Wellness trends and apps for remote teams in 2021

Most of us thought by 2021 the pandemic would be a thing of the past, and the new normality would not actually become the normality. But a year has gone by and here we are: still working from home and still learning to stay together as a team through these rough times.

During that long year, we've discovered how important it is to put your well-being first, and make sure to encourage your team to do the same. After all, a healthy team is a happy team. And we are not the only ones that have come to this conclusion: according to the New York Times the average budget spent on well-being programs by companies increased 40% in 2020, reaching $4.9 million.

But what are these companies spending their well-being budget on? A lot of things. From yoga classes, and parent support groups to meditation with sheep. But besides the sheep, there's also the simple things. Just staying connected to your team, taking the time to see each other, laugh and talk about the little things can go a long way. At Hattrick for example, we love to share lunch together once every two weeks, to spend some time together. Staying away from each other does not mean we can't stay connected!

Companies worldwide have started to pay more attention to the well-being of their employees, luckily there are some amazing apps out there that can help do the job. Some of our team's favorites are:

1. Calm

A classic in the mindfulness space. Calm offers daily meditations, guided meditations with smooth voices and cozy soundscapes, and targeted meditations to reduce stress, sleep better or improve your focus, among others.

In the last year, with the world of wellness moving online just like the rest of the world, the app saw 100% growth on their corporate partnerships, bringing 10 million new users into the app.

2. Walker Tracker

Walker Tracker focuses on team building while staying healthy. It lets you create wellness challenges and provides a leader board for your team to track the process.

It's a fun way to engage with your colleagues while staying healthy, especially now that all our activities are done on the screen and we are staying on our chairs for longer hours, with less commuting, and less walking around to get lunch or a coffee.

3. Headspace

Very similar to Calm, Headspace is a mindfulness app that offers meditation lessons to improve your sleep, improve your focus and even a move mode, if you are looking to do some physical exercise besides mental exercise.

It is one of the most popular mindfulness apps out there, did you know it even has its own Netflix show?

Headspace is rooted on Burmese and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It provides general meditation lessons, and also more targeted ones that treat specific topics like stress and sleep. It's available in 5 different languages and can be used both in the app version or on the browser version.

4. Elevate

Besides training your body, you should also train your mind! Elevate offers fun, engaging puzzles and games to improve cognitive skills like comprehension, memory, and focus.

With over 10 million downloads, the app is great for mental breaks through the day, and it was designed together with education experts, and it's heavily focused on scientific research.

5. Beditations

Our third favorite in the mindfulness world is close to our heart. Beditations offers a range of meditations focused on improving the quality of your sleep. But not only that, after falling asleep to their sessions, you can totally ditch your alarm and wake up to one of their morning meditations.

The app helps you ease into sleep, while teaching you techniques to relieve stress and anxiety.

We are experiencing a difficult time in history, and wellness apps can help you and your team build healthy routines and improve your daily lives. If you are still wondering why companies are investing so much in their teams well-being, keep in mind their benefits are even bigger, since it directly improves productivity and performance. Happier and healthier teams just deliver more

How is your team experiencing the shift in well-being to the virtual world? Is your company already using some of these apps? Does your team have any favorites? We’d love to add new suggestions to our list!