Planning a wellness event is one thing. Getting enough people to show up, well, sometimes that’s a whole different matter.

In an ideal world, everyone at your company would sign up the moment the invitation for a wellness or fitness event makes the rounds. In reality, it’s sometimes the opposite.

In fact, one of the most frequent questions we get asked by companies who are just starting their wellness program or who have signed up for their first event is: “what incentives should we offer employees to participate?”

The short answer is “it depends!”

As we’ve discussed before, every company is different and how you get people to come out really depends on your own unique culture at the office.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some key points to consider!

Last week we discussed some powerful tips for upping participation at your next wellness event. This time around, we’ve put together a couple of key points about offering your employees incentives to participate.

We’ve also put together three of our favorite incentives down below, but first, here’s a couple of general points to keep in mind when framing your incentives to recruit an awesome team:

Image Above: Example of an awesome team - Buffini & Company at the San Diego Fit Company Challenge

How to Frame your Incentives

Small incentives go a long way.

First, let’s dispel a myth: you don’t need to brainstorm something big and magnificent to get people enrolled in a wellness program. Sometimes the right nudge, however small, does the trick and can get people interested right off the bat.

Think about it: wellness events and fitness challenges have some qualities that sell themselves. They contribute to your overall health and they can be a heck of a lot of fun.

We’re lucky to be living in an age when most people are health conscious and don’t shy away from a little exercise or wellness. Because of this, oftentimes the simple benefits of “it’s good for your health” or “it’ll be fun” are enough to get people interested.

Always remember that health and fun are themselves powerful motivators. Keeping your focus on these two core benefits will give you a strong foundation when planning further or future incentives to get people excited and involved.

Ensure that your incentives are team-focused.

Wellness events like our Fit Company Challenge are all about bringing teams together. The last thing anyone wants is to build rivalry instead of camaraderie.

Trust us, you don’t want to offer any incentives that could pit one person against another. For instance, offering a sizeable prize to the person who comes in first in a race or who counts the most steps in a month, but leaves the rest of the team out, might cause division and dissent. There’s nothing wrong with a small prize (i.e. a certificate suitable for framing/bragging) for a top competitor, but the focus should be on the team.

When planning your incentives, make sure that whatever you offer keeps your colleagues working together. Shared goals or the promise of a reward for the entire team can go along way to getting more people involved.

If you’re doing a step challenge, think about offering the entire team something if they meet their target. If it’s a race, treat everyone who shows up and participates the same in the victory lunch afterwards.

Don’t be afraid of setting milestones.

If the budget for the event is minimal, then start small and work your way up each year. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on the core benefits one year, and then ramping it up with more incentives the following year as the event picks up steam and participation.

You can even set milestones for participation in the lead-up to the event itself. For instance, if the entire group shows up to 9 out of 12 lead-up workouts, then provide everyone with a free lunch the week before the event! You can also couple this with a lunch or incentive after the event for everyone who participated and showed up on the event day.

How to use your incentives?

When incentivizing your employees, be sure to keep the event front and center, and mention the incentives only to give people a little extra push.

If your announcement mentions prizes for participants before telling everyone what the event is, it’s a safe bet that the real benefits of the event (fun and health!) might fall to the wayside.

For instance, if your office starts promising $100 gift cards for all participants, participants will most likely join just for the prizes and not for the other benefits.

We’d like to think that it’s better to get fewer sign-ups for the right reasons, than a ton of people joining for the wrong ones and build the team over time.

Our Top Picks for Incentives?

Now that we’ve covered the foundations, here are some concrete examples of the kinds of incentives you can offer (which also happen to be our top three picks).

Provide team lunches and happy hours.
There’s nothing like a little free food and a couple of tables pushed close together to get people talking and having a good time. Having a couple of get togethers before the event can build team spirit and encourage others to join the fun.

It’s also great to hold one after the event. That way it will give your employees something to rally behind and let them celebrate. Buy everyone involved some pizza, Chipotle’s or whatever your office jam is.

Take a couple of afternoons off.
If your company organizes team training sessions, why not take an afternoon off and drag your squadmates away from their desks? Having a session during company hours can facilitate getting everyone in the same place (assuming you all work at the same office).

Getting outside when the weather is nice can also help break up some of the monotony of the work week, and destress your employees. If things are busy at the office, it’s often hard to get motivated in the evenings to work out or meet up with the team. Dedicating office time for the event also shows your team that the company is invested in their wellbeing.

Cover their entrance fees.
Everyone likes free stuff, and most people don’t mind working a little to get it. To make sure they put in the mileage and show up on event day, pay 50% off the initial cost and them reimburse them the other 50% after they show up and complete the event.

