is taken as Job Satisfaction.

A study was done in a diary study: Journal of Occupational Health Psychology in one hundred Dutch teachers showed that low-stress work and leisure time activities contribute largely to an individual’s wellbeing and performance.

Benefits of Wellbeing Activities For The Workplace

• Increased productivity and creativeness
• Lower risks of cardiovascular disease, sleeping problems, and stroke
• Better engagement among team members
• Absenteeism is lowered
• Attract new talents which help in employer branding
• Reduced costs of healthcare

Wellbeing Activities For The Workplace

Many propound that a happy worker is likely to be a productive worker. Similarly, Happy workers are 34% less likely to leave their jobs, 20% more productive, and 37% less likely to take sick leaves. So, To make your worker a happy worker, here are some wellbeing activities for the workplace that works like a MAGIC.

1. Yoga and Meditation

This one tops the list. Seriously. Yoga and meditation are so very important for maintaining healthy wellbeing in the workplace. They are proven to improve mood and fill people with positivity by releasing mood-stabilizing hormones called serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. Also, they enhance concentration and focus respectively.

Constant pressure and stress in the workplace are something we all go through and have gone through. Doing yoga and even a 10 mins meditation helps in reducing heart rate, and tension and has a worthwhile benefit for mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, panic attacks, and so on.

So, Yoga and meditation especially during the afternoon are very beneficial for boosting energy levels.

2. Reward Staff

Who does not love being rewarded? Even if the reward is just a pen or some motivating positive speech about you, those small gestures are something that shows whatever you’re doing matters.

Rewarding your staff and employees not only helps in boosting their morale but also helps to make them engaged.

Similarly, Some workers may be motivated to quit procrastinating and increase their focus if they know they will receive rewards if they and their team go above and beyond.

Likewise, getting rewards boosts team spirit and motivation. This unconsciously improves their mental health at work.

3. Exercise Challange

Like others, Exercise boosts mental health by lowering anxiety, depression, and depressive symptoms. Similarly, they also raise self-esteem and increase cognitive abilities.

Additionally, it has been discovered that exercise helps with symptoms including social disengagement and low self-esteem. Many doctors also suggest doing at least 2 to 2.5 hours of moderate exercise activity per week.

There is no compulsion that you try gym-like exercises. You can try different types of warmup training such as :

• Cleaning the office
• Stretching
• Using stairs instead of elevators
• Dancing

You can even add exercises according to employee benefits as well. They won’t take more than 15 minutes of your time.

4. Mental Health Support Group

Having a mental health support group cannot be directly taken as a wellbeing activity for the workplace but as a NECESSITY.

Everyone knows that work-related risk factors can affect mental health negatively. So, it is important to talk about mental health at work. Creating a safe place for employees at all different levels to communicate and share their problems openly is crucial.

Every workplace has newly recruited employees as well who can be still unknown about the work pressure and stress. So, warning them beforehand or giving them suggestions can help in being safe from upcoming challenges and problems.

So, there in every workplace there should be a safe place to discuss any issues and problems staff are struggling with.

5. Compulsory Lunch break

Research done by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011 suggested that ” Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that the brain erases it from our awareness.”

The human brain was not created to function at maximum capacity 24 hours a day. It must have some downtime to recover. It is important to give your brain rest periods throughout the day because of this. Even a brief pause will help you concentrate on work for a prolonged period of time.

But, not everyone is aware of this. You can schedule one specific time when everyone is away from their task. And lunch breaks are really effective for it. So, keep a compulsory lunch break to make sure your employees are taking effective and necessary breaks.

This not only saves their time but also keeps their productivity and wellbeing on track.

6. Nap Time!!!

“The nap is a sort of easy version of meditation,” says Tom Hodgkinson, author of How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifesto.

Honestly, Naps help in increasing energy and improving reaction time. It is scientifically proven as well. “Power naps”, 20-30 minutes long, allow you to be refreshed and energized. Similarly, they help to reduce anxiety and regulate mood. Whereas, for some, it can be a way of coping mechanism as well.

