Staff wellbeing board ideas for your office

Any wellbeing display board has two purposes: to inform and to encourage. Your wellbeing display board can promote all kinds of healthier lifestyle choices, alternatives and more. It’s also a great space in the work environment to highlight events, awareness days and general information around health and wellbeing. 

In this blog post, we’re looking at wellbeing staff board ideas, and why your office needs to invest in bringing some colour and positivity to that empty wall space. By the end, you’ll have a ton of reasons and ideas to consider a wellbeing display board. 
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What is a wellbeing display board?

First and foremost, what is a wellbeing display board and why should you care? Well, as we touched on above, a wellbeing display board serves more than one purpose. It should also be part of your overall employee wellbeing strategy. 

Think of the wellbeing noticeboard as a space to emphasise your company’s passion for mental health and wellbeing. It should be as much an engagement tactic, as it is informative. 

Unfortunately, a lot of offices don’t get the wellbeing display board quite right, or simply don’t have one at all. And in the modern office, health and wellbeing are essential!

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How big should our wellbeing display board be?

This depends on how much you want to shout about health and wellbeing in your office, and how much free space you have. If your existing office walls are crammed with every certificate, motivational poster or printed A4 document, it might be a problem. 

Space or no space, rethink your work environment and consider if it’s time for a switch around. Perhaps there’s a lot of dead space just calling out for a wellbeing display board! 

The key, however, is to choose a size that allows you to add as much as possible - or at least as much as you think necessary for your team. You don’t want to bombard them with information, but you do want to really catch their attention.

‍Where should our wellbeing display board be located?

Now that you have a rough idea of how big you should make your new display board full of wellbeing ideas, let’s talk about location. Like any noticeboard or attention-grabbing display, it needs to be present and clear. 

Time and time again, many businesses hide their noticeboards in the darkest corners of the office, where nobody but coats and scarves see them. If you really care about health and wellbeing in the workplace, it’s pretty obvious why this simply won’t work.

Find a space that has a lot of employee footfall, a lot of presence and light in the workspace. Perhaps near the entrance to your office? Maybe in a communal area where people gather for lunch and a chat.

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Who should be responsible for our office's wellbeing display board?

It’s much better to share the responsibility with a few colleagues; find perhaps three employees who you know will take the new wellbeing display board seriously. If your company has its own wellbeing committee, this is a great task for those members to get involved in.  

Remember: Without the commitment and dedication to the cause of employee health and wellbeing, your new wellbeing display board won’t truly take off (and serve its purpose). 

Ideally, the more colleagues engaged with the responsibility of updating the wellbeing board and adding new ideas and events, the better. It also takes the pressure off you to single-handedly manage the display board.

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What staff wellbeing board ideas should I include?

Let’s now turn our attention to staff wellbeing board ideas you should consider for your newfound wall space. Before we do so, there’s one major consideration for choosing your wellbeing staff board ideas. 

Firstly, it’s important to ensure any new events, ideas or general notices are relevant to your employees. The worst thing you can do is set up health and wellbeing boards that just don’t appeal, interest or concern your team. 

For instance, if you’re trying to promote healthier eating, but your office consists of a vending machine, and you regularly order fast food for lunch, it may not work. 

It’s also worth considering visual elements, like photos that are both eye-catching and inspirational - think about the power of mood boards, and how you can design your health and wellbeing boards. 

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Add annual awareness days to your display board

Throughout the year, there are many positive awareness days. These are great opportunities for both you and your team to celebrate - whether it’s a charity 5K run, Veganuary in January, or any other worthy cause to highlight to your workforce. 

Here at Heka, we make it our duty to celebrate as many awareness days as possible on LinkedIn with our audience. That’s because we know that by highlighting these events, we can prompt leaders to bring awareness to their circles too. 

