Posts from — April 2009

Many employers recognize the need for a comprehensive plan to help their staff members be the best they can be. They also know that successful and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your wellness program ought to include a wide range of key elements, including:

• A clear agenda or statement of goals/objectives.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• A strong leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an central vision.
• A measurable plan (what’s significant gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Developing Your Corporate Health Promotion Program

Create carefully to see that your wellness program is seen as part of a sweeping responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of all employees. Indeed, creating a strong plan takes much work and time (and at times resources). But planning is critical and well worth the expenditure necessitated. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might start by delivering a survey of employee needs and interests. If you take this route, pay attention to the outcome and plan accordingly. If you don’t, the employees will not support the program.

Gathering information about what you’re already offering is also a great idea. For example, you may be surprised by your organization or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another significant step is to set an agenda and/or measurable goals to help you determine priorities, timelines and the resources needed to launch the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Upper Management

The leader of your wellness program must be able to wear a myriad of hats. The leader’s duties include:

• Developing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested employees.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the business (to senior managers and fellow employees alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Creating and maintaining leadership skills such as giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avert becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term goals and objectives at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a efficacious wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many people as possible in the program. For example, you’ll want to form a Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee made up of a diverse group of staff members to support advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Help you to obtain important information from all parts of the company.
• Organize ambassadors who will help you start the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always keep in mind how you will monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Evaluation allows you to:

• Identify areas of excellence.
• Ascertain factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Grasp management’s backing for your efforts (and maintain that backing).
• Better know problems that need attention.
• Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you are able to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The expense of your EAP.
• The cost of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The cost of your prescription plan.
• Accident rates and safety records.
• Employees’ participation in wellness programs (and whether they’re staying in the programs).
• Changes in employees’ health habits.
• Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle concerns.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other perceivable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A great communications plan supplies ongoing information to employees (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is critical in an effective communications plan. By way of example, you may recognize individuals who have helped established the program or provide tangible rewards for meeting objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether or not staff members are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some profit from them. Showing that a wellness program has economic benefits is frequently an important factor in maintaining strong backing from the top.

If you pay attention to the key components of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while creating and delivering it, you will create a solid foundation and leave a legacy that endures.

How does physical exercise fit into a full-time employee’s busy schedule? Many times, it doesn’t.

One possible solution to this challenge is to make physical exercise a part of the work day. Clearly, being active at work is advantageous for staff members. But employers also profit from having fit, energetic and healthy staff members who are more advantageous.

The challenges

Your job takes up much your time. In addition to the hours you invest actually working, there is the time necessitated 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 especially true for Alberta, where statistics show that we work exceptionally hard.

Many jobs today are sedentary, and countless Americans drive to work. The pressures of work may 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.

Worksite Wellness Programs: Get started on a workplace physical activity program

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

Start by talking to your boss about the benefits of a healthy active workplace. The best way to guarantee the success of a company exercise program is to have the management on side and cheering you on.

Ask your management to consider taking these actions:

• Send a memo or message about the effect of health and healthy living that encourages employee to take an active break each day.
• Provide for flexible work hours that help employee to be more physically active. For example, they might need to take a longer lunch break to catch physical activity class, making up the time by coming to work early or remaining late.
• Provide a meeting room or other suitable office space for noon-hour yoga or workout classes, and hire a teacher to lead them, or use videos.

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

You do not need an onsite health club

Only very large corporations are able to afford onsite fitness facilities such as exercise equipment or squash courts. Still, most employers are able to take other affordable steps to support workers who wish to become more active.

For example:

• Arrange for discounted fees for employees at a gym, recreation center or YMCA facility.
• Install showers and a place to hang a towel. (Make sure the showers are cleaned regularly and that women who use them will feel secure.)
• Install bike racks or a locked enclosure that is safe, conveniently located and well-lit.
• Have walking gatherings and set up lunch-hour walking groups
• Make staff members knowledgeable about safe and pleasant walking routes near the workplace, as well as nearby facilities that offer fitness programs (such as walking, swimming, running, yoga, stretching).
• Find a certified instructor to instruct employee about health, fitness and how to become more active.

