10 Easy, Creative Ways to Celebrate National Employee Wellness Month

June is one of my favorite months. I love the summer warmth and hanging outside enjoying activities like running, swimming and biking. Long days and short nights mean tons of time for physical activity.

It also marks National Employee Wellness Month. This annual celebration shows how companies can create healthy cultures and improve employee well-being, while also lowering healthcare costs and improving business results.

While it’s important to have a strategy in place, employee wellness doesn't have to be hard or expensive. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective. So in honor of National Employee Wellness Month, here are 10 creative ideas that you can easily implement at your company.

1. Facilitate a healthy recipe exchange.
2. Create an “office trails” map of different paths and distances within the building or just outside the building.
3. Partner with a gym, yoga studio or spa to offer free passes or discount coupons.
4. Launch an initiative in which employees vow to make a healthy choice this month – things like committing to exercise daily, giving up soda or losing five pounds. Make it fun by offering small rewards for those who stick to it.
5. Design a social media contest and ask employees to share their healthy activities using a hash tag. Encourage activities that encompass all aspect of wellness – physical, emotional, social and financial.
6. Offer employees a chance to learn about their health status with biometric screenings. Fifteen minutes is all it takes to capture a snapshot of employees' health.
7. Build a health and fitness library of books and DVDs that employees can check out.
8. Organize weekly group walks or encourage walking meetings.
9. Hold a Fitness Fun Day. Offer a variety of different activities like yoga, Zumba, stair climbing, tug-of-war and relay races.
10. Raffle a piece of wearable technology such as a Fitbit with the proceeds benefiting a non-profit that builds playgrounds or supports physical activity for kids.

Now get out there and celebrate National Employee Wellness Month!