How to run a workplace wellness challenge people take part in

A wellness challenge is a time-limited activity, often in teams, that encourages people to move more, sleep better or build another healthy habit. The hard part is rarely the idea. It is getting people to take part and keep going. This guide uses studies of workplace health programmes to show what gets in the way, and what to settle before you launch.

The research here comes from health-promotion programmes in nursing homes and care work, not from step challenges in offices, so treat it as a guide to the problems and not a recipe. It also says little about which activities work best.

Expect take-up to be partial

Plan for a share of your people, not all of them.

A 2015 survey of 1,833 employees, reported in a CDC Grand Rounds article, found that 45% said their employer offered a programme, and 55% of those who were offered one took part.
A Danish study of a workplace health programme cites a systematic review in which 10 to 50% of employees took part.
The CDC article says programmes that skip best practices, including a needs assessment, often have low participation.

Decide what a good result looks like before you start. If you only count total points, a small group of keen people can hide a low turnout.

Ask people what they need first

The CDC article lists a needs assessment as a best practice. Do a short one: a few questions about what people would try, what gets in their way, and when they can take part.

Then involve employees in the design. In a study of three Massachusetts nursing homes, each centre had a health and wellness team, and both managers and employees saw a wellness champion and an active team as helping the programme. The Danish interview study of care workers concluded that attendance barriers may shrink if participants help decide the content and intensity.

Give people time to take part

Time was the biggest obstacle in the nursing home study. Employees, team members and managers all named release time, meaning time off duty to take part, as the main barrier. The authors say it was the root cause of low front-line participation. Managers and employees suggested shorter meetings and treating activities like staff training so people could leave their duties without worry.

The Danish study found similar problems: of nine care workers interviewed, eight said training held outside normal work hours was a barrier, six cited inflexible work, and many felt guilty about leaving colleagues to cover.

Nursing homes have tight staffing, so your office may not be this hard. The lesson holds: if the challenge sits on top of a full workload, people will skip it. Put it in working time where you can, and say so.

Keep it optional, and say so

Say plainly that taking part is optional and that no one is judged for opting out. This is a recommendation, not a finding from these studies. Rules on workplace wellness programmes, incentives and health data vary by country and change over time, and these sources do not cover current law. Check your local rules with your HR or legal adviser before offering rewards or collecting health information.

Communicate, resource it, and avoid top-down surprises

The nursing home study named poor communication, a top-down decision structure and a lack of funding as barriers. Each centre started with a small annual budget of $700 for health promotion, and the corporate company later cut it. Two of the nine Danish care workers said the programme did not match what they were told beforehand.

So tell people what the challenge is, what it asks of them, how long it runs and what happens at the end. Keep telling them while it runs. Agree a budget, and agree who owns it.

Design the competition so most people can win

If your challenge uses teams or a leaderboard, the design matters. A 2026 structured review of 18 studies on gamification in workplace health programmes (with no formal quality appraisal) found that:

leaderboards invite people to compare themselves with others, and comparing upward can lower self-esteem for those who fall behind;
the effect of competition depends on design: optional competition and positive feedback support motivation, while required competition undermines it;
one study used activity-based leagues so that every employee had an equal chance to succeed;
in a trial of financial incentives for steps, only a combined individual and team incentive produced a significant effect, while individual-only and team-only incentives did not.

In practice, that points to team goals, several ways to earn recognition, and not ranking individuals in public. Publish how scoring works before the challenge starts. The guide to fair team scoring covers rosters, published rules and comparing teams of different sizes.

Be modest about the results

Be careful about promising health gains. The CDC article says its employer-reported benefits come from surveys and that results have been mixed, and a programme existing does not guarantee people use it or benefit. The Illinois Workplace Wellness Study, a randomised study of 4,834 employees, found no significant difference in absenteeism between the treatment and control groups in the part reported in its abstract, and the authors note that most evidence comes from comparing participants with non-participants. People who join a voluntary programme may differ from those who do not.

Set goals you can check: how many people joined, how many kept going, and what they said afterwards.

A checklist before you launch

A short needs check: what would people try, and what stops them?
A small group of employees helping to design it
Time to take part inside working hours, where you can
A plain statement that taking part is optional
Published scoring and rules, with team goals and more than one way to be recognised
A budget and an owner
Clear messages before and during the challenge
Participation and feedback as the measures, not only totals
A check of local rules with HR or a legal adviser if you offer rewards or collect health data

Where this fits

A wellness challenge is one kind of team contest. The first internal hackathon guide covers another. If you want a place to run a team competition like this, see Arena for companies.