10 Hot Employee Wellbeing Initiatives to Try in 2025
- By The FruitGuys
- Last Updated On
- Reading Time: 6 mins.
If your team’s energy has taken a hit lately (thanks, return-to-office growing pains), this is a great time to refresh your benefits package with their engagement and wellbeing in mind. To help you get started, we put together a list of 10 hot employee wellbeing initiatives we’ve seen during our recent visits to offices across the country.
Some of these are simple and affordable, while others have a real “wow” factor! Check out the list, then choose one (or more) to try in your workplace.
1. Homey Features and Decor
As companies shift from remote work back to in-office or hybrid schedules, they’re doing their best to bring a sense of “home” to their break rooms and shared spaces.
“Employers want people to feel like they’re still at home, even when they’re at the office,” said Steffy Araujo, an East Coast key account manager for The FruitGuys.
Steffy spends a big chunk of her time visiting offices in New York City and beyond, checking in with The FruitGuys’ customers to see how they’re enjoying our fresh fruit and snack deliveries.
She’s seen this trend show up in touches like cozy lighting, comfortable couches, office gyms and showers, and “dedicated fridges for lunches people bring in.” If you’re on a budget, this is an easy initiative to experiment with.
2. Week-Long Open Enrollment Celebrations
Can enrolling in benefits actually be a benefit? It can! Companies are getting creative to make open enrollment more exciting, and one office we visited turns the period into a week-long interactive event.
“They make it fun by having several different wellness vendors come in and show off their services. Last year, they had masseuses on site, so employees were able to sign up for benefits and then get a 15-minute massage. They’ve had The FruitGuys on site, too, to get employees thinking about healthy eats,” Steffy said.
To try this in your own office, reach out to your vendors to see what they could demonstrate for your employees. It might surprise you how eager they are to meet your team. Here at The FruitGuys, we love bringing experiences like farmers’ markets and seasonal fruit tasting to the workplace.
3. Free Meals and Snacks
Free snacks have long been one of employees’ favorite workplace perks. But now, companies with larger budgets are going a step further and offering free breakfast, lunch, and dinner on-site. This is a great opportunity to give your team’s mental and physical wellbeing a boost by offering healthy options. You can also make people from different backgrounds feel welcome through food.
“Companies with cafeterias or who use catering services are now focusing on a lot of different cultures and dietary preferences like plant-based diets and allergies,” said Erin Mittelstaedt, CEO of The FruitGuys. “And they’re interested in supporting small businesses. We’ve also seen a lot of interest in our Farm-Fit program, which helps offices and universities bring in more products from farms owned by people from underrepresented communities into their dining programs.”
Erin regularly visits offices in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles to meet with The FruitGuys’ clients and talk about how snacks support employee wellbeing and productivity.
4. Employee Traffic Flow Tracking
Tech tools and AI are revolutionizing the workplace this year, and that includes employee wellbeing initiatives. Some companies we’ve visited are using these tools on top of old go-tos like cameras and badge scans to track where their employees move and gather in the office.
Monitoring employee traffic flow can help you see which of your office’s snack stations are the most popular, when your team is grabbing a bite, and how often they take breaks (an important factor in wellbeing). From there, you can use this data to optimize your snack setup, time your restocks, and shift company policies to encourage more wellness-focused behavior.
5. Indulgent Drinks in the Break Room
Better-for-you sodas like Poppi and Olipop are having a moment, and employers have noticed. In her visits, Erin sees a lot of those “drinks that aren’t soda” popping up in break rooms, from prebiotic and probiotic beverages to cold foam makers that help employees level up their iced coffees.
High-tech Bevi water dispensers—which encourage teams to stay hydrated by offering fun options like sparkling water and fruity flavor add-ins—are another option to try if you’re looking for a one-stop solution.
6. Gardens and Beehives on the Roof
Spending time in nature is great for our mental health, and companies have found creative ways to bring nature to the office for their teams. In Virginia, we visited a workplace with beehives on the roof! Employees could tend the bees and then enjoy the honey on toast or drizzled over yogurt bowls in the break room below.
Steffy has also seen this trend popping up in New York City, where she’s based.
“They’ll either have beehives on their roof or they’ll do a community building garden,” Steffy said. “Then employees get the opportunity to pick fresh produce from the garden, and they’re also able to consume the honey. It’s so special because everything is local.”
7. Value-Aligned Vendors and Policies
Employees are happier when they work for companies that share their values, so workplaces are exploring more ways to showcase what they stand for. We’ve seen offices amping up their sustainability initiatives (office composting is a big one) and choosing vendors that offer products from small, local, and minority-owned businesses.
“I’ve seen a huge trend in people wanting to support women-owned brands,” Steffy said. “There’s been a lot of conversation about The FruitGuys’ transition to being women-owned and the fact that we support local businesses through our snack program. People are really excited to know that we donate food once a week on their behalf and fund sustainability projects through our GoodWorks program.”
8. On- and Off-Site Entertainment
To keep employees engaged and stave off the “Great Detachment,” companies are bringing live entertainment to the office—or bringing their teams to the fun.
Steffy visited one client that had a full-on stage in the center of one of the floors they occupied for live concerts and Q&As with popular figures like sports stars. At another company, employees told her they take “field trips” to a local farm to pick fresh produce. And at a third, she walked right into a tea party.
“They had the whole shebang—the teapots, the three-tiered trays of snacks. It was gorgeous!” Steffy said. “… The tea party idea was something new that they were trying, and it looked like the employees were having so much fun. It was like 10 in the morning, and they were chitchatting and getting energized before going back to their desks.”
Here at The FruitGuys, we’ve seen an uptick in requests for engagement events like farmers markets and fruit tastings, which we’re happy to organize for offices.
9. Hybrid Flexibility
We’d be remiss not to mention hybrid and flexible work policies in this list of hot employee wellbeing initiatives.
“I’m seeing a trend just in general of people [in admin roles] understanding that life-work balance looks a lot different than it did before the pandemic. Even though, yes, certain companies are going back to the office five days a week, for the most part, I’ve seen three days,” Steffy said.
Hybrid arrangements seem to be a sweet spot for many teams: They feel connected to their coworkers but also have the freedom to stay home with a sick child or work while they travel.
10. Healthy Building Upgrades
Last but not least, we’ve noticed companies upgrading the behind-the-scenes parts of their buildings in the name of employee wellbeing. They’re improving airflow, adjusting lighting, minimizing noise, and optimizing heating and air conditioning.
The healthy building certification program WELL is one way businesses like yours can show off this commitment. One study of WELL Certified buildings found that these changes had a big impact; employees in healthy buildings were almost 30% more satisfied with their jobs, rated their wellbeing 26% higher, and reported increases in mental health, physical health, and productivity.
Start Refreshing Your Employee Wellbeing Initiatives Today
Some of these employee wellbeing initiatives—like expanding your break room drink selection—are quick and easy to try out. Others will take more time, but they might have even bigger wellbeing returns.
If you’d like to jump in with an on-site farmers market or office fruit tasting, our team at The FruitGuys can help make it happen. We’ll deliver all of the fresh produce and snacks you need and provide support to make sure your event goes smoothly. Check out our seasonal event list to get started.
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