Bonus: Ask the Team
Don’t be afraid of getting a little input from your team. Holding a meeting and asking what would make them excited about the event can provide some useful feedback. Of course, it helps to come prepared with a budget and a few ideas to fall back on in case the incentives your team proposes get a little wild & excessive!

Summing Things Up

In summary, sometimes teams need a little extra push to get them to sign up for wellness events. Often, the core values of health and fun can go a long way to getting people involved. However, don’t be afraid of offering a little something extra. Be inclusive and let your team know you’re looking after them. You’ll see the difference it makes for turnouts come event day, and in the camaraderie it maintains after the event is over.

Yours in wellness,

The FC Squad

One of the biggest problems companies face with wellness events and fitness challenges is ensuring that people sign up and participate. Since these events often focus on teamwork and camaraderie, it’s critical that participants sign up and attend these events for companies to maximize their involvement.

Depending on your company culture, getting colleagues on board for a new wellness event or fitness program can range from being a piece of cake to a serious challenge.

Every company has a pool of employees who are pretty much the core office athletes. They’re the kind of colleagues who work out five times a week and will literally sign up for any event, just say the word. However, most employees are slightly less involved in fitness. While they might jog or go to the gym, they might not consider themselves athletic.

The real challenge is in incentivizing your colleagues who might be more hesitant or who have never really participated in wellness or even gone to the gym before. These colleagues are just as much a part of the team, but might be unfamiliar with or even uncertain about wellness programs.

1) Set yourselves up for success

This might sound like an obvious first step, but it’s worth spending a few moments considering what exactly success looks like at your company. Since wellness events should focus on building teamwork and camaraderie.

Make sure to pick the right event. We’ve written about this before, but it’s always a good reminder to pick a challenge that opens the door for the maximum range of possible participants.

For instance, a weight loss challenge might seem really appealing for some employees, but likely only for those who have been trying to lose weight. The same goes for more challenging events. If the choice is between a grueling mud run designed to break everyone but the most hardy athletes, or something lighter like a step challenge, going for the latter will definitely increase participation.

Events that scale to the participant’s fitness levels also allow for more participants than ones that do not. That’s one of the main reasons we designed our challenge the way it is. We don’t want anyone blocked from participating and having fun with the rest of their team.

2) Play the long game

Even if an event allows for more people to participate, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone will the first time around. If this is your first year running an event or taking your company to a challenge and participation seems less than anticipated, don’t fuss over the numbers.

Good events can take time to catch on and that’s completely normal. The first year might have only a few curious participants, but word of mouth does wonders for growing participation organically from year to year.

With that in mind, your company doesn’t have to hit a home run the first time it brings its wellness program to bat. We’ve seen plenty of companies come to our events with just 4 people the first year, but come two years later, and they field 50+ participants.

Give it time and just focus on running the best wellness program you can.

3) Provide the right incentives

The right event can often sell itself, but we shouldn’t take for granted that it will. Sometimes a little extra is needed to get people to sign up.

There’s no one-size-fits all incentive to get people to sign up for wellness events. Every company is different. The important part is knowing your company and its culture and providing them a push that resonates with their wants and needs.

We won’t get too deep into incentives today (that’s the topic for a whole other post), but some of our favorite incentives (and ones that we’ve seen work) include:

• Paying for all or a portion of the event registration. You can make this into a reimbursement after they show up and participate at the event.
• Extra paid time off, such as half-days at the office to go and train together as a team.
• Lunch parties for everyone participating. It can be something hearty and healthy like Panera or even just a greasy pizza day to treat everyone after the event.

For the moment, don’t overthink it. Keep the incentives small and to the point, without letting them overshadow the core benefits of health and fun that the event focuses on.

4) Recruit the right team captains

This is one of the best tricks we’ve learned so far. Having the right people in leadership roles takes a load off the organizer’s shoulders and really helps get different people involved.

When choosing captains, it might seem natural to immediately look for all those super fit people at your office. After all, they’re often fit, passionate and energetic people. However, as good as they are for candidates, they might not be the right fit for every participant.

People who don’t engage in fitness activities on a regular basis might find them intimidating. They might also feel like they’re signing up for something out of their league because the team captain is way more athletic and committed than they are.

The perfect workaround is to select multiple team captains from different pools of your employees. Having a couple of fitness fanatics is great but also include others who might be less fit but still highly social and able to mobilize others.

Having a varied group can help newcomers identify with the captains. They can better identify with other participants and there’s a better chance no one will feel alienated or out of place.

To conclude, no two companies or wellness events are the same. Getting more participation often depends on knowing your company culture, your colleagues and their needs. However, these four core considerations can help take a load of pressure off your recruitment worries.

