5 Tips for Running a Successful Wellness Challenge


A recent study found that 66% of American employees have experienced some form of burnout in 2025. So, it’s more important than ever for HR and managers to support their teams.

Remote and hybrid working also means that employees could be getting out less and spending more time staring at screens. With these shifts in how we work, it’s only natural to consider launching an employee wellness challenge to support your team’s health and wellbeing.

Read on for five actionable steps to running your own successful wellness challenge and tips on how to get started and boost participation.

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A wellness challenge at a glance: The basics

An employee wellness challenge can take on many forms, and what’s right for one organization may not be right for yours. Whatever your goals for your wellness challenge, there are a few key aspects you’ll want to consider before you get started.

Timeline: Keep it focused

The best challenge is one that can be measured. You want your time frame to be long enough to be challenging, but not so long that participants lose interest or become unmotivated. For example, your challenge might last a few weeks. One workweek is probably too short, and anything longer than a quarter risks going overboard.

You also want the goals and objectives to be clear and focused. What do you hope your company achieves with this wellness challenge? To better understand your goals, consider the kind of feedback you’d like to receive from your employees. Do you hope to see less employee burnout? More workplace positivity?

Stay focused on your time frame, goals, and framework, and you’re on the right track.

Points: Reward participation

Any good challenge has rewards. Whether your wellness challenge takes the form of a company-wide competition or employee-set, individual goals, you’ll want some way to keep track of progress to keep your reward system transparent.

We recommend using a point system, where different activities earn a certain number of points.

Activities: Be specific, yet flexible

Be specific in the kinds of activities that qualify as “high impact,” “medium impact,” or “low impact” within your point system. That might look something like this:

High-impact activities

Medium-impact activities

Low-impact activities:

Communication: Connection & accountability

Before you get started, consider how you’ll encourage participation, boost participants’ motivation, and stay connected as accountability partners and cheerleaders throughout the challenge.

It’s a good idea to use a platform your workforce is familiar and comfortable with, and that won’t get confused with essential work communications or lost in their inbox. Consider creating a Slack channel, Microsoft Teams channel, or other communication platform to keep everyone up-to-date and in the loop.

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5 tips for running a wellness challenge employees will love

Setting up an employee wellness challenge in your organization is a wonderful idea, particularly for adopting healthy behaviors and motivating co-workers. We’ve covered what you might want to consider  before  getting started, but now you’re ready to dive into a challenge of your own.

Here are our five top tips for running a corporate wellness challenge that employees will love.

1. Select a specific timeframe

People tend to struggle with commitment when a challenge or project is open-ended. This is why work projects tend to have specific deliverables—the target keeps everyone on task and focused on getting it done. It’s no different with a company wellness challenge.

Decide on a start and end date for the challenge and let everyone know well in advance. Some people might want to do a little prep before the challenge starts, such as buying a new pair of shoes if they are going to walk or run each day.

2. Pick a leader

There needs to be a go-to person available when members of your team have questions about the challenge. Knowing who is running the event and where they can turn for help will make it more appealing to participate from start to finish.

Pick someone in your organization who is a natural fit to lead the way or ask for volunteers. As the wellness challenge will likely run across diverse teams, consider appointing people from different departments to encourage seamless communication and collaboration.

3. Centralize your task management

Setting up a hub for employees to join and participate is key. Use a task management platform to track all of the to-dos necessary to manage the employee wellness challenge. This can allow the leaders to brainstorm, plan, manage, and delegate tasks. ‌With a transparent, centralized approach, you can smooth the way for your employees to fully immerse themselves in the challenge.

We would recommend the following:

What’s more, having a list of tasks to tick off fortifies your timeline and makes your goals easier to identify.

4. Decide on challenge activities

This is really what will make or break the success of your corporate wellness challenge. Having diversity within your challenge makes it more appealing to your team. Also, it better represents what you are trying to accomplish—helping everyone feel good, be productive, and grow.

Fitness-related activities are a good foundation for a wellness challenge, but they shouldn’t be the whole story. Add in things like reading, break times, sleep goals, and other activities that will encourage everyone to be more mindful of their time.

If your wellness challenge ideas are too narrow, you’ll be unintentionally discouraging some people from participating.

5. Provide a shared tracking environment

The social aspect of a wellness challenge is a big part of what makes it work. How many people try to launch new wellness habits on their own, only to quit shortly thereafter? It’s much harder to stick with something like this when you are doing it on your own.

To make sure this feels like a common effort rather than a solo venture, use a shared digital tracking location where results and time can be tracked. Even something as simple as a shared spreadsheet where activities can be recorded will do the job. Create a shared wellness challenge template for everyone to use to track their progress. Weekly check-ins can also go a long way toward keeping all participants focused on the journey.

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How to increase participation for your wellness challenge

Don’t make your wellness challenge mandatory. After all, if someone doesn’t want to do it, they won’t be motivated to engage in activities and make progress. That just defeats the whole purpose of such a program. However, you’ll want to make it as appealing as possible to all your employees.

So, what can you do to encourage widespread participation? Start with these ideas.

Make a bold announcement

If you simply drop a line to your staff through a standard company email, you may not get much of a response. Your teams are busy and probably get dozens of messages a day, after all.

Take some time to design a compelling announcement and promote it on all the communication channels you use in your business. This should be news that no one can miss, and it should encourage everyone to join.

Simplify communication

Those who do join the employee wellness challenge should find it as easy as possible to keep up and enter their stats. Pick one communication channel from the start and keep everything related to the challenge in that one place.

While digital tracking is most effective for hybrid and remote teams, you don’t need to rule out in-person participation. In the office, you could set up a tracking station in the break room or some other common space.

Keep it open

You shouldn’t exclude employees from joining a week or two into the wellness challenge. By sharing periodic updates on the status of the challenge with your whole team—not just those involved—you might catch the interest of someone who didn’t think to join when it started, but wants to jump in once they see how well it’s going.

Get some friendly competition going

Depending on your company’s culture, instilling a little friendly competition can encourage participation as well. Having weekly leaderboard updates and reminding everyone that there will be a wrap-up party with prizes can help employees stick to it. Don’t forget to total up the points at the end of each week and post a screenshot of the leaderboard to keep everyone engaged.

Host a wrap-up party

A wrap-up party recognizes everyone’s participation in your wellness challenge. It’s also a way to thank employees and celebrate them for their efforts. Giving everyone a small gift is also a nice gesture of thanks and recognition.

You may hold your wrap-up party in the same way or invite employees along for some in-office fun. As this is the end of the corporate wellness challenge, it’s also the best time to announce the winners and their prizes. Prizes can be cash, wellness or exercise accessories, such as:

Get started with your company wellness challenge

Once you begin your wellness challenge, just remember why you’re doing it—to encourage healthy habits for employees. There’s never a bad time to feel better! Find out how your staff really feels with BambooHR.

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https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/gamification-in-wellness-programs
https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/employee-mental-wellbeing
https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/creating-an-employee-benefits-package-that-will-attract-and-retain-talent
https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/when-tragedy-strikes-how-hr-employers-can-support-their-employees