Category — Wellness Programs

Ideally, you’ll create an overall plan for a wellness program before starting to plan specific wellness programs. for example, you can begin by getting the following elements in place –

• support from senior level management

• A wellness committee or team

• information about the wellness needs and interests of employees

• A budget

• health promotion program objectives

• An evaluation plan

Even if you have few financial and/or HR, you can still take a “micro” approach. for  instance, you may focus on only one specific issue or problem. Creativity, enthusiasm and planning can help you overcome limitations.

This article will give you some ideas for establishing up health promotion programs. Even the smallest steps can have an impact.

Whether you choose to start with a single health promotion program or create something larger, planning is essential. First think about the big picture and then look after the details.

Ask yourself these questions –

• Identify an action. What health-related wellness program will fit the bill and best suit the personnel and organization?

• Promote. Just how can you most effectively get the word out to employees? What are the opportunities for promotion? Consider everything, because staff have access to and pay attention to different kinds of messages.

In a average worksite, workers get information from e-mail, newsletters, bulletins, flyers, meeting announcements and fellow workers.

• Deliver. Who’s the best person or group to put the health promotion program into action? Ask other organizations about approaches they have used. Decide on your budget before making a decision.

• Evaluate. What should you evaluate to determine success? Do you need hard data and/or testimonials from individual participants?

We recommend the following when planning your wellness program –

• creating and communicating clear health promotion program objectives

• Targeting your audience

• determining on the type of health promotion program or campaign

The Elements of Wellness Programming

Programs to promote wellness in the worksite do not need to be restricted to a single area. You may think corporate health promotion only involves promoting positive personal health, e.g., blood pressure (BP) clinics, pamphlets on heart disease, “lunch and learn” workshops on consuming habits and short-term physical activity programs.

These activities are important, but company wellness should also be part of a organization’s organization strategy and go beyond traditional wellness programming.

Taking a broader approach, the National Quality Institute lately identified three key elements of a healthful workplace –

• physical environment

• social environment and personal resources

• health practices

Specific Program Ideas

Physical Environment

Look after workers’ health and safety and establish regulations to support their health and safety. Consider providing the following –

• Safe bike storage and shower and/or change facilities for cyclists and other commuters.

• Fridges for personnel to keep snacks and meals fresh and/or healthful snacks in vending machines and cafeterias.

• Ergonomic assessments.

• Subsidies to help staff members join local recreation centers.

• Classrooms/conference rooms available for booking activities such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation and aerobics.

• Safe and pleasant stairwells that invite staff members to use them.

• Reviewing the potential for violence at work with plans to deal with such risks.

• Good lighting and sound and air quality.

Social Environment

Human relationships and communication, in addition to ways of doing company, can affect an staff member’s mental and physical health. Organizations ought to consider the following –

• respectful worksite policies that provide safe worksites

• policies on flex time

• policies on working from home

• staff member satisfaction surveys

• leadership coaching

• resiliency training

• worker assistance programs

To foster a positive social culture or climate, consider employees’ needs, which include –

• being respected

• A sense of belonging, purpose and mission

• freedom of expression

• protection from harassment and discrimination

What you’ve “always done” may not address current staff member needs. Ensuring that people  enjoy being at work isn’t an easy task, but making the right changes can have a huge impact.

Health Practices

Make available wellness programs and set policies that help staff members remain healthful or improve their health while at work. Consider offering the following –

• “Lunch and learn sessions” on healthy habits such as sleeping better, consuming on the run, healthy snacks, using a pedometer, pole walking, work-life balance, time management, stress management, resiliency, parenting and reading nutrition labels.

• Stop tobacco use clinics or subsidies to help workforce quit.

• Health risk appraisals, including fitness assessments.

• Programs to address the issues raised in the health risk appraisals.

• Healthy snacks served at meetings and conferences.

Personal Employee Wellness Tips

When there’s no wellness program at your workplace, do not let that stop you from keeping healthy. Perhaps your example will spark a movement toward a healthier workplace.

Here are a few ideas to think about –

• be active at work. There are many ways to bring activity into your workday. Walk to work, even if it’s just one way. Hold walking meetings. Bike to work. Use the stairs. Walk to a workmate’s office instead of sending an e-mail.

