Summer is here! Why not reenergize yourself, your team, and your workplace with some exciting, healthy, and much-needed summer challenges?

Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, with a remote, in-person, or field workforce, we hope you’ll get the inspiration you need from these five, all-time-favorite employee wellness challenges. Use them to encourage healthy lifestyle choices while also meeting your employees where they are on their wellness journeys.

1. Stay hydrated
2. Walk more
3. Snack better
4. Improve cybersecurity
5. Encourage healthy habits

In past posts we’ve gone into great detail about the first four on this list — staying hydrated (Drink More Water), walking more (Step it Up), snacking better (Snacktivity), and improving cybersecurity (Summer Security Shred) — and how each of these can be incorporated into your employee wellbeing and professional development plan. Today – let’s dive into healthy habits you can nurture to better help your employees’ wellness and productivity!

What’s this wellness challenge about?

The Healthy Habits Challenge is about small, healthy behaviors that anyone can do on a regular basis to build fine habits for your body, mind, and lifestyle.

Here is how you can get started:

• Step 1: Create a list of healthy behaviors that is broken up into three facets.
  It should list habits that will help you move more, nourish your body and mind, and build better relationships with the people around you. Feel free to use our list below or come up with one of your own.
• Step 2: Try one new activity from your list every day. Repeat the activities that you wish to make into a habit, especially ones that align with your preferences and personality.
• Step 3: Keep track of your accomplishments. Your goal is to develop at least three new healthy habits by the end of the challenge – one from each category. But the more, the merrier, of course!

If you are in charge of wellness programs at your organization, consider adding extra rewards and gamification elements. You can introduce a social hashtag and encourage your employees to share their challenge highlights on social media or in dedicated corporate team chats. Each employee that participates in the Healthy Habits Challenge can then be entered into a raffle to win prizes, and every post with the challenge hashtag can earn them an additional raffle ticket.

Want to do more? You can randomly group employees in teams and offer each team a prize at the end of the challenge, too!

Here is the truth: challenges force people to become a better version of themselves. Moreover, people are less likely to back out if they are doing it alongside others and have group accountability.

Here’s a list of 10 healthy habits from each category, to help you nurture your physical, mental, and lifestyle wellness.

10 Healthy habits that’ll get you to move more

1. Walk outside for 20 minutes a day
2. Choose an outdoor hobby and do it at least once a week (Ex. Badminton, Tennis, Football, or even just going for a run!)
3. Watch and participate in wellness YouTube videos. Here are just a few ideas to get you started!
   1. 9-min Fat Burning Morning Routine with Toni Mitchell (No jumping, no equipment needed)
   2. 11-minute Chair Workout by Gainz Center to Lose Belly Fat (no standing)
   3. 20 Minute Dance Workout for Seniors with SilverSneakers
4. Implement walking meetings
5. Track your daily steps to achieve 10,000 steps a day
6. Try a new sport or activity at least 3 times
7. Visit a local park, orchard, or a farm you’ve never been to
8. Visit a museum
9. Walk or bike to work, the store, or somewhere nearby that you would otherwise drive to
10. Train for (and participate) in a 5K run

10 Healthy Habits to nourish your body and Mind

1. Drink 8 glasses of water daily
2. Pack a healthy afternoon snack
3. Read a book
4. Disconnect from all screens for the last hour of every day
5. Maintain a daily to-do list
6. Get 7 or more hours of sleep every night
7. Schedule vacation time (even if it’s stay-cation)
8. Eat at least one fruit and one vegetable every day
9. Celebrate funny holidays like International Tongue Twister Day
10. Say positive affirmations daily

10 Healthy Habits to Connect and build better relationships

1. Write a thank you note to your colleague
2. Mail a postcard to a friend or family member
3. Call a friend
4. Volunteer at a local NGO
5. Organize or participate in a potluck
6. Compliment a stranger
7. Write down one thing you are grateful for every day
8. Donate to your favorite charity or a family in need
9. Comment on your friends, family, and coworkers’ social posts
10. Suggest and participate in your Company’s Spirit Days

This last suggestion, totally inspired by educational institutions, is often underestimated in the corporate world. Whether your theme is “Wear Your Favorite Sports Jersey” or “A Favorite Place on Earth as a Virtual Background”,  spirit days can be a great way to nurture company culture and employee relationships.

What’s your next step?

Kind of excited but not convinced? Check out our other employee wellness challenge ideas and how you can get started with them in our previous articles: Drink More Water, Step it Up, Snacktivity, and Summer Security Shred.

If you want to find the right challenge for your organization, it’s best to start with getting insights from your employees. This way, you can have an employee engagement strategy tailored to your needs.

So, if you’re looking for the right software for engaging and listening to your employees, let’s connect! Our experts will gladly give you a free, no-obligation overview of Sogolytics—our intuitive platform for gathering honest and insightful feedback with ease and turning those answers into advanced analytical insights that drive positive change within your organization.