{"id":1139,"date":"2021-11-19T18:02:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T18:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pumble.com\/blog\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:11:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:11:32","slug":"wellness-ideas-for-remote-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pumble.com\/blog\/wellness-ideas-for-remote-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"18 Wellness Ideas for Remote Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to Pfizer, wellness is defined as the \u201cact of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis<\/em>\u201d with the goal of improving physical and mental health. The Global Wellness Institute<\/a> helps us narrow in on the definition by stating that wellness is characterized by an \u201cactive pursuit<\/em>\u201d of such healthy habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office wellness is a well-researched and supported idea that many companies have invested in, but the shift to and sudden popularity of remote work has brought with it new challenges that require paradigm-shifting solutions. In many cases, standard wellness programs simply cannot be translated into the remote work environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has necessitated the rise of so-called virtual wellness programs, <\/em>targeted specifically at remote employees. In this blog post, we\u2019ll provide you with 18 wellness ideas for remote employees. But before that, let\u2019s look at what benefits you can expect to gain from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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18 Virtual wellness ideas to try<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Through our virtual wellness tips targeted specifically at remote employees, we sought to address some of the main issues plaguing such employees, like lack of physical activity, loneliness, home office set-up and maintenance costs, unhealthy habits, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Define a wellness budget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all been to elementary school, so there\u2019s no need to state the obvious like \u201csmoking is bad, you shouldn\u2019t do it<\/em>,\u201d or \u201cexercise is good for you<\/em>,\u201d or \u201ceat more healthy food<\/em>,\u201d \u2014 your employees already know this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they need is a nudge in the right direction, and that\u2019s where you can help. One of the more financially involved wellness tips you can employ is setting up a wellness budget. In short, this is a cost-covering perk for things like a gym membership, yoga classes, swimming lessons, etc. Employees can purchase said membership, classes, and\/or lessons, submit the receipts to the company, and get reimbursed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The details of how you go about this are entirely up to you and your budgetary constraints, although the simplest solution is to decide on a per-employee monthly budget, decide which services the budget will recognize as valid, and let the employees take it from there. The flexibility of this system will benefit more employees than a strict gym membership perk since some employees simply prefer other types of physical activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing a wellness budget will motivate employees to tap into the said budget, and since you get to decide what\u2019s valid for reimbursement and not, you can effectively steer the employees towards healthy options. The leeway in choosing where to spend the budget also prevents you from falling into the trap of investing in wellness benefits that employees aren\u2019t interested in<\/a>, like educational tools or printed wellness information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Define an ergonomic office budget<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The most common cause of workplace injury in an office environment is MSD (musculoskeletal disorder). Back pain and a sedentary lifestyle<\/a> seem to go hand in hand, but MSD also includes other conditions such as carpal tunnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an office setting, ergonomic equipment is one of the most effective measures for combating sedentary MSDs. There are guides on office ergonomics<\/a> that can help you understand how to select the optimal equipment (chair, desk, keyboard, wrist rest, monitor, etc.) and adjust it to your body so that you can greatly reduce the risk of MSDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is this \u2014 ergonomic equipment is expensive; too expensive for most remote workers to cobble together on their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But your company can contribute to remote employees\u2019 overall health and wellbeing by loaning such ergonomic equipment or reimbursing its cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could either be done upon the employee joining the company or hitting an important milestone (such as a one-year anniversary at the company). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, guaranteeing that your remote employees have the benefit of ergonomically set-up home offices will do wonders for their health and overall well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Introduce a work buddy system<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The lack of physical activity is hardly the only issue that plagues remote employees. Another commonly faced problem in this working environment is loneliness<\/a>, which this study<\/a> shows is faced by 20% of remote workers. The severity of this issue is magnified by the fact that most of the studies were conducted during the pandemic when the majority of the workforce was forced into a WHF environment regardless of their preferences; the majority of these workers will migrate back to their offices<\/a> at the first given chance, significantly reducing this apparent drawback of remote work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, this is something you should bear in mind, lest you suffer the consequences. The aforementioned study does link loneliness to a drop in productivity. Throughout this blog post, you\u2019ll see many wellness tips aimed at addressing this issue, but the work buddy system is one of the simplest solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it entails is pairing two remote employees from your company and getting them to schedule a couple of one-on-one video calls throughout the week. During these buddy meetings, the employees can talk about anything; it doesn\u2019t have to be work-related, although it does count towards their working hours. Consider it a shared coffee break. The idea is to mimic the office environment, where employees are bound to engage in conversation at one point or another. This has the added benefit of building rapport among remote employees, which doesn\u2019t naturally occur without some outside help. After a set time (week, two weeks, month) you can change the pairings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pumble makes facilitating a work buddy system effortless<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Try the \u201cgood habit\u201d challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Eat more greens, drink more water, walk ten thousand steps a day\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sure sounds easy. But adopting good habits takes time, perseverance, and, in most cases, a healthy dose of outside encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s focus on drinking more water. According to Mayo Clinic<\/a>, an adequate daily intake of fluids amounts to 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) for adult men and 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) for adult women. Around 20% of daily fluid intake<\/a> is covered by the food we eat via digestion, but this still leaves us with lots of water to drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To encourage your remote employees to drink more water, you can turn it into a challenge by creating a shared Excel file with remote workers\u2019 names as the rows and dates as the columns. The employees can then use pluses and minuses to mark whether or not they have maintained the habit throughout any given day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/td>October 21st<\/td>October 22nd<\/td>October 23rd<\/td>October 24th<\/td>October 25th<\/td><\/tr>