As we close in on June, here are the awareness days you can add to your wellbeing display board: 

• Volunteers week, 1st to 6th June 2022 
• Pride month, the whole of June 2022
• Massage at work week, 3rd to 8th June 2022
• Bike week, 6th to 12th June 2022
• National Neuro-Disabilities day, 6th June 2022
• Aromatherapy awareness week, 6th to 12th June 2022
• Carers week 7th to 12th June 2022

As you can see, there are plenty to choose from, and tying a fundraiser into one of these awareness days and weeks is a great idea to go that extra mile. This list barely scratches the surface of awareness events in June - make sure to check them all out.

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Similar read: The HR guide to 10 impactful wellbeing ideas in 2022

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Wellbeing focused team events and get-togethers 

Trying to encourage participation in out-of-work events and get-togethers is never easy for some teams. Peple have other commitments, don’t really fancy it or just don’t want to - really, the excuses and reasons are endless. 

Having a wellbeing display board in your office can help promote and encourage participation, however. Grab a pen and an A4 piece of paper, and write the details of the next event you have planned for your team. Next, draw out some lines for employees to jot their names and highlight their intention to participate. 

By showcasing who or how many of your employees want to attend, those employees who haven’t will feel more willing to get involved. 

For instance, if you’re planning a Thursday evening game of football at your nearest pitch, write the time and date, and drop everyone an email invite. Slowly, the wellbeing display board should help you improve engagement.

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Some ideas for team social events and get-togethers:

• Group yoga classes
• 5-aside football matches
• Spa days
• Fitness classes
• Sport event tickets
• Crazy golf 
• Obstacle course events
• Hiking or cycling days

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Health and wellbeing incentive proposals

Your new wellbeing display board shouldn’t be reserved just for staff wellbeing board ideas, it should also include proposals - preferably those based on incentives and benefits in the workplace.

It’s important you are actively listening to your team and their own ideas about how to make the workplace a better environment. And believe it or not, if you’re not already hearing your team out on their thoughts, they will have plenty to share! 

Consider reserving a spot on the new wellbeing display board for employee proposals. For instance, some employees may want to switch to a remote working Thursday, or perhaps another employee would like to propose the company finishes earlier on a Friday. Whatever they believe to be beneficial for their wellbeing, tell them to write on a proposal form. 

Each week, month or quarter, take these proposals and address them one by one. There is no point in asking your team to share ideas, just to completely disregard them or ignore them totally. All great leaders know that people need to have their thoughts heard; failure to do so, and both engagement and job satisfaction can collapse very fast.

Here are a very wellbeing incentive proposals you can either add yourself or share across your team, to get their minds thinking:

• Early finish Friday’s
• Wellbeing Wednesday sessions
• Healthy office snacks
• A calm, work-free space in the office
• Flexible working hours
• Remote or hybrid working arrangements
• 1-2-1 wellbeing meetings 

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Fitness, health goals and objectives 

A lot of us set fitness and health goals throughout the year. And a lot of us simply don’t achieve them - that’s life! Using a wellbeing display board, however, you can promote good health and wellbeing habits. Running more and eating well are things that don’t benefit us unless they are done regularly. 

Think about your personal health and fitness goals, and place your intention to do more of said fitness and health goal on the noticeboard. You never know, you may encourage other team members to do the same. 

These could also be collective goals and objectives. If there are multiple employees who are trying to quit smoking, why not set up a meeting to agree on milestones and goals for quitting smoking. Trying to achieve these ambitions in public is a great way to motivate and inspire others. 

Other than smoking, objectives you can include can be to eat more vegan-friendly foods, to eat healthier generally, to cook more and avoid takeaways, to exercise X amount of times per week, and so on. The list is endless, and the ideas really just come down to what most of your team would like to achieve - and achieve together.

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Similar read: Alternative employee benefits for your team

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A clear list of employee wellbeing benefits

Your wellbeing benefits and incentives are your company’s way of showing how much you value health and happiness. Employee benefits are also vital information that often doesn’t get enough attention from leaders. 