• Eat well at work. Pack a healthy snack and meal. Place a bottle of water at your desk or workstation. Eat breakfast and eat regularly during the day. Take turns bringing a basket of fruit for peers’ snacks. Order healthy snacks for meetings.

• Maintain work-life balance. Be sure to work efficiently so you can leave on time. Conduct short, effective meetings. Leave your work at work and don’t take it home.

Minimize social chit-chat. Be sure to set up your office to enhance your work. Prevent clutter. Plan and prioritize to ensure that the most crucial things get done first.

There is no limit to the number or variety of wellness programs. A key to success is planning well and ensuring that you can evaluate the results so that you can sustain momentum.

Talk to other wellness practitioners to figure out what works well for them. Listen to your coworkers to determine their needs and interests.  And don’t forget to promote, promote, promote.

Many corporations recognize the need for a robust strategy to help their staff members be the best they can be.

They also know that successful and sustainable health promotion programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your health promotion program ought to include a broad range of key elements, including –

• A clear agenda or statement of goals.

• A plan characterized by passion.

• An effective leader who is creative and organized.

• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overall vision.

• A measurable strategy (what’s important gets measured!).

• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Developing Your Wellness Program

Plan carefully to ensure that your wellness program is seen as part of a wide commitment to maintaining the health and safety of all workforce. Yes, building a good plan takes a lot of effort and time (and sometimes resources).

But planning is essential and well worth the investment required.  As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You could begin by conducting a recent survey of staff member needs and interests. If you take this route, pay attention to the results and plan thus. If you don’t, the staff won’t support the wellness program.

Gathering information about what you are already offering is also a good idea. for example, you may be surprised by your business or company’s current wellness and health policies.

Another important step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable goals to help you determine priorities, timelines and the resources required to launch the health promotion program. be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Leadership

The leader of your health promotion program must be able to wear many hats.  The leader’s duties include –

• Creating a vision of the health promotion program after receiving input from all interested workforce.

• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the business (to upper-level managers and fellow personnel alike).

• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.

• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.

• Developing and maintaining leadership skills like giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avoid becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term objectives at the starting so that you get immediate and visible results.

These first steps are the basis for a successful wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many individuals  as possible in the health promotion program. for  instance, you’ll want to form a committee made up of a diverse group of personnel to provide advice during the planning phase. This approach will –

• Make certain to help you to obtain valuable information from all parts of the organization.

• Create ambassadors who will help you implement the health promotion program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always rememberhow you’ll monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Investigation permits you to –

• Identify areas of excellence.

• Identify factors that affect participation in your wellness programs.

• Gain management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).

• Better understand issues that need attention.

• Learn from mistakes and change the health promotion program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your health promotion program, you are able to measure such things as –

• Worker absences.

• Staff Member turnover rates.

• The price of your staff member assistance program.

• The fee of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.

• The cost of your drug plan.

• Accident rates and safety records.

• Employees’ participation in health promotion programs (and whether they’re staying in the health promotion programs).

• Changes in employees’ health habits.

• Level of employees’ awareness of healthful lifestyle issues.

• Results of your environmental wellness audit.

• Other noticeable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan provides ongoing information to personnel (including senior level managers) and fosters excitement about the health promotion program.

Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. for example, you could recognize people who’ve assisted set up the wellness program or offer tangible rewards for achieving goals.

Everybody needs to know whether personnel are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some benefit from them. Showing that a health promotion program has financial benefits is usually an important factor in maintaining strong support from the top.

If you pay attention to the key elements of your health promotion program and communicate openly and continuously while planning and delivering it, you’ll lay a solid foundation and leave a legacy that lasts.

How does exercise fit into a full-time worker’s busy schedule? Often, it doesn’t.

One possible solution to this challenge is to make physical activity a part of the work day. Clearly, being active at work is advantageous for staff members.

But employers also benefit from having fit, energetic and healthful employees who are more productive.

The challenges

Your job takes up a lot of your time. In addition to the hours you spend actually working, there’s the time required to get to and from work and take lunch and rest breaks during the work day.

In the end, there are a limited number of hours left over for the rest of your life. This work life imbalance is in particular true for Alberta, where statistics show that we work exceptionally hard.