Avdol Mohammed<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td><\/tr>
Jean Pierre Polnareff<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td>–<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
Joseph Joestar<\/td>–<\/td>+<\/td>+<\/td>–<\/td>+<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

You can motivate them by including rewards for successful habit-forming. Do keep in mind, though, that rewarding only employees with a perfect score will only serve to discourage others as soon as they miss a single day. We\u2019re well aware that the myth of creating a habit in 21 days<\/a> has been debunked, but people are comfortable with this number, so choosing it as the number of days in a month required to win the reward will give breathing room for employees who wish to better themselves but need more time to get adjusted. By the way, when we say rewards for these challenges, we mean something small like a $10 gift card \u2014 the good habit should be its own reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the month is over, you can do the same thing all over again or switch to a new good habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Exterminate bad habits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While forming good habits is important, it\u2019s no excuse for letting bad habits fester. What\u2019s great is that you can incorporate good habit adoption into bad habit elimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if your remote workers are struggling with quitting smoking, you can help them along by setting up challenges similar to the ones previously mentioned. There\u2019s only one rule \u2014 every time they get the craving for a smoke, they should do something healthy instead. For example, if you feel like lighting a cigarette, do 10 push-ups or jumping jacks instead. This needn\u2019t be physical activity, either. You can drink a glass of water or eat a pickle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As great as this system of replacing bad habits with healthy activities is on paper, it may be too ambitious for some. In these cases, you can use other, not necessarily healthy but not unhealthy craving-busting methods, like chewing bubble gum instead of smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, make sure remote employees can track their progress on a shared Excel sheet or similar resource, like a #quit-bad-habits <\/em>channel on Pumble by CAKE.com<\/a>. This will let them know they aren\u2019t alone in fighting this fight and can discuss their experiences with other remote employees whose names are on the list. Also, don\u2019t forget to reward their efforts. Just remember that breaking bad habits, especially ones which are characterized by actual chemical addiction like smoking, can be way harder than adopting good habits, so forget about the 21-day requirement \u2014 instead, celebrate every successful day as a victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Clean virtual workspaces<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a mistake to assume that the digital nature of most remote work renders employees immune to the analog goings-on in their home office. It\u2019s not merely the speed of their Internet (or lack thereof) and peripheral or hardware malfunction that can negatively affect our mood and job performance. Several researchers have found that cluttered and untidy spaces increase stress and anxiety levels<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, keeping your desk clean can have a hugely positive impact on your overall wellness, work productivity included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can encourage remote employees to do this in several ways, not least of which is including house cleaning as a service covered by your wellness budget (should you have one). However, a much more inexpensive solution may be to dedicate a channel on your workspace in Pumble<\/a> or a similar work chat app to posting pictures of clean home office desks \u2014 call it the #clean-desk-challenge<\/em> or #clocking-out<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can take this a step further to improve your remote employee wellness by using this tip to help them exercise their right to disconnect<\/a>. Since most remote work is characterized by flexible hours, where not all employees are expected to start and finish their work at the same time, this can lead to uncertainty and misunderstandings about whom you can and should message at what time. Explain to remote employees at your company that the way to signal they have finished work for the day is by posting a picture of their tidy workspace onto the #clocking-out<\/em> channel. If you have lots of remote employees, making a separate channel for each team is recommended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way, you\u2019ll be killing two birds with one stone, all in service of improving remote employee wellness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set healthy work-life balance with Pumble<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Have a go at online group physical activities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This one is an umbrella tip for various types of physical activities aimed at getting remote workers moving \u2014 we\u2019re talking online yoga, online stretching, online resistance training, and even online meditation, if you don\u2019t mind the semantics of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physiologically, the sedentary nature of most remote work can quickly lead to slouching, which contracts lungs and limits the flow of oxygen<\/a> throughout the body and brain. Therefore, exercising will not only keep your body healthier but your mind sharper, too. So why don\u2019t we all exercise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s often not the lack of a gym membership card that stops people from exercising, but just the lonely nature of this act. A training buddy can be an effective means of providing the motivation to keep going. And if you can get the whole team involved and participating, ideally over a video call, that\u2019s even better. Our health contributes to our overall happiness<\/a>, and happiness is linked with all sorts of benefits<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you can\u2019t just organize a video call and tell your employees to start doing jumping jacks. For this, you have two options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n