A healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean carving out two hours every morning for the gym or only eating fresh produce for lunch. The ideal healthy lifestyle is built up of small, healthy habits you do throughout the day.

It’s no secret that small businesses have unique needs when compared with large businesses. Due to their small size, they also have unique opportunities.

The good news is that many small businesses recognize these opportunities when it comes to employee wellness. In fact, one study found 93% of small businesses believe employee health is good for their bottom line.

We definitely agree. Employee wellness can be an excellent tool for small businesses.

Here are just a few reasons why:

In any business operation, it’s best not to let your resources go to waste. You want your time, efforts and money to go as far as they possibly can. This idea can be easier said than done with it comes to abstract business operations like employee wellness.

When you put a lot of time, effort and resources into your employee wellness program, you’re going to want to be sure it’s worth it. There are a lot of different ways to evaluate your program, but it can be a bit tricky to equate the value you get out of the program with the resources you put into it.

In the wellness field today, there are two primary evaluation methods for ensuring your wellness program is outputting at least as much as what your company is inputting.

Stress is bad for your health. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Just bad.

The problem is, you can’t always help it. Your employees can’t always help it either. Some situations—especially at work—are just plain stressful.

It can be especially difficult to manage workplace stress when you're not exactly sure of the cause. In some situations, work can feel much more stressful than in a similar situation. But what's causing that elevated stress level?

Employee wellness programs are designed to help employees lead healthier and happier lives. These programs offer a wide range of fitness classes, healthy eating options, stress techniques, and mental health resources.

However, despite the numerous benefits, some employees may not fully engage with the program. This could be due to a lack of understanding of the program's offerings, a lack of motivation, or other factors. Therefore, it's important to provide employees with guidance and support to help them take advantage of all the different components of the wellness program. By doing so, employees can improve their overall health and well-being, leading to increased productivity, job satisfaction, and overall happiness.

You know when you’re packing for a trip and you just feel like you’ve forgotten something? All you need in that moment is someone who can list off the things you’re most likely to forget. That would surely jog your memory!

Well, maintaining a corporate wellness program can be much more difficult than packing a suitcase. The details of various events, reporting and promotion can easily get forgotten or lost in the shuffle.

That’s why we want to help jog your memory and point out five things you might’ve overlooked in planning your corporate wellness program.

Building a gym at your workplace can be a great perk for your wellness program. Unfortunately, putting in a gym can require a lot of logistical planning. It can also get to be a bit expensive depending on the plans you make.

The truth is—while a gym is great—there are other, better wellness activities in which you can invest your time and resources. Some of these alternatives are not only easier to implement, but can help your employees be healthier in the long run.

Living a sedentary lifestyle can be detrimental to your health. Unfortunately, many office jobs require sitting at a computer most of the day.

When you're stuck in one place all day, a few things can happen to your body. First, you can develop an increased risk for obesity, heart disease and even some types of cancer. Second, your circulation and respiration function, as well as your posture, can be damaged. Third, you can suffer from decreased mental function from the monotony involved with a sedentary workday. And finally, you're likely to burn fewer calories throughout the day.

Recognition is an important motivator in any situation. Corporate wellness is no different. Recognizing your employees’ wellness achievements can lead to a much stronger wellness program full of invested participants.

Why should you recognize wellness achievement?

Recognizing employee achievement in wellness (or anything else, for that matter) is a great way to encourage even more achievement. Recognition drives employees to strive for more progress. It reinforces the positive steps they’ve taken so they want to take more.

Here at TotalWellness, we believe everyone is healthy. This belief stems from even the smallest healthy habits we know you have in your daily life. Building a healthy lifestyle is all about those small habits. As you take steps on your health journey, take a look at what habits you enjoy and build on those to develop more healthy habits.