A lot of jobs today are sedentary, and many Americans drive to work.  The pressures of work might also cause us to eat lunch at our desks and skip breaks.

Then, after work or on the weekends we juggle household chores, family responsibilities and social engagements.

Wellness Programs –  Get started on a worksite fitness program

Management plays a key role in creating a culture that promotes health.  The leaders at your workplace influence the various policies and the informal or formal practices, and these policies and practices affect your attitude towards healthful active living.

Begin by talking to your boss about the benefits of a healthy active worksite.  The best way to ensure the success of a worksite fitness program is to have the senior level management on side and cheering you on.

Ask your boss to consider taking these actions –

• Send a memo or message about the importance of health and healthful living that encourages staff to take an active break each day.

• Give for flexible work hours that help staff to be more physically active. for  instance, they might need to take a longer lunch break to attend an exercise class, making up the time by coming to work early or staying late.

• Make available a meeting room or other suitable office space for noon-hour yoga or exercise classes, and hire a teacher to lead them, or use videos.

If your boss agrees to support a worksite fitness program, don’t forget to say thanks.

You don’t need an on-site health club

Only very big organizations can afford onsite fitness facilities such as exercise equipment or squash courts. Still, most corporations can take other low cost steps to support personnel who wish to become more active.

For  instance –

• Arrange for discounted fees for staff at a health club, recreation centeror YMCA facility.

• Install showers and a place to hang a towel. (Be sure the showers are cleaned regularly and that women who use them will feel secure.)

• Install bicycle racks or a locked enclosure that is safe, conveniently located and well lighted.

• Hold walking meetings and set up lunch-hour walking groups

• Make staff cognizant of safe and pleasant walking routes near the workplace, in addition to nearby facilities that offer fitness programs (such as walking, swimming, running, yoga, stretching).

• Hire a qualified instructor to teach staff about health, fitness and how to become more active.

Any size and kind of worksite can support personnel who wish to be physically active. It’s highly desirable to get senior management on side.

Even when your boss is not supportive, you can still find ways to get moving more. Make sure to set up activities for groups and person, and encourage your peers to join in.

We all know that physical activity is an important part of health and wellness. But sometimes it is hard to find time for physical activity.

Lack of time is the number one barrier that people  say avoids them from participating in exercise on a regular basis.

The good news is that even short sessions of physical activity help your health. Research has shown that 10-minute sessions that add up to between 30 and 60 minutes a day can produce meaningful health benefits.

Likewise, there are numerous ways busy individuals  can use to be more active. These strategies include –

• multi-tasking

• being active at work

• being active with loved ones

• scheduling activity into daily life

Different strategies work for different individuals . Being familiar with the different strategies is key to adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle.

Read on to check out strategies you can try. With enough commitment, some of them are sure to work for you.

Strategy #1 –  Multi-tasking

The first strategy you can attempt is multi-tasking. This means doing things you already do, but in a more physically active way.

This way you get done what you need to get done and you get physical activity at the same time.

For example, you are already travelling to work and other places. Instead of taking the automobile or the bus every time, try using active methods of transportation like bicycling, skating, walking and skateboarding.

When you cannot use active transportation for a whole trip, try to be active for at least part of the trip. When you’re riding the bus, for example, get off a few blocks early and walk the rest of the way.

Active transportation benefits your body by increasing your activity level, and it also benefits your neighbourhood and the environment by decreasing the number of cars on the road.

You can also get exercise while doing housework and chores.

When you’re working around home, attempt to be creative and look for the active choice. for  instance, if you’re cleaning the crack between the fridge and the counter, why not move the fridge so you can clean the area better and build your strength at the same time?

For outdoor work, opt for the old-fashioned way of doing things, as they’re usually more active. for example, use a snow shovel rather than a snow blower.

Strategy #2 –  be Active at Work

Many American Citizens spend eight hours a day or more working at a sedentary job. Here are a few simple ways to keep your body moving during the workday.

The exercise will revitalize you and help you be more productive.

When you are working at your desk, try sitting on a stability ball or disk for part of your day (30 minutes to an hour). This gives your back and abs a workout.

Take active breaks at least once a day. During your coffee break, attempt doing some yoga, stretching or taking a quick walk.

