Getting an entire staff to participate in your worksite wellness program is a struggle. You can throw a health fair, build a healthy cafeteria and enact a powerhouse incentives program, but the fact remains that in a typical workplace, it’s going to be almost impossible to get every single employee engaged. What if you could guarantee that every employee would participate in extra physical activity while at work? It’s easier than you think, thanks to a new trend called active design.

When enacted in the workplace, active design encourages people to lead healthier lifestyles in order to boost morale, lower insurance costs and make employees more productive. Employers often look at this thoughtful architectural principle when building a new facility or considering a complete redesign of an existing space, but the basics of active design can be applied to offices for little to no cost to the employer, creating a win-win for any workplace.

The key to implementing active design in an office is to focus on walking and shared spaces. Encouraging use of the stairs, strategic placing of often-used items like the coffeemaker or printer, and creating areas for impromptu standup meetings are all easy ways to get your employees moving without a lot of hard work or financial investment.

Want a complete list of low-cost ways you can make your office more active? Download our handy guide.

To measure the effectiveness of your active design implementations, consider running employee health
screenings before you move things around and then again a year later.

How could you implement these ideas in your office? Share your thoughts below.