Wellness Programs and Exercise With Co-workers.

• Organize a launch event to create excitement about upcoming activities and to create a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.

• Organize and promote monthly or bi-monthly corporation events that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, staff tournaments and dragon boat racing.

Be certain to encourage families to join in by including all-ages events such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.

• Begin a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of staff members to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward staff members who complete the swim.

Make sure to set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.

• Post a sign-up board where staff can become a member of  group or find a buddy to participate in activities of interest.

• Arrange a company badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each worker playing once a week. Post the results as the tournament progresses.

• Organize an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in several activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.

• Develop a point system in which one minute of activity equals one point. Be sure to set a target, and post a chart where all staff members can track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.

• Co-ordinate a stair climb challenge. Post a chart at the top of the stairwell, and encourage staff members to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday.

Be certain to set up teams, and award a prize to the first team to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.

• Post and promote a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.

• Organize a walk “across the U.S. ” Pick a route, figure out how many steps it’d take to walk that distance and challenge workers to do it.

Provide or loan pedometers to workers, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you can’t afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Be sure to set up a challenge between workers and managers to see who can walk across the U.S.  first.

• Co-ordinate a walk to work club. Acknowledge workers who either walk to work or walk to public transit.

• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.

• Coordinate a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined total of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites could compete with each other and with management.

• Challenge workers to walk 10,000 steps a day. Buy pedometers for all participating workers or, if you cannot afford that, make pedometers available at a decreased rate.

Provide tips for increasing daily steps, and reward staff members who succeed.