You might find that walking up and down the stairs a few times does a better job of rejuvenating you than the java jolt.

Speaking of the stairs, take them in lieu of the elevator whenever you can.  The stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

Organize walking meetings at work. Getting outside and having meetings in a less formal establishing is a great way to be active, makes the workday more fun and encourages creative ideas for work projects.

Strategy #3 –  be Active With Your Loved Ones

Do physical activity with your family, friends, neighbours and pets. With this strategy, you and your loved ones are doing some excellent multi-tasking together –  enjoying quality time with each other and getting some physical activity that you all need to be healthy.

Go for walks, swims or bike rides together. Play Frisbee, soccer and other games and sports together. When you take your kids to the park, play with them in lieu of just watching them play.

A lot of community facilities offer classes that keep you and your children active at the same time. Research these classes and take one or two.

You can even be active when you are watching your kids do activities without you. for  instance, if your child plays hockey, take the opportunity to walk up and down the stairs in the stands a few times.

When you feel self-conscious about doing it alone, why not gather a group of parents to do it together?

Strategy #4 –  Schedule Physical Activity into Your Day

Schedule your physical activity directly into your daytimer. Make sure to set a specific time and place for exercising. Make your physical activity appointments a priority, just as important as any other appointment you put in your daytimer.

To help you stay committed to your exercise appointments, you may want to make appointments that involve other people  - such as by meeting with a fitness trainer, taking an exercise class or jogging with a friend.

When you’re not sure how many appointments to make or what you ought to be doing during your appointments, attempt consulting with a personal trainer. A personal trainer can help you develop a exercise plan and schedule.

The bottom line –  find out what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to other individuals  about how they keep active and what strategies they use.

Be creative and patient while you determine what strategies work best for you.  And be aware that your “best strategy” may change from time to time.

With enough effort, you will discover what works for you. Then, run with it!

• Commit to workplace physical activity in policy statements and commit funding to physical activity initiatives.

• Clearly communicating the benefits of being physically active during the workday reinforces the organization’s commitment to helping all personnel be active.

Use meetings, bulletin boards, newsletters and e-mail to reach as many workers as possible at least once a year.

• Give flex time for exercise. Invite staff who actively commute to work or exercise at lunch to make up any missed time later in the day.

• Allow staff to work part time, so that they can take part in physical activity.

• Include a exercise account in your benefit plan to pay for or subsidize fitness memberships, assessments, classes, counselling or instruction.

• Give interest-free loans for personnel to buy bicycles or good walking footwear/runners.

• Conduct periodic surveys of staff exercise preferences, and offer a variety of options to suit those interests and needs.

• Hire certified individuals  to lead stretch breaks or exercise programs or classes. for help in locating accredited fitness leaders, visit Alberta’s Provincial Fitness Unit.

• Recognize personnel who participate in exercise. Survey personnel first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through organization newsletters, appreciation lunches, rewards and/or thank you notes.

• Give child care and other family-friendly amenities during physical activities that occur after work.

• Prevent scheduling meetings over lunch.

• Be sure to encourage active breaks in lieu of coffee breaks.

• Have active fundraisers rather than bingos. for  instance, workforce might climb the Calgary Tower stairs or take turns riding a stationary bike for 24 hours.

• Make birthday celebrations active times. Instead of a lunch, invite the birthday individuals to pick an activity. Choices could include a session with a yoga teacher or an evening ski trip.

• Promote a casual dress day. One study found that workers who dress casually were more physically active.

• Make sure that your building’s stairwells are clean, attractive and safe, and post signs stimulating workforce to use the stairs.

• Establish a wellness newsletter or intranet.

• Promote the Activity Tracker and encourage staff members to track their physical activity every week.

• be creative, and make the most of the workspace you have. for example, mark off a safe walking path inside or around the building.

You may also set up a training circuit, highlighting features of the workplace like stairs.

• Provide physical activity opportunities at different times to accommodate night-, shift-, and part-time workers.

• For staff in remote or satellite offices, offer equal access to key wellness programs via the intranet. Adapt challenges to suit their environment and take advantage of local facilities and resources.

• Make exercise available to workforce with special needs. Adapt information and activities for any staff who are visually impaired or physically disabled in addition to for people  who speak English as a second language.

