BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Benefits by Design Part 2

Half a dozen healthy elements

Benefits by Design (BBD) provides group insurance and workplace solutions that focuses on keeping people in good health since 1996. For decades, they have been developing and leveraging technologies to allow businesses to create people-focused workplaces with high employee engagement. Tina Thorne, HR Generalist at BBD shared with us some of her favorite workplace wellness ideas and tips . Below is part 2 of a 2 part blog series.

What are some of your favorite workplace wellness ideas or initiatives that would be easy to bring to life in any workplace?

  • Encouraging a  flexibility environment to go for a walk throughout the day. Our employees go around the office and encourage everyone to join for a 5-minute walk and take a brain break. It’s an easy way to encourage employees to be physically active. 

  • Stretch breaks in the afternoon. A recurring calendar invite is sent to everyone in the office twice a week and an employee from the health and wellness committee leads the stretch. Employees feel energized after the break.

  • Putting a puzzle in the communal area to let employees step away from desks and get in a brain break 

  • Treadmill Desk! Employees can book it in their calendars in 30-minute increments and the computer is already set up for log in. One of our employees books it every morning and she hits her 10,000 steps goal before she even sits down at her desk. In our Kingston office we started off with 1 treadmill desk, but it became so popular we had to add a second one. When new employees join, our onboarding education gives instructions on how to operate treadmill desks. 

  • Every week fruit and vegetables can be found in our kitchen.  We rotate on who is responsible for bringing in the fruit, with the budget outlined by our Health and Wellness committee.  It’s up to the employees in charge that week as to what fruit and vegetables they want to bring- which allows for personalization and also a different variety of fruits and vegetables come in each week.   

  • Surveying and getting feedback from your employees.  It’s the best place to start and very easy to do in any workplace.