We’re sure that no matter how the first event goes, that with the right mindset and values in place, there’s only going to be growth from here on out.

Yours in wellness,

The FC Squad

Hey everyone!

We’re back with another inspiring interview with past participants. Today, we have with us Lauren Kretsch from Pinnacle ART. They’ve participated in the Challenge for five years running and Lauren has some great things to say about setting goals and keeping yourselves motivated.

Enjoy!

What’s the wellness culture like at Pinnacle ART?

We have a sort of large workplace wellness umbrella. It’s run by five chairs and a couple of committees. We do things like having “lunch and learns”, where doctors, nutritionists, or fitness experts come in and give a talk and we all have lunch together.

There are also intramural sports teams, yoga classes, and even a couple of engineers who run dance classes. overall, there’s a lot of flexibility with what we can do. If it fits in the budget and people are interested, we go for it.

That’s an interesting structure for running wellness programs. How did it all come to be?

I’ve been here for almost two years now. When I started, there were two chairs and no committee. It was basically two people trying to run everything and they were overwhelmed.

When they invited me to come on and help them, I made it a point to form committees and get more people involved and other forms of leadership in action. This would take the pressure off our chairs and gave more people the chance for input and to run with their ideas on the organizational side.

How do your chairs decide what wellness programs to add? Is it all top down or do you get input from the employees?

Well, we have some initiatives that come directly from the chairs, such as the yoga sessions. But we have frequent meetings where we get feedback from the company as a whole and anyone can pitch an idea.

For instance, the dance committee was basically a couple of engineers who showed up at one of our meetings and said this is something they were interested in running. Ultimately, we take all suggestions seriously. Letting people make them and having us listen really empowers more people to take action and participate.

What are some of the things your team likes about the Fit Company Challenge?

It’s definitely a team bonding opportunity. We have seven hundred people working across multiple buildings. We assign the squads randomly, making it a great way to interface with people you don’t always see in your environment, but are suddenly put together for a common goal.

We have also found that a lot of our interns like to participate. It helps them form points of contact within the company and is great in case they return the following summer or stay on with us in a full-time capacity.

How do you get people to sign up for the Fit Company Challenge?

To put teams together, we send out an email first to all the previous participants and people active in any wellness activity with the company. They basically get first dibs since spots are limited. Once we hear from them, we open it up to the entire company, and usually have to have a waiting list.

Does your company do anything specific to prepare for the event?

There isn’t actually anything formal that we have to do as a whole company. For instance, there’s no formal training sessions. Often, we get people who go and look up exercises on YouTube or incorporate new routines into their own training. Usually our participants use the Challenge as motivation to beef up their existing workout routines, as something that can really help them meet their own fitness goals.

Do you see a lot of range with the age and fitness level of the people participating?

We’re actually a very young and active company. The average age of our employees is about twenty-eight and people from this demographic tend to be the kinds of people who want to join these events. Though, we still get our older employees participating too.

In terms of fitness levels, we definitely get a lot of interest and participation from those who are already involved in our wellness events. A lot of people use the challenge as motivation to work out more often or to introduce regular workouts into their lifestyle.

You mentioned goals a couple of times. Do you see people setting personal goals for the challenge? Or maybe even team goals?

It’s a bit of both. For a lot of people, being active is their jam. They take every opportunity to be active. In this case, the challenge is one more opportunity that really motivates them. Sometimes we’ll get three really intense workout guys on one team and when they showed up they said “okay, let’s do this” and as a team they try to be in the top three or something like that.

Then again, we all come from a very goal oriented culture over here. Our company encourages us to be open about both our professional and personal goals and to do what we can to pursue them. The Fit Company Challenges creates a space where people can come together and be more open about their personal goals and discuss with each other the reasons they want to participate.

How has the Fit Company Challenge contributed to your workplace wellness?

In terms of the challenge, I’ve noticed that participating in it is almost like a badge of honor around here. People know it can be pretty intense. Those who haven’t done it yet, often seek out those who have and ask about it. Of course, everyone who has completed the challenge says “oh yeah, it’s awesome, you should totally do it.”

Thanks again to Lauren for having spoke with us about her company’s wellness programs and their participation in the challenge. It’s always a pleasure to hear back from our participants and learn about the wellness culture their companies are promoting.

We’ve got a good month ahead of us. We’ll be in Nashville at the start of June. As always, if you’re interested in fielding a team for an upcoming Fit Company challenge, be sure to sign up for our Starter Package (get it right below this). It covers all the details about the challenge and pricing for your city. We even help provide you with all the emails to facilitate participant recruitment.

Yours in wellness,

The FC Squad