We are already halfway through the year. Can you believe it?! Time sure does fly.

This time of year is perfect to do some evaluation of your wellness program. It’s important to keep an eye on your program to make sure things are going well. Checking up on the program can also help you:

• Gauge interest
• Measure participation and engagement
• Come up with new ideas
• Simplify your program (if need be)
• Identify any hot-button issues

If we’re being honest, wellness—and life—can get pretty complicated. The concept is pretty simple, but with the connectedness of our world today, it can quickly spiral out of control.

Wellness portals have emerged as an excellent tool for tracking progress and managing incentives. Now that we have easy-to-use fitness trackers and smartphone apps, though, almost everything can be recorded.

We can gather real-time health information with little to no effort, which means you can tap into all of that information as you plan your wellness program. It’s so easy to build in every possible metric to your program.

Everyone does the job differently, and that’s just fine. If you’re going to manage your company’s wellness program well, though, it’ll help to work on these ten characteristics.

1. Persuasive

Wellness can be tricky because it essentially involves selling something to your coworkers. It’s different, though, because you aren’t selling a product or service. You’re selling a concept. And, you have to make that concept applicable and appealing to employees at all levels of your company.

Packing your lunch can be such a great option when you’re making steps towards a healthier lifestyle. It can also save you money and even taste better too.

It can be surprisingly easy to get in the habit of packing a healthy lunch for work. If you’re more of a recipe-follower, feel free to check out our Pinterest board for some great healthy lunch menus. If you prefer to stay on the more general side, that’s ok too! Either way, remember these tips for a smooth, stress-free lunch.

Happy summer! Or maybe not if your workforce is struggling to stay focused. Sometimes summer can bring some struggles to the office because people are distracted or itching to get outside.

We think summer is a great time to host an office event like a workplace picnic. Now we know picnics aren’t necessarily work-related, but they can be a great idea in so many ways.

Don’t worry too much if you’ve never planned an office picnic before. We’ve put together The Handy Toolkit for a Healthier Company Picnic.

If you haven’t quite figured it out yet, wellness is a very unique field. In fact, it’s not always even designated as its own field, but it is still incredibly important.

The uniqueness of corporate wellness stems from that fact that not every organization is the same. That means not every wellness program is the same. Programs can vary between organizations, and even over time within one organization.

One thing is certain. Corporate wellness is focused on employees. There is really no other way to do it. If your company is going to consider employee health, they’ll need to focus on employees. This employee-focused mindset usually correlates with the mindset of the HR office, which means wellness is often under the HR umbrella.

June 2015 is the seventh annual Employee Wellbeing Month. As you can probably guess, we’re pumped! TotalWellness is a proud supporter of the month.

Unfortunately, not everyone is bought into the importance of focusing on wellness at work. Employee Wellbeing Month is designed to help educate, spread awareness and gain support for employee wellness. This year, you can follow along with the awesome Employee Wellbeing Month supporters by checking out #EWM15 on social media. Feel free to join the conversation with your own thoughts!

Millennials are slowly but surely infiltrating your workforce with degrees and experience under their belts. Boomers might also be a bit slow to retire, so they’re still doing great work for you too. If the two end caps are now working for your company that means Generation X from the middle ground is probably prominent as well.

It might seem like something weird to have to consider. But, depending on your company, you might be working with one, two or all of these generations. Different generations are motivated by different things. When it comes to designing and promoting your wellness program, this can definitely be a bit of a challenge.

If you’re looking for an innovative way to increase engagement with your corporate wellness program, we’ve got news for you!

Stress is common—especially in the workplace. Your wellness program should address some of the stress-related health problems your employees are facing. Even if it means admitting the workload is a bit rough.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cut everyone’s workload to something super easy. You can use your wellness program to address stress by educating yourself and your employees, encouraging stress-relieving habits at and outside of the office, and recognizing that stress can play a role on the physical health of your employees.

Check out this infographic to learn how stress can affect the body. There are even some bonus tips for relieving stress at work and at home. Enjoy!