Any size and type of workplace has the potential to support staff members who wish to be physically active. It’s highly desirable to get senior staff on side. Even if your boss isn’t supportive, you are able to still find ways to get moving more. Set up activities for groups and individuals, and advocate your co-staff members to join in.

We all know that physical activity is an important part of health and wellness. But sometimes it’s hard to find time for physical activity. Lack of time is the number one barrier that people say prevents them from participating in physical activity on a regular basis.

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

Also, 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 exercise into daily life

Different strategies work for different people. 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 sufficient commitment, some of them are sure to work for you.

Strategy #1: Multi-tasking

The first strategy you have the potential to try 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 exercise at the same time.

By way of example, you’re already travelling to work and other places. Instead of taking the car or the bus every time, try using active methods of transportation like biking, rollerblading, walking and skateboarding.

If you can’t use active transportation for an entire trip, try to be active for at least part of the trip. If you’re riding the bus, for example, get off a few blocks early and walk the remainder of the way.

Active transportation benefits your body by increasing your exercise level, and it also benefits your neighborhood and the environment by reducing the number of cars on the road.

You are able to also get physical activity while doing chores.

When you’re working around home, try to be creative and look for the active choice. By way of example, if you’re cleaning the crack between the fridge and the counter, why not move the fridge so you are able to 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 Americans spend 8 hours a day or more working at a motionless job. Here are a few simple ways to keep your body moving throughout work. The physical activity will revitalize you and help you be more productive.

When you’re 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 core a workout.

Take active breaks at least once a day. During your coffee break, try doing some yoga, stretching or taking a quick walk. You might discover 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 rather than the elevator whenever you can. The stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

Create walking gatherings at work. Getting outside and having gatherings in a less formal setting is a great way to be active, makes work more fun and encourages creative ideas for work projects.

Strategy #3: Be Active With Your Loved Ones

Do physical exercise with your family, friends, neighbours and pets. With this strategy, you and your loved ones are doing some great multi-tasking together: enjoying quality time with each other and getting some of the physical exercise 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 rather than just watching them play.

Many 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’re watching your kids do activities without you. By way of example, if your child plays hockey, take the opportunity to walk up and down the stairs in the stands a few times. If you feel self-conscious about doing it alone, why not gather a group of parents to do it together?

Strategy #4: Have Physical Activity into Your Day

Plan your physical exercise directly into your daytimer. Set a specific time and place for exercising. Make your physical exercise appointments a priority, just as important as any other appointment you put in your daytimer.

To help you stay committed to your physical activity appointments, you might want to make appointments that involve other individuals: such as by meeting with a personal trainer, taking exercise class or jogging with a friend.

If you’re not sure how many appointments to make or what you must be doing during your appointments, try consulting with a personal trainer. A personal trainer is able to help you develop a physical exercise plan and schedule.

