Plan engaging rewards. You can reward the whole community, teams or members of the community based on a variety of criteria.
Rewards are an integral part of successful wellness promotion efforts. Motivating rewards and incentives can act as the perfect push towards more healthy habits and help both arouse and sustain interest in personal wellbeing.
If your aim is to inspire an ever-larger portion of staff to take up exercise or develop new healthier daily habits, reward active participation and endeavor. Taking part and an honest effort is more important than top performance.
We have launched thousands of wellness challenges and amassed proven ways to engage and reward. A good rule of thumb: small rewards along the way are a better incentive than one great big reward at the finish line.
1. Community-wide and program-level rewards:
- Could you reward the whole staff if all goes to plan?
- Have everyone been working for some common good and target, or reward individual performance?
- Should the reward be something that benefits and affects all participants company-wide?
- For example: a charity, a unique activity day, a new coffee machine, a promise to have fruit on offer once a week, the chance of giving a new sport a try, etc.
- The chance to win X, Y and Z if you participated and logged N entries.
- Rewards based on participation: A prize-draw when the number of participants exceeds 50, 100, 200, 300, and so on.
- Info message competition: A prize-draw among all who respond to an activating message
2. Personal rewards
Personal rewards are an excellent way to motivate employees to improve their personal wellbeing over the long haul. Suggestions for rewards based on weekly activities:
- 2.5 to 4 hours of exercise
- 2 to 5 exercise loggings
- 3 wellness-related activities a week
Reward: prize-draw among all who meet the above weekly targets; during the program, the quarter, the year or reward all who meet the above weekly targets.
Completing a training program
- Either a prize-draw among all or rewards for all who have completed a training program or challenge
- Recommended target: completing more than 50% of the program or challenge
- Separate category: completing the entire program or challenge
Cheering:
Mutual cheering and encouragement is a great way to build team spirit in the workplace. Identifying and rewarding those who actively cheer others spurs them on and sets an inspiring example. Harness their enthusiasm and the can-do spirit of active HeiaHeia users when planning your workplace wellness measures. Reward the most active individual or individuals.
Mutual cheering and encouragement is a great way to build team spirit in the workplace. Identifying and rewarding those who actively cheer others spurs them on and sets an inspiring example. Harness their enthusiasm and the can-do spirit of active HeiaHeia users when planning your workplace wellness measures. Reward the most active individual or individuals.
3. Team rewards
Team competitions tend to work exceedingly well. There is an abundance of sources to draw motivation from and usually no lack of mutual support and encouragement. What should come first and foremost is working together to increase physical activity and develop healthy habits, not the competition between teams or team members. Reward activity and broad participation.
Team rewards examples:
- A prize or prize-draw among all teams who achieve a certain level of activity
- Reward all teams who have managed to get every member to join the competition
- Reward the team with the highest number of cheers under their belt
- Reward the proportionally most active team
Rewards based on health and wellness activities
A prize to or a prize-draw among all who have amassed a certain amount of any single wellness-related activity, for example 15 in total a month. We have found that a good weekly target is a minimum of 3 loggings. We recommend adding personal fitness goals to your wellness program, a simple way to get fitness enthusiasts to join in.
Reward ideas
Our customers often ask for ideas for prizes or rewards. As a rule, it is better to give out several smaller prizes than put all your prize money in one item. If possible and practical, try to come up with prizes that link to your wellness theme. The primary reason and motivation for participation should be a wish to improve personal wellbeing, not the hope of winning a prize.
- Grand prizes (at the end of your program, for an overall goal): activity tracker, gift card, spa weekend, team day, offering a team the chance to try out a new sport
- Smaller prizes: the chance to try out a new sport, culture vouchers, meal vouchers, movie tickets
Remember to reward your members!