Employee wellness is a BIG deal at Bits In Glass
By Nohely Miranda, HR Specialist
Every quarter we like to focus on a new opportunity to improve our employee’s quality of life. Last quarter we focused on financial education and health by introducing a Group RRSP matching program. With the start of a new year, decade, and quarter here at Bits In Glass (BIG), we were excited to launch our BIG Wellness program to our employees!
BIG Wellness consists of challenging our team to improve their physical health, mental health, and make time for self-care. Being in the professional services space, our employees are used to constantly being in a go, go, go mode, so this program encourages them to also prioritize caring for their overall well-being through three different goals.
Physical health
The first of the BIG Wellness goals is physical health. The focus of physical health is to move more and be active — whether it’s going for a walk or run, dancing, going to a fitness class, or simply taking the stairs instead of the elevator. We’ve challenged our employees to prioritize physical health for 3 hours a week. Our team has gotten creative with this by taking advantage of the winter snow and going sledding with their families!
Mental health
The second wellness goal is mental health, which focuses on our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. These areas of our health affect how we think, feel, act, and even determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make decisions. For this goal, we’re encouraging our team to unplug or disconnect from the stressors of their life for 2 hours a week. Some ways to take care of your mental health include meditating, journaling, doing a digital detox (unplugging from social media), or taking advantage of your benefits and chatting with a trusted mental health professional.
Self-care
Self-care is the final BIG Wellness goal. Self-care is the practice of taking an active role in protecting our own well-being and happiness. We’ve suggested practicing self-care for 1.5 hours a week. Our team is practicing self-care by working on getting enough sleep (7-9 hours per night), connecting with a friend, taking a relaxing bath, getting a massage, or reading a book, to name a few.
In order to keep everyone excited and engaged in our new BIG Wellness program, we’ve made it a fun and friendly competition. For every well-being goal completed each week, employees earn an entry into a monthly draw for some awesome wellness prizes!
Studies show that these wellness programs not only help employees feel more energized and motivated but they also increase morale, reduce stress, and increase productivity, to name a few. Implementing this program company-wide allows our employees to bounce ideas off one another, motivate each other, and continue building our BIG healthy community.