The bottom line: see what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to other people about how they stay active and what strategies they employ. Be creative and patient while you discover 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 exercise in policy statements and commit funding to physical exercise initiatives.
• Clearly communicating the advantages of being physically active during the workday reinforces the company’s responsibility to helping all workers be active. Use meetings, bulletin boards, newsletters and e-mail to reach as many workers as possible at least once a year.
• Provide flex time for physical activity. Invite workers who actively commute to work or exercise at lunch to make up any missed time later in the day.
• Consider allowing staff members to work part time, so that they can take part in physical activity.
• Include a physical exercise account in your benefit plan to pay for or subsidize fitness memberships, assessments, classes, counselling or instruction.
• Give interest-free loans for workers to buy bicycles or good walking shoes/runners.
• Conduct periodic employee interest surveys of employee physical exercise preferences, and offer a variety of options to suit those interests and needs.
• Hire qualified individuals to lead stretch breaks or physical exercise programs or classes. For help in finding accredited fitness leaders, visit Alberta’s Provincial Fitness Unit.
• Recognize staff members who take part in physical activity. Survey staff members first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through corporation newsletters, appreciation lunches, rewards and/or thank you notes.
• Provide child care and other family-friendly amenities during physical activities that occur after work.
• Avoid scheduling meetings during lunch.
• Encourage active breaks instead of coffee breaks.
• Have active fundraisers instead of bingos. By way of example, staff members 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 person to choose an activity. Options could include a session with a yoga instructor 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 encouraging staff members to use the stairs.
• Develop a wellness newsletter or intranet.
• Encourage the Activity Tracker and advocate employees 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 might also set up a training circuit, highlighting features of the worksite such as stairs.
• Provide physical activity opportunities at different times to accommodate night-, shift-, and part-time employees.
• For workers in remote or satellite offices, offer equal access to key drives via the intranet. Adapt challenges to suit their environment and take advantage of local facilities and resources.
• Make physical exercise available to workers with special needs. Adapt information and activities for any employee who are visually impaired or physically disabled as well as for individuals who speak English as a second language.
• Educate employees about physical activity using information from reputable sources such as the Alberta Centre for Active Living.
• Offer facilities that invite worksite physical exercise. Possibilities include bike racks, exercise room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.
• Have walking gatherings.
• Encourage staff members to walk to co-workers’ offices instead of e-mailing or phoning.
• Set up a stretching room. This low-cost initiative requires only a room, stretching mats, stability balls and medicine balls. Put up posters that show stretches and exercises.
• Give incentives/rewards such as shoe bags, ball caps, T-shirts or water bottles to reward employee participation.
• Loan out pedometers for three months, so that workers are able to find out how many steps they usually take and how much activity they need to add to get basic health benefits.
• Set aside space for employees to plant and maintain a flowerbed or garden at the workplace. Use any resulting produce for gatherings and potluck lunches or donate it to charity.
• Establish a workplace health & wellness fair.
• Hire a certified fitness specialist to create and manage an workplace fitness facility.
• Supply staff members with active wear that displays the corporation logo.

• Create a launch event to foster excitement about upcoming activities and to create a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.
• Develop and promote monthly or bi-monthly corporation events that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, employee tournaments and dragon boat racing. Urge families to join in by including all-ages events such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.
• Launch a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of employees to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward employees who complete the swim. Set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.
• Post a sign-up board where employee can join a group or find a buddy to take part in activities of interest.
• Design a company badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each employee 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 several activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.
• Create a point system in which one minute of activity equals one point. Set a target, and post a chart where all staff members can track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.
• Develop a stair climb challenge. Display a chart at the top of the stairwell, and promote workers to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday. Set up teams, and award a prize to the first group to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.
• Display and encourage a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.
• Design a walk “across the U.S.” Choose a route, discover how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge employees to do it. Give or loan pedometers to employees, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you cannot afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who can walk across the U.S. first.
• Organize a walk to work club. Acknowledge staff members who either walk to work or walk to public transit.
• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.
• Establish a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined total of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites might compete with each other and with senior staff.
• Challenge workers to walk 10,000 steps a day. Buy pedometers for all participating workers or, if you can’t afford that, make pedometers available at a reduced rate. Provide tips for increasing daily steps, and reward workers who succeed.

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

Corporate Wellness Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the goal is to eventually have a long-term, accross the board wellness program, some companies prefer to start with a single program at a basic level. By way of example, the first steps could be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthy eating; or they could launch a pilot project to find out how interested staff members are to ensure staff members needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach supports a chance to show the effect on staff members and the workplace so senior staff will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching plan.

Other employers plan a variety of drives to meet the needs of the different sorts of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to develop a sound company case, complete with a health strategy, before beginning any sort of program. Corporations want to be sure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall company vision and mission.

Workplace Health Promotion Program: Success Factors

Whether your employer chooses to think big from the outset or to begin with something smaller, always keep in mind the following key success factors:

• support and participation from upper management;
• employee involvement in planning;
• programs that meet employee needs;
• a realistic budget; and
• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a group must follow to accomplish its goal of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Businesses also need game plans, even if they don’t call them by that name.

Good planning will help to make sure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that expenditures are able to be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small issues from becoming bigger.

