Wellness coordinators don’t always get the recognition they deserve. They are responsible for a variety of tasks, as well as the preparation and evaluation of wellness initiatives. As a wellness coordinator, your attitude can not only make or break employee participation but can impact how well an employee does throughout the wellness program. Taking a positive, proactive approach to your wellness program can make wellness initiatives more popular and effective.

Being a proactive wellness coordinator means taking action when it comes to your wellness program. A proactive wellness coordinator will reach out to employees, encourage them, and empower them to make healthy changes in their lives. Taking a proactive approach to employee wellness is more effective than a reactive approach for many different reasons:

• Health and wellness is an ongoing process – there is always action to be taken.
• Activity is contagious, so the more effort you put into employee wellness, the more your co-workers will, too.
• A positive, proactive approach sets employees up for success by providing a strong foundation that helps employees develop motivation, excitement, and momentum. 

Many people forego the flu shot because they think they’ve waited too long. It’s mid-season, and they believe they might as well wait it out and risk their chances of coming down with the flu.

For employers, the same thing can happen. Maybe you’re calling around to different vendors, and you keep being told it’ll be a four to six-week wait. You’re wondering if it’s too late to bring in corporate flu shots this year. 

The answer? It’s not too late! 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that the flu vaccine should continue to be offered to unvaccinated people as long as influenza viruses are circulating. While flu outbreaks can happen as early as October, influenza activity usually peaks between December and February. The CDC also notes that as long as flu viruses are spreading, it’s not too late to get a vaccine to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Sometimes there’s a fine line between what you should and shouldn’t encourage your employees to do. After all, you’re a part of their work life, so you shouldn’t go traipsing into their personal life too much. That doesn’t mean you can't care about their well-being in all aspects of life. 

So, how do you address something like a healthy diet? Here are some ideas that can help you encourage healthy eating without being too pushy.

Seriously, we’ve said it once and we’ll say it a thousand more times if we have to.

Don’t come to work sick.

If you’re not feeling well, and you force yourself into the office, you’re setting yourself up for a bad day.

• You won’t recover as well or as quickly as if you’d stayed home.
• You won’t be very productive in the office anyways.
• You will be very difficult to work with.
• You will likely infect your coworkers and ignite an office outbreak.

A healthy life is ultimately built up of small healthy choices that you make all day long. As your workday drags on, though, it can be really tough to keep making those healthy choices.

You can set yourself up for success by starting your day with a healthy morning. If you adopt some healthy habits right from the get-go, you’ll be more likely to build on that momentum—which means you’ll be more likely to make healthy choices all day long.

Here are a few steps you can take for a healthy morning. Feel free to move them around, or adjust them to your morning schedule. In the end, your health is about you and the habits you can fit into your daily routine.

Your immune system is what helps your body fight off illness and recover more quickly. It’s your body’s defense against the things that put it at risk—and it usually works really well!

Your immune system is just that, though. It’s a system. There are tons of different parts working together to keep you healthy. Balance is necessary. If one part is damaged, your whole immune system—and your body—is at risk.

What you do, how you live and the healthy choices you make can impact your immune system. Give yourself the best chance to stay healthy by strengthening your immune system.

You’ve probably heard all the dangers of sitting for a majority of the day. It’s a huge risk faced by today’s working folks because we tend to be tied to a computer desk all day long.

People throw solutions to sitting disease around all the time. Everyone thinks they know how to fight what a sedentary lifestyle does to their bodies.

Some of those solutions might seem like a great idea. But a lot of times, they don’t come without an expensive cost. One awesome, effective and costly solution is the standing desk.

Hopefully you’ve done a biometric screening at your workplace (if not, please click here—for your own good!). If you’ve done a screening at work, you probably noticed that some of your employees were less than thrilled about it.

At any biometric screening, some people will be scared of needles or getting their fingers stuck. Some might be worried about the time spent at the screening, or even annoyed to be taking time out of their work day.

The breakroom is where your employees go to re-charge throughout the day. Even if they don’t spend a significant amount of time in that room, it’s still a re-charging, rejuvenating space.

That’s because your breakroom houses all the things your employees need to take powerful breaks throughout the day. It’s where everyone goes to get coffee or water. It houses people’s lunches or snacks. And in some offices, it’s even a place to restock on supplies.

Creating healthy break time for your employees is one way you can empower their healthy decisions throughout the day. Make each of your employees’ experiences in the breakroom a positive, healthy experience.

Nobody will argue the fact that employee engagement is important. What they will argue, though, is how you can go about boosting employee engagement in your workplace and in your wellness program.

There has been lots of research done, and there are lots of recommendations and best practices for building up an engaged workforce. When it comes to wellness, we think in order to learn which engagement best practices are truly best, you need to know just how engaged (or unengaged) your workforce is.