• Educate personnel about exercise using information from reputable sources such as the Alberta Center for Active Living.

• Provide facilities that invite onsite physical activity. Possibilities include bicycle racks, an exercise room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.

• Hold walking meetings.

• Be certain to encourage personnel to walk to colleagues’ offices in lieu of e-mailing or phoning.

• Make sure to set up a stretching room. This low-cost program requires only a room, stretching mats, stability balls and medicine balls. Put up posters that show stretches and exercises.

• Give incentives like shoe bags, ball caps, T-shirts or water bottles to reward staff participation.

• Loan out pedometers for three months, so that employees can determine how many steps they typically take and how much activity they need to add to get basic health benefits.

• Make space for workforce to plant and maintain a flowerbed or garden at the worksite. Use any resulting produce for meetings and potluck lunches or donate it to charity.

• Plan a worksite health fair.

• Hire a certified fitness professional to design and manage an on-site workout facility.

• Supply employees with active wear that shows off the organization logo.

• Organize a launch event to develop excitement about upcoming activities and to develop a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.

• Organize and promote monthly or bi-monthly corporation events that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, staff tournaments and dragon boat racing.

Make sure to encourage families to join in by including all-ages events like relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.

• Start a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of workforce to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward workforce who complete the swim.

Make sure to set up a challenge between staff and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.

• Post a sign-up board where staff can enroll in a group or find a buddy to take part in activities of interest.

• Arrange a company badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each staff member playing once a week. Post the results as the tournament progresses.

• Organize an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in a few activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.

• Develop a point system in which one minute of activity is equivalent to one point. Make sure to set a target, and post a chart where all personnel can track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.

• Co-ordinate a stair climb challenge. Post a chart at the top of the stairwell, and encourage employees to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday.

Make certain to set up teams, and award a prize to the first team to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.

• Post and promote a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.

• Organize a walk “across the USA ” Choose a route, figure out how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge workforce to do it.

Give or loan pedometers to staff, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, when you can’t afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Make certain to set up a challenge between staff and managers to see who can walk across the USA  first.

• Co-ordinate a walk to work club. Acknowledge employees who either walk to work or walk to public transit.

• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.

• Coordinate a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined sum of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites could compete with each other and with management.

• Challenge workforce to walk 10,000 steps a day. Buy pedometers for all participating workforce or, if you can’t afford that, make pedometers available at a decreased rate.

Give tips for increasing daily steps, and reward workers who succeed.

There’s no single right way to approach health promotion programs but winning health promotion programs share common success factors. These include commitment from management, employee involvement, adequate resources, and a policy concerning health that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Wellness Program –  A Range of Approaches

Despite the fact that the goal is to eventually have a long-term, robust wellness program, some companies prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level.

For  instance, the first steps could be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthful eating; or they could launch a pilot project to figure out how interested workers are to ensure workers needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious.

This approach provides a chance to show the impact on personnel and the worksite so upper management are going to be more willing to consider a bigger and more far-reaching strategy.

Other companies plan a selection of wellness programs to meet the needs of the different types of individuals  that make up their workforce.  And some decide to create a sound company case, complete with a health strategy, before trying any kind of wellness program.

Businesses want to ensure that a new health promotion program is fully integrated with their overall company vision and mission.

Health Promotion Program –  Success Factors

Whether or not your corporation chooses to think big from the outset or to start with something smaller, always keep in mindthe following key success factors –

• support and participation from management;

• staff member involvement in planning;

• health promotion programs that meet employee needs;

• A realistic budget; and

• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a team must follow to accomplish its goal of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Organizations also need game plans, even if they do not call them by that name.

Good planning will help to ensure that your health promotion program happens the way you want it to, and that costs may be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning avoids small problems from becoming bigger.

Steps in Creating a Wellness Program

Obtain upper-level management support. You might need to create a corporation case to convince managers that the health promotion program is a corporation strategy-that worker health and job satisfaction affects their productivity. Employees need to see evidence that upper-level management believes in and is committed to worker health.

Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from staff member groups in addition to from HR, health and safety, and communications.

Collect information.  To prove that your wellness program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the wellness program starts. You might wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug costs or WCB expenditures.

