You may be thinking: What? This year just started! Believe it or not, wellness calendar season starts pretty early, with many of our clients placing orders as early as March. This is especially true for those who are looking for custom features, such as unique cover art or reminders for company events.
Maybe you’re also wondering: Who uses calendars these days? With the rise of the smartphone and digital timekeeping, a paper wall calendar might seem a little old-fashioned. But you might be surprised at how many people still use them every day, especially at their desk.
Some prefer information available at-a-glance. (Let’s be honest — we all lose track of what day it is.) Others like the physicality of a printed calendar, while some like the simplicity of having one calendar, in one place, that doesn’t require syncing across applications and devices. For whatever reason, calendars remain a popular item to give to your employees as part of wellness promotion efforts.
Here are 6 creative ways to use them in your workplace:
- Offer wellness calendars as an incentive. Want more employees to get a flu shot? Looking to improve attendance at a lunch-and-learn? Offering a free wellness calendar as an incentive to participate is a great way to bring more employees to your health-related events, or encourage participation in health risk assessments.
- Give away wellness calendars as prizes. For completing surveys, winning contests or at health fairs, company parties, or achieving a health goal.
- Promote calendars as a health tracking tool. Many wellness calendars include space for tracking health information such as blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, preventive screenings and health tests. Pick a calendar with plenty of room for vital stats tracking and encourage your employees to use it to get healthier!
- Bundle wellness calendars with other communications. Distribute wellness calendars with your first health newsletter of the year, with open enrollment packets, or with flyers for upcoming health events. Or include a healthy perk when you distribute the calendars, like a list of healthy local take-out options or a map of walking routes on your workplace campus.
- Build in company events and healthy activities in your community. It requires a little planning, but if you already have a schedule of next year’s events, why not print them in your wellness calendar so your employees can plan ahead? Include health fairs, open enrollment, company holidays, outings, retreats or seasonal events. Or make note of events in your community, like charity walks/runs, or contact information for local community fitness centers.
- Celebrate National Health Observances. Let your employees know when your company — and the rest of the country — will be observing Heart Health Month, Mental Health Month, American Diabetes Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Download a sample of the AIPM 2023 Well-Being Calendar here.