When you’re at work, feeling tired, exhausted, and sleepy or you’re someone being this can be frustrating sometimes. Working one full day continuously means burnout and an overload of information. This not only affects your mood but also the mood of the people around you.

In such cases, napping for not more than 20 minutes aids in the mental as well as physical health of your colleagues.

7. Lunchtime Walks

Just like other wellbeing activities for the workplace, lunchtime walks are also another important activity for it.

If you are not up for exercise, then 10 minutes of daily walking can also be as beneficial as a 45-minute cardio workout and can facilitate in increasing one’s mental alertness, positive mood, and energy. It promotes the concentration increment of brain chemicals that moderate our response to stress and tension and makes us happy.

Moreover, Exercise like walking can renovate and freshen the white matter in our brain which is responsible to think and remember as we age.

So, after your compulsory lunchtime break, add a 10-minute team walk as well.

8. Good Friday

This is one of the fun activities which should be included in your workplace.

Having one good Friday once a month through organizing different sessions such as writing, journalling, art workshops, outdoor games, exchanging gifts for Christmas, or celebrating someone’s birthday, etc can be a fun approach to boosting your workplace mental health.

On one hand, this makes employees eager and excited. whereas on the other hand, it makes them happy and decreases their all-week stress which consequently lifts and improves their mental wellbeing.

You might also like- 10 Best Mental Health Books For Women

9. Office Hikes

It is not necessary to include this on your every weekend. You can do it once a month like every last Sunday or last Saturday as well.

Going on a hiking trip is a great way to unplug yourself and put some distance between you and your office life. Moreover, they help in relieving stress and enhancing mood.

Working continuously every day for a month without any distractions makes people lazy, absent, and apathetic.

Hitting the trails on a regular basis can increase your endurance, enhance your health, and give you a remarkable sense of strength.

Your attitude in other areas of your life also improves as you start to feel better about yourself, more at ease in your body, and better able to manage challenging situations.

10. Volunteer

The majority of us feel a sense of pride whenever we volunteer because it might be perceived as a great deed. It might be challenging to decide who to volunteer with and how to proceed, but when it’s planned well, volunteering can be fulfilling.

By establishing voluntary links with nonprofits and charities, businesses may support their staff members. One of the most beneficial things we can do for our wellbeing is to give to others.

Giving has been demonstrated to increase happiness, lower blood pressure, lessen stress, and foster social connections in people.

11. Outdoor Meetings

This may not be possible in every circumstance but connecting with nature is a great activity to enhance employee wellbeing in the workplace. A simple change like doing outdoor meetings can make a huge difference in employees’ activity levels.

Outdoor meetings like walking meetings help in exposure to nature which is the best way to get a head-clearing and boost productivity.

Creativity is really important in your work. When we go outside or have meetings outside we collide with the environment, and nature, which is the greatest source of inspiration. So, think about doing one outdoor meeting once or thrice a month.

You can even have end-of-the-month meetings as well outside.

12. Therapy Sessions

Therapy sessions like anger management sessions or stress-relieving sessions or puppy therapy or sessions on self-care (as they say having a dog can help in maintaining your mental health) are very important wellbeing activities for the workplace.

Every deadlines and assignment bring stress with it.

Some do not realize that they are under stress and continue to feel irritated and lazy and unmotivated at work, which subsequently affects their mental health.

This may not be employers’ concern directly though it affects your employees a lot. So, good therapy sessions are very important to maintain their mental wellbeing.

Final Thoughts on Wellbeing Activities For The Workplace

Nevertheless, Stress hormones set off the body’s “fight or flight reaction,” which if unchecked can result in long-term health and psychological problems. Anything from headaches to heartburn, insomnia to irritability can be brought on by stress. Remember if you are someone who is expecting very high productivity then you should consider health as well. So, This month, think about organizing a workshop on stress-relieving activities hosted by your director and increase your productivity and wellbeing.

Also, Read- 15 Helpful YouTube Channels for Mental Health