Assess what worksite facilities are available to support personnel to make healthful choices like showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Assess employee needs through a recent survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Develop the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include health promotion program goals, activities and how you’re going to measure whether your goals were met.

Keep the plan flexible. You might have to change direction in response to employee feedback or changes in the organization’s structure.

Get upper-level management approval. Support for staff time and a budget are needed.

Put activities in place. Give a variety of activities that create awareness, increase knowledge, create skills, and provide social interaction.

Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Employee Wellness Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that provide information about community resources.

Worksites can also make it easier for staff members to make healthful choices by providing flextime to allow staff members to fit activity in when it’s convenient or by subsidizing health promotion programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings can ensure that healthful foods are offered.

Evaluate the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.

A wellness program does not have to be complicated or a gigantic investment. Just do it. Get support from management, bring several committed individuals  together to generate some ideas and get started.

Precisely how does it feel to walk into your worksite? Do people  look happy? is the place well lit and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a gloom come over you, and count the hours until you can leave?

The influence of the worksite environment on the wellness of staff is profound. First there’s the physical look, feel, smell, and sounds of the place. Then you’re affected by the policies, like whether others are allowed to smoke around you.

After awhile, more subtle factors begin to affect you. Do your attempts to adopt a healthier lifestyle get recognized at work, or are they sabotaged? Are your managers inspiring you by being healthful role models? Do you get regular opportunities to learn healthier behavior?

In a supportive environment, staff feel that the corporation they work for provides them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles.

And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Staff Members who feel cared are naturally more loyal and productive.

The following ideas will help you transform your workplace environment into one that truly supports the wellness of your personnel and organization.

Wellness Program Ideas for Creating Supportive Environments

Health Promotion Friendly Facilities

When you enter a worksite, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? is there enough light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent food, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. Just how does it smell? Sound? Do the staff members have enough space?

There’s no doubt that our physical environment affects us, from basic safety matters to subtle factors that can cause  or reduce stress. Healthy environments often have these features –

• Vending machines with healthy food choices like low-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks

• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other exercise opportunities on-site or nearby

• Cafeteria offers healthy foods including a salad bar with low-fat dressing

• Natural light is used whenever possible; all lighting is appropriate and adequate

• Heating and ventilation is adjustable, comfortable and healthful

• No cigarette machines, ashtrays, or tobacco use areas on-site

• Noise levels are safe and conducive to concentration

• Be certain to work station furniture conforms to ergometric standards

• Safety hazards have been eliminated

• Lockers and showers are available for workers who workout before work or during breaks

• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use

Familiarity may make it hard to evaluate a workplace. People  get used to stressful conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them.

It could be useful to ask individuals  who are unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Specialist consultants can also help.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to influence behavior is through policies and procedures. When nurses are not permitted to work more than twelve hours in a row, there will be fewer medication errors.

If parents are allowed flextime to attend to their children’s needs, they will be less stressed. If workers can apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they will save them up instead of calling in sick to use them all.

Supportive corporate policies could include –

• Seatbelt use required in company cars

• Drug and alcohol policies are appropriate to the industry

• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced

• Flexible work schedules allow workforce to exercise, attend children’s school conferences, etc.

• Nonuse of tobacco policy is enforced

• Excessive overtime is discouraged

• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed

• Shift workers are scheduled to allow adequate rest

• Medical care coverage rewards good health

• Absenteeism policy rewards workforce who do not use sick days

• Employee assistance program available to help personnel with chemical dependencies, depression, family problems

• Meaningful consequences are given for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your corporation may have a policy against alcohol use during work hours, but if everybody looks the other way when someone comes back from lunch smelling like beer, the culture is one that permits drinking at lunch-and one in which written policies could be safely ignored.

Prohibited behaviors ought to be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies become mere lip service in lieu of springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition and Rewards for Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are given for wellness achievements.

You can show you value wellness by celebrating your health promotion programs and those who’ve made lifestyle improvements in company newsletters, on bulletin boards, and at annual banquets, meetings, and celebrations. Incentives are a direct way to show appreciation, too.

Health Promotion mentors are sought and applauded, too. Employees who support others’ efforts to improve their health are noticed and appreciated. Colleague modeling and mentoring courses can encourage those who enjoy helping others to step forward into a new role.

