Promoting wellness in the workplace

Helping promote wellness in your next promotional marketing campaign

Did you know that 13.7 million working days are lost to stress, depression and anxiety every year in the UK?

A 2024 study by Champion Health found that 79% of employees reported that they felt moderate-to-high or high levels of stress from their workplace. This represented a 14% increase from 2022, with over a third of all participants reporting that these stresses had negatively impacted their work productivity.

But it’s not just inside the workplace; stress is building across the country. With financial pressures growing and disproportionately affecting younger employees, as well as access to mental health services becoming harder to access, it is clear that something needs to be done before stress levels become unmanageable.

Wellbeing is no longer a buzzword or a throwaway. Wellbeing in the workplace is now a top priority for both your people and your business as a whole. With figures worryingly growing over the last few years, helping your employees take care of themselves and their work-life balance is win/win and more financially efficient in the long term.

So, what does promotional merchandise have to do with well-being?

Now we’re not going to pretend that such a serious topic can be immediately fixed with promotional merchandise. Let’s not be silly. As it stands, a high workload is the biggest factor contributing to negative stress, and no amount of branded merchandise can change that.

However, there is proven value in ensuring that your workforce feels respected and rewarded. Branded gifts are a fantastic, cost-effective tool to do just that. In fact, 29% of all surveyed employees stated that a lack of support and respect was causing negative stress at work.

In 2022, research from Wildgoose looked into employee recognition in the UK. Over 72% of interviewed employees believed that they deserved more recognition from their employer. Further research found that the less-recognised employees are 131% more likely to lose faith in their management and the company’s core values, and twice as likely to become less productive.

In short, appreciation isn’t always free, but under-appreciation can cost a lot more.

So why not reward your employees for their hard work and let them know you appreciate everything they do?

Stress Reduction Gifts

As stress is the largest negative factor in the workplace, why not choose gifts that can help alleviate that stress? Offer an opportunity for your colleagues, clients and employees to wind down and relax after work.

We offer essential oils, diffusers, candles and bath products that contain relaxing or calming ingredients such as chamomile and neroli. A majority of our bath products can be branded with full colour and offer extra space to create on-brand, tranquil designs that elevate your logo.

Our top pick would be the Pulse Point collection; it’s perfect for any scenario and can easily be placed in your pocket or bag. Apply the oils at home, in the office or while commuting. Each scent provides a natural remedy for stress, sleep, unwinding, and can even be invigorating. The box is branded as a standard, with the option to brand each oil roller to create a bespoke gift set.

Self Care Gifts

Reducing stress is only one factor when it comes to looking after yourself, physically, emotionally and mentally. Promoting your own health is important and we have great tools to help support all the factors of self-care.

Care for your body with our range of lotions and massagers, combined with stress-relieving gifts to create an ultimate self-care gift set. These gifts have long-term usability and will create a positive impact of your brand each time they’re picked up and appreciated.

Promote a positive mindset with reflection journals, daily planners and even colouring sets. Journals help create structure, encourage organisation and allow for self-reflection towards personal growth. Colouring books had a huge surge during COVID lockdowns and continue to be therapeutic tools for adults to unwind and shift focus from their day.

Our top pick would be the custom branded wellness journals. These journals are a fantastic tool to help your customers or colleagues improve their moods and help organise their work-life balance.

The journal opens with nine pages of self-reflection written by Karin Blak, a wellness and therapy author, explaining the benefits and useful applications of the book. The remaining 144 pages of the book work as a daily planner with areas to explore and track your mood and feelings.

With pages for self-reflection to monitor feelings and growth, these books are a great tool to not only say you care about your employees but to prove it too. Made in the UK with recycled paper and recycled cover options, these journals not only benefit the owner but also have environmental benefits. Additionally, we have a Student Planner that’s aimed at the education industry, helping students seek help and create a better structure while they study.

Healthy Habits & Lifestyle Gifts

Exercise, sleep, hydration and diet are all key components to creating healthy habits and improving general lifestyle.

Staying fit and active contributes to having a well-balanced mental health and positive well-being. Exercise reduces stress and anxiety and gives your body an energy boost. 70% of people who do less than 150 minutes a week of exercise experience at least mild symptoms of depression, compared to 56% of people who do over 150 minutes a week.

Utilise our fitness range and provide simple exercising tools like yoga mats, resistance bands and fitness trackers. We offer products in every area of sports from golf to football, cricket to rugby and we can even brand surfboards! However you want to get fit and active, let us provide the branded equipment to help.

Staying hydrated and eating a balanced diet is a simple way to improve your general well-being. Adding fluid intake markers to your branded bottle encourages daily water intake. Providing reusable lunch and snack boxes encourages clients or colleagues to bring homemade food rather than dashing out at lunch to grab fast food! You don’t even have to purchase a specific bottle for water measurements; we can simply incorporate a scale within your artwork to wrap around a bottle.

Our top pick would be the Zip + Sip water bottle, it combines functionality with convenience. The bottle is a reusable drinkware item that helps keep you hydrated, but also contains a handy zippered compartment that allows you to store items like a key, card or your phone. This bottle is ideal for taking on a run, to the gym or out on a walk as it allows you to store important belongings easily, without the need for pockets.

Utilise this bottle for your healthy habit campaigns as it provides extra convenience for those who like to be minimal while exercising.

All of these elements, healthy habits, self care and stress relieving, all play an important part in your general wellbeing. Each concept links together, and any product can relate to any aspect of improving your emotional, physical and mental mind.

If you’d like to find out more about promoting wellness in your place of work, why not speak to a member of our team today. Call us on 01234 841741 or email us at sale@sycal.co.uk.

#NationalWellnessMonth