Steps in Starting a Employee Wellness Program

Obtain senior staff support. You may need to foster a corporation case to convince managers that the wellness program is a corporation strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction affects their work rate. employees need to see evidence that senior staff believes in and is committed to employee health.

Establish a planning committee. Members are able to include representatives from employee groups as well as from human resources, health and safety, and communications.

Gather information. To prove that your Corporate Health Promotion Program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, prescription drug expenditures or WCB expenditures. Evaluate what workplace facilities are available to support staff members to make healthy choices such as showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Evaluate employee needs through a survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the outcome.

Organize the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include program objectives, activities and how you are intend to measure whether your objectives were met. Keep the plan flexible. You may have to change direction in response to employee feedback or changes in the company’s structure.

Obtain upper management approval. Support for employee time and a budget are required.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that foster awareness, increase knowledge, cultivate skills, and offer social interaction. (Activities might include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Corporate Health Promotion Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that offer information about neighborhood resources.) Workplaces are able to also make it easier for staff members to make healthy choices by offering flextime to allow staff members to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with neighborhood or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings has the potential to make sure that healthy foods are offered.

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

A wellness program doesn’t have to be complicated or a huge expenditure. Just do it. Obtain reinforcement from management, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.

How does it feel to walk into your workplace? Do people look content? 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 are able to leave?
The influence of the workplace environment on the health & wellness of employees is huge. First there is 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 a while, more subtle factors start to affect you. Do your attempts to live a healthier lifestyle get recognized at work, or are they sabotaged? Are your managers inspiring you by being positive role models? Do you get regular opportunities to learn healthier behaviors?
In a supportive environment, staff members feel that the organization they work for provides them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles. And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Employees 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 staff members and corporation.

Corporate Health Promotion Program Ideas for Creating Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you enter a worksite, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there sufficient light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent meals, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. How does it smell? Sound? Do the staff members have sufficient space?
• Vending machines with healthy meal choices like non-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other physical activity opportunities onsite or nearby
• Cafeteria offers healthy foods that may include 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 smoking areas workplace
• Noise levels are safe and conducive to concentration
• Work station furniture conforms to ergometric standards
• Safety hazards have been eliminated
• Lockers and showers are available for staff members who exercise before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it tough to evaluate a worksite. People get used to hectic conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It may be useful to ask someone who is unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also help.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to impact behavior is through policies and procedures. If nurses aren’t permitted to work more than twelve hours consecutively, there will be fewer medication errors. If parents are allowed flextime to manage their children’s needs, they’ll be less stressed. If workers have the potential to apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they’ll save them up rather than calling in sick to utilize them all.

Supportive corporate policies may include:

• Seat Belt use necessitated in business vehicles
• Alcohol and drug policies are relevant to the industry
• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced
• Flexible work schedules allow workers to exercise, go to children’s school conferences, etc.
• Tobacco-free policy is enforced
• Excessive overtime is discouraged
• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed
• Shift staff members are scheduled to allow adequate rest
• Healthcare Costs coverage rewards great health
• Absenteeism policy rewards employees who don’t use sick days
• Employee Assistance Program(EAP) ready to help workers with chemical dependencies, depression, family concerns
• Meaningful consequences are used for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your business may have a policy against alcohol use during work hours, but if everyone looks the other way when someone comes back from lunch smelling like beer, the culture is one that permits drinking at lunchtime-and one in which written policies can be safely ignored. Prohibited behaviors must be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies remain mere lip service rather than springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition And Incentives For Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are provided for wellness achievements.
You are able to show you value the Company Wellness Programs by celebrating your programs and those who’ve made lifestyle improvements in organization newsletters, on bulletin boards, and at annual banquets, gatherings, and celebrations. Incentives are a direct way to show appreciation, too.
Wellness mentors are sought and applauded, too. Staff Members who support others’ efforts to improve their health are noticed and appreciated. Peer modeling and mentoring classes are able to encourage those who enjoy supporting others to step forward into a new role.