In one survey by Covermagazine.co.uk, 501 HR leaders reported saying 42% of workers don’t know about or completely understand all of their employee benefits. This, of course, poses a problem for employee retention, engagement and job satisfaction.

Employees need to feel valued and heard, and employee benefits (granted they support health and wellbeing) can really make a difference to the lives of employees. 

In the same research, 43% of employers are said to have adapted the way in which they present and communicate their employee benefits, due in large to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking at your company, think about how well your team understand their benefits and incentives. Are their benefits easily accessible? Do you promote the kind of work culture that suggests they make use of their benefits?
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Don’t just include staff wellbeing board ideas on your display, consider listing your company’s employee benefits. Let your team know they are there and ready to be utilised. 

Create space in the top or bottom corners to attach details of website addresses, particular colleagues to speak to, or general information about employee benefits in your company.

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Mental health and wellbeing helpline numbers

Lastly, we come to health and wellbeing helpline numbers. These are a great addition to your wellbeing display board and can encourage employees to seek the help they need. For a lot of workplaces, it is still taboo to discuss financial worries, mental health problems and other personal circumstances - well it’s time to change that! 

You should already be building a culture that embraces these topics for discussion among leaders, but the addition of phone numbers and advice on your wellbeing display board is also worthwhile! In some cases, employees don’t want to come forward, and by sharing these details, you can play a part in supporting your employees. 

Essentially, your wellbeing display board has the potential to spread awareness on things people might be battling against in their personal lives. Here are just a few mental health and wellbeing helpline numbers to include among other staff wellbeing board ideas:

• Suicide Prevention Helpline UK -  0800 689 5652 
• Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) - 0800 58 58 58 
• Papyrus HOPELINEUK - 0800 068 4141
• Samaritans - 116 123
• SANEline - 0300 304 7000
• Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline - 0808 2000 247

Take a look at more emergency helplines.

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Final thoughts on setting up a wellbeing display board

As we’ve explored in this article, a wellbeing display board is a great initiative that doesn’t break the bank and allows businesses to promote healthier, happier lifestyles. it’s a simple, yet effective idea that can be updated and designed with just regular stationery.

Additionally, our list above provides you with ample opportunities for your wellbeing display board. From upcoming events to awareness days and more, your board is your company’s voice for encouraging wellbeing.

If a desire for 2023 is to increase the health of your company’s workforce, we strongly recommend starting with a wellbeing display board. Before exploring more costly initiatives, start with this one.

Not because you shouldn’t invest in employee wellbeing, but it is a given that you have a wellbeing display board if you want to promote healthier and happier living. In fact, with a few spare hours, your team could have one up and running in just a day.

While other initiatives like cash plans and other providers take time to set up, your wellbeing display board doesn’t. What we’re trying to say is, start today!

Remember, by involving your team in the creation and maintenance of the wellbeing board, you’re improving engagement and putting their needs first with the project.

You’re also able to step away and save more of your own time. As an HR manager or business leader, it’s likely you’re unable to find time to develop your board. Delegate the task, and put it in the hands of your team.

They will ultimately design and suggest ideas for the board that matter to them, not you, or the company — and there should be no problem with that!

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How can Heka help improve my wellbeing staff board ideas?

Heka is an employee wellbeing platform. Each month employers give their staff an allowance to spend on thousands of experiences, services and products. Everything from financial wellbeing, family planning and fertility, fitness and holistic health, and so much more can be purchased and booked on Heka. 

When it comes to your wellbeing display board, it could be a great idea to share the experiences, products and services your team have tried. Leaving small reviews about their experience may encourage participation on their Heka account.

Ultimately, the wellbeing display board is your chance to promote and encourage health and wellbeing, and with the addition of our Heka platform, you can use the space to shout about all the great things people are spending their allowance on. 

If you’d like to find out how existing employers are making the most of Heka, and the kind of benefits it provides their workforce, why not get in touch with us? You can arrange a 1-2-1 demo with our wellbeing experts, who will be more than happy to walk you through the features of our platform.