Let's face it. We all have an intense desire to fit in - whether at work, school or home - we never escape the power of peer pressure. While peer pressure is usually seen as a negative thing, people can also influence each other's behavior in healthy ways.
When it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle, we are more apt to go along with what those around us choose to do. In fact, hanging out with healthy buddies could be the best way to keep fit. A study of 3,610 Australian women, published in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, found that physical activity and healthy eating behavior were both strongly affected by social norms.
Here's how you can harness positive peer pressure for your worksite wellness program.
Social Platform
Give employees access to a social platform as part of your wellness program. For example, our Go! TotalWellness Portal allows users to connect to the people who they work with. They can create individual or team wellness challenges (i.e. exercise, weight loss or nutrition) to help motivate each other. Discussion groups and blogs allow buddies to keep in touch on a particular subject and connect to others who share their passion.
Organize Group Activities
Plan some active outings for your employees like a noon walk, yoga classes or stair climbing. Invite your CEO or top-level leaders so employees can see that they fully support the wellness program.
Challenges
Turn health and wellness into a game. Team wellness challenges can provide inspiration for employees to achieve health goals. Plus, they offer a lot of flexibility - choose goals around better fitness, nutrition, weight loss or stress management. Make sure you report on team progress to inspire a little friendly competition.
Instant Recognition
Nothing builds a stronger sense of camaraderie than employees rewarding each other with praise, so make it easy for employees recognize their colleagues for healthy choices. Ecards, tokens, sticky notes, note cards, there are a variety of instant recognition tools, find one that works best for your culture.
Peers are invaluable resources in spreading behavior change across an organization and can be a powerful ally to your wellness program. What about your wellness program? Have you seen the benefits of positive peer pressure?
