Employee wellbeing is a growing focus for companies as they strive to create positive and supportive cultures for hybrid and remote workers. And for good reason—a recent Gallup survey found that teams that are most likely to feel the organization cares about their wellbeing achieve higher customer engagement, profitability, and productivity, as well as lower turnover and fewer safety incidents.
A robust culture of wellness has long been integral to our team at Business Talent Group. Every year throughout the month of September, BTG celebrates and explores employee wellness—centering conversation around important topics like mental and physical wellbeing, stress management, and creating healthy routines.
Our guiding principles for wellness month 2022:
In 2022, we’re taking a holistic approach to wellness that looks at elevating ourselves both inside and out. In planning our wellness month activities, we used three guiding principles:
Be intentional about how to prioritize taking care of our physical bodies, our emotional and spiritual health, and the way we nourish and fuel ourselves.
This meant setting up intentional times and activities geared around specific aspects of our total wellness. For the team, that came in the form of 30- to 45-minute Friday sessions together that ranged from guided meditation to a live cooking workshop. Doing it together as a team added team bonding time as well as a nice break in the daily routine.
Make it something to look forward to. Nobody likes chores, so orient around something that brings joy and is easy to adopt into a day-to-day schedule.
We brainstormed about the wellness activities our colleagues find energizing and inspiring, as well as those that calm and center the mind.
Stay the course. Wellness is not a task that can be accomplished in one fell swoop but rather a journey of prioritizing yourself time and time again. Because people are 65% more likely to reach their goals when they’ve shared them with someone else, we engaged the team throughout the month, making wellness part of our conversations and sharing each other’s favorite tips and tricks.
Wellness month 2022 activities at BTG
Our goal in planning BTG’s wellness month was to support all kinds of health and wellbeing for our team—social, emotional, physical, and mental. As such, we discovered a wide variety of resources and activities:
- We brought in a former Michelin chef turned farmer and cooking teacher to show us how to make a nutritious, restaurant-worthy lunch bowl that would fuel our bodies for the day and could be repurposed into countless meals across the week.
- Ergonomics expert Tammy Wise helped us reconsider how we breathe and sit while at our computers—learning to work in positions that foster energy and focus.
- Guided meditation specialists Giselle Littleton and Jameelah Carver taught the team how to practice Nadi Shodhana, or Alternate Nostril Breathing, to relieve stress and reenergize.
- A core power yoga instructor led the team in yoga sculpt, a mix of Vinyasa flow with weights and exercises for a full body workout.
- BTG’s Adrianna Egan hosts a podcast that focuses on inspiring and empowering others. Her episode on Burning Out and Filling Your Cup discusses preventing and recognizing signs of burnout, as well as coping and breathing life back into your soul.
- Our employees enjoy access to wellness apps and activities through our company portal. Apps like Calm can help with sleep, focus, meditation, relaxation, and breathing.
Try these tips for wellness month 2022
On an individual level, here are our team’s favorite go-to tips and tricks that might help you kickstart your own wellness initiative:
- Start your day on the right foot:
- A daily gratitude, first thing after waking up—consider writing it in a journal or your phone notes if you’re traveling
- The Miracle Morning—a 6-step routine to take time for yourself before the work day: silence, daily affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and writing
- Insert bite-sized activities throughout the day when you just need that reboot:
- Quick two-minute box breathing exercises before any big meetings to calm your nerves
- Walking meetings, walking dogs, walking by the water—we’re a team of walkers!
- Keep an email folder of “positive work stuff”—funny emails, kudos from colleagues, etc. When you’re feeling stressed, scroll through them for a little boost.
- EFT Tapping for stress relief
- Take lunch away from your desk and save a favorite podcast to listen to during lunch for motivation
- For a refresh after work, consider these activities:
- Stroll around the block and catch up with a friend on a quick phone call. Or take one of your furry friends for a walk—the fresh air will do you both good!
- Try a fitness session, such as hot yoga, spin rides (biking indoors or outdoors), Pilates (online or in-person), or a game of tennis or pickleball with friends.
- Play the piano, put a puzzle together, or cook a healthy meal.
- Take yourself out on a date to a coffee shop or enjoy a meal alone for some people watching
- Are you looking for more holistic approach to motivation and inspiration? Consider a career or life coach, or a therapist—for example, a coach who specializes in helping female executives build support systems and recharge effectively.
Whether you’re considering how to compile resources and ideas into an employee wellness program for your team like we have done at BTG, or you’re just looking to boost your own workplace wellness, we hope you’ll find this helpful.
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