10 Workplace Wellness and Fitness Competition Ideas For 2022

Are we not intrigued when we hear about Google providing sleeping pods for its employees at the office? Workplace health initiatives like office gyms, intra-office sports competitions or healthy food counters are becoming extremely popular in corporate offices these days. If you need more such ideas, you’ve come to the right place, because we have put together a comprehensive list of wellness and fitness competition ideas for 2022 that you can execute at the workplace.

Having realised the importance of work-life balance and flexibility, companies today are going all out to ensure social, emotional, and spiritual health for their people. And wellness and fitness competitions are all the rage. These challenges don’t just provide a welcome break from work; they also stoke people’s competitive instincts and help them to adopt positive and healthy behaviours.

Here are some wellness and fitness competition ideas you can roll out at work in 2022. Remember the idea is to maximise participation. So don’t set the bar too high, especially with physically taxing activities. Also make sure that employees of all genders, backgrounds and fitness levels are able to participate, and that everyone has a fair chance to get points or rewards. The bottom line is to have fun!

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Workplace fitness and wellness ideas for 2022

Plank or treadmill challenge

Onsite health facilities are already available in many corporate workplaces. If you have an onsite gym, why not try a ‘plank’ challenge or a treadmill challenge? It’s a great way to get people to go to the gym and sweat it out.

Yoga and meditation challenge

Yoga and meditation sessions help employees release stress and feel less exhausted in the hyper-competitive and complex workplace. Encourage people to get together for a pre-work session of yoga daily.

Also read: How to Unlock the Benefits of Mindfulness at Work

Book reading challenge

Book reading challenges can be fun and educational group activities. And to ensure that people take it seriously, ask them to get together and discuss the book after they have read it. You can even administer a simple quiz about the book to test their knowledge and hand out some bonus points!

Clean-up challenge

Crazy work schedules can make it a huge challenge to keep one’s work desk clean and organised at all times. A 'clean your desk before starting the day' challenge promotes an organised work desk culture.

Creative writing challenge

A creative writing challenge once a week is an absolutely amazing way to foster healthy competition and get people’s creative juices flowing. Let people vote on each other’s stories and select the best ones.

Workplace selfie challenge

An office selfie challenge once a month can be a fun way to see how people use the workspace to take clever or funny photographs featuring themselves.

Healthy eating challenge

It is often said that you are what you eat. However, unhealthy snacking or excessive tea or coffee drinking at work is anything but healthy. Why not try out challenges around healthy snacking or replacing sugary beverages with plain water? These may guide people towards healthier food habits when at work.

Movement challenges

Sitting at a desk for hours at a stretch is bad for one’s spine and posture. It can also be a cause of weight gain. A good solution is to have a stretching or walking challenge that maximises people’s movement. You can even have a ‘stair-climbing’ challenge where people shun elevators and walk up the stairs instead.

Gratitude journal challenge

A gratitude journal challenge involves encouraging employees to write down the things they are grateful for, on a daily basis. At minimum, they must write down one thing per day. Sharing the cause of gratitude with others is optional.  

Also read: How to Keep Your Employees Happy and Engaged: Detailed Guide

Share a skill challenge

Every one of us has unique gifts that we can share with the world – from music to public speaking, dancing, writing, standup comedy, drawing, etc. The ‘share a skill’ challenge encourages every employee to pass on their unique skill to others, regardless of how big or small it is. Imagine the learning possibilities!

Getting people involved

The above challenges can either be team or individual-based. To track participants’ progress, you can either use self-reporting tools, or rely on technology - for e.g., a fitness tracker or a chat app or forum where you maintain photos, videos, documents and other records related to the challenges. Also, make sure that everyone’s progress is displayed in the form of a leaderboard. This acts as a motivational tool and keeps some good-natured competition going.

In addition, actively support the new behaviours you want to instill. For example, if you want your people to eat healthier, provide more nutritious food options in your pantry or cafeteria or subsidise them so people can access them easily.

Also read: How to Build a Positive Workplace Culture

And finally, make sure that you do not impose these challenges on anybody. Employees must have the liberty to choose when, and to what extent they want to participate. Wellness challenges should not feel like an added burden. To create a ‘pull’ factor, make sure the challenge is actively promoted and champion, especially by your company’s senior leaders, and that it is seen as a desirable and fun activity not just for the winners but for all the participants.

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