Managers Model and Support Healthful Behavior

Nothing could say “We encourage you to exercise often” better than a manager going on a bicycle ride during the lunch hour–or your supervisor sitting next to you in a weight control class.

Health Promotion activities promote relaxed interaction between individuals  from different departments and at different levels in the chain of command. That promotes relaxed communication and a feeling of solidarity that is pure gold.

Managers can also provide support for staff members who are working on bettering their health. It does not take anything fancy-just a “good job” or “nice to see you at the health and fitness center” can put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.

Managers can also help by permitting workforce the flexibility to attend wellness events.

Ongoing Wellness Programs

It’s crucial that you give staff members the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and important part of the company, not a company fad. That can begin as soon as a new staff member is hired.

New personnel are oriented to the health promotion program as among the employee benefits. Information about the health promotion program should be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who invites the new employee to participate.

The staff are familiar with the ongoing health promotion programs.

The wellness programs and wellness staff are well known in the company. Opportunities to participate are abundant and it is easy to sign up.

A wide variety of awareness courses are offered. There are topics of interest for everybody.

These are fun and easy events that can be done within your company to motivate healthy behaviors during a contest or during other times.  The goal is to encourage worker participation. Some examples –  

• Develop a sub-committee of enthusiastic staff who’ll help promote the fitness program by offering ideas, suggestions and encouragement to fellow employees.

• Develop monthly mailbox flyers to promote a contest or provide fitness-related education/encouragement information.

• Send a weekly voicemail on each participant’s telephone with encouraging wellness messages.

• Provide regular cumulative health progress reports.

• Offer low-fat or heart-healthy lunch selections once a week in your cafeteria or have staff members bring a healthy snack to share, with a recipe book compiled after the contest or specified period (such as a National Nutrition Month in March).

• Distribute staff member gifts (pedometers or other novelty item related to some aspect of your contest theme) as registration starts.

• Allow staff members “Fitness15-Minute Walk Breaks;” corporation time to walk, exercise, etc. If appropriate, you might use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical bicycle, some free weights and meditation music.

• Hold a T-shirt design contest.

• Develop posters to map contest (or fitness) progress and to serve as reminder of your objectives –

• Use push pins or other identifiers for each individual to put up in the office showing how they have progressed – staff members can get very creative with this and design pins that reflect their personalities.

• Use a bar graph to compare progress.

• Use a “thermometer” kind graphic and color in progress – consider a different, fitness-related graphic all together and color it in as you progress.

• Offer aerobic dance or walking videos in your conference or break rooms.

• Compile a list of organized events in the community that offer opportunities to get personnel exercising by participating as a team (below are just a few) –

• Race for the Cure

• March of Dimes Walk America event

• Juvenile Diabetes Research

• Foundation Walk to Cure

• American Heart Association’s Heart Walk

• American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life

• American Lung Association’s Lung Run

• Local marathons or special community walks or runs

• Create or attend a health-and-fitness retreat or workshop.

• Hold a soup-and-salad luncheon followed by a hula-hoop contest!

• Use the mall as an alternate walking location during inclement weather.

• Designate “Move it Mondays” – allow staff members to take an additional 10 minutes during lunchtime for exercise.

• Designate “Tasty Tuesdays” – provide employees with low-calorie treats/snacks.

• Designate “Walking Wednesdays”- allow employees to take an extra 10 minutes at lunchtime to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow employees to explore new exercises.

• Designate “Thirsty Thursdays” – make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for personnel.

• Designate “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for staff – offer seasonal fruit treats.

• Send weekly exercise tips to personnel via the most effective communications automobile in your worksite.

• Partner with another corporation representative for local media events coordinated through your marketing and advertising or communication department.

• Make sure to encourage departmental teams to challenge each other (examples – Customer Service, Marketing and Advertising, Medical Support).

• Establish walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.

• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or courses through churches, community groups, college, YMCA, etc.

• Contact several local area health and fitness centers and ask if they can or will offer group discounts for exercise plans, waive enrollment fees, or set up a 12-week program as opposed to signing an extended contract.

• Hold a Frozen Yogurt Social – “Reap the Advantages of Fitness.”

• Map out a walking track around the building including the number of laps required for one mile.