What Are the Best Strategies for Getting My Employees to Sign Up?

It would be nice if you could just say, “We’re doing this!” and have everyone in your company required to sign up. But that’s not the world we live in (unless you’re signing up your military unit!)

So how do you get your people excited enough to want to give it a go?

• First, get your managers and leaders on board. If you have an executive or leadership team, make sure they are all on board and signed up. If you’ve got regional managers, sign them up. In order to seed their participation, consider paying each of their registration fees in full. Leadership by example - it works.
• Create fun incentives in the workplace:
  • Players can come to work an hour late or leave an hour early on Wednesdays.
  • Fridays are wear-your-workout-clothes-to-work days for Challenge participants.
  • Organize a potluck lunch once a week for employees to bring compliant foods.
  • Bring a yoga instructor into the workplace once a week to offer a free class.
  • Organize lunchtime walks so players can fulfill their exercise and bond together.
  • Hang a bulletin board where Challenge participants can post recipes, photos, or invitations to workouts or activities.
• Publicize and offer a weekly raffle for players who log scores each day. Give out meaningful prizes to winners based on participation only. Prizes could include cash, gift cards, bill payment, a one-month gym membership, etc. This also serves as an incentive for employees to continue participating.
• Offer meaningful prizes for completion. You’ll have “attendance” info on on all your players (who continued showing up and logging a score for eight weeks). As a way to encourage people to both sign up for the Challenge and see it through to the finish, you can offer incentives for people who entered a score for at least 30 days (or however many you want). Prizes might include:
  • $200 gift card to a local grocery store
  • Membership to a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
  • Membership for a few months to a local gym
  • Gift certificate for an “expensive” dinner to a five-star restaurant