Managers Model And Support Healthier Behavior

Nothing could say “We advocate you to exercise often” better than a manager going on a bike ride during the lunch hour–or your supervisor sitting next to you in a weight management class. Wellness activities reward relaxed interaction between people from different departments and at different echelons in the chain of command. That promotes relaxed communication and a feeling of solidarity that is pure gold.
Managers have the potential to also provide support for employees who are working on bettering their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “great job” or “nice to see you at the gym” is able to put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers have the potential to also help by allowing staff members the flexibility to catch wellness activities.

Ongoing Company Wellness Programs

It’s important to give staff members the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and important part of the organization, not a organization fad. That can activate as soon as a new employee is hired.
New employees are oriented to the wellness program as one of the employee benefits. Information about the program ought to be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who invites the new employee to take part.
The employees are familiar with the ongoing wellness programs.
The wellness programs and wellness coordinator are visible in the employer. Opportunities to take part are abundant and it’s simple to sign up.
A wide variety of awareness classes are provided. There are topics of interest for everyone.

These are fun and easy programs that can be done within your employer to arouse healthy behaviors during a contest or during other times. The objective is to advocate employee participation. Some examples:
• Establish a sub-committee of enthusiastic staff members who will help promote the physical activity program by offering ideas, suggestions and encouragement to fellow staff members.
• Create monthly mailbox brochures to encourage a contest or offer fitness-related education/encouragement information.
• Send a periodic voicemail on each participant’s telephone with encouraging wellness messages.
• Provide regular cumulative health progress reports.
• Offer reduced fat or heart-healthy lunch selections weekly in your cafeteria or have employees bring a healthy snack to share, with a recipe book compiled at the end of the contest or specified time period (such as a National Nutrition Month in March).
• Distribute employee gifts (pedometers or other novelty item related to some aspect of your contest theme) as registration kicks off.
• Allow staff members “Fitness 15-Minute Walk Breaks;” company time to walk, physical activity, etc. If appropriate, you might use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, some no cost weights and relaxing music.
• Hold a T-shirt design contest.
• Establish posters to map contest (or fitness) progress and to serve as reminder of your objectives and goals:
   • Use push pins or other identifiers for each individual to put up in the office showing how they have progressed – employees can get very creative with this and design pins that reflect their personalities.
   • Use a bar graph to compare progress.
   • Use a “thermometer” type graphic and color in progress – consider a different, health-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 programs in the neighborhood that offer opportunities to get employees exercising by participating as a group (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 general area walks or runs
• Create or catch a health-and-fitness retreat.
• Hold a soup-and-salad luncheon followed by a hula-hoop contest!
• Use the mall as an alternate walking location during inclement weather.
• Create “Move it Mondays” – allow staff members to take an extra ten minutes at lunch for exercise.
• Establish “Tasty Tuesdays” – provide workers with low-calorie treats/snacks.
• Create “Walking Wednesdays”- allow employees to take an extra ten minutes at lunchtime to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow employees to explore new exercises.
• Create “Thirsty Thursdays” – make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for employees.
• Establish “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for employee – offer seasonal fruit treats.
• Send weekly physical activity tips to employees via the most effective communications vehicle in your workplace.
• Partner with another corporation representative for local media events coordinated through your advertising or communication department.
• Urge departmental teams to challenge each other (examples: Customer Service, Marketing, Health Support).
• Create walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.
• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or classes through churches, neighborhood groups, college, YMCA, etc.
• Contact several local area health clubs and ask if they can or will offer group discounts for physical activity programs, waive enrollment fees, or set up a 12-week program as opposed to signing an extended contract.
• Hold a Frozen Yogurt Social – “Reap the Benefits of Fitness.”
• Map out a walking track around the building including the number of laps necessitated for one mile.

These are short informational “Health Tips” in an e-mail format on many different health-related topics. You are able to appoint someone within your employer to find specific topics on the Internet from sites that are in the public domain or topics can be purchased from organizations. Some qualified sources include:
• Hope Health
• Sound Ideas, Inc.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health

These e-mails are able to be sent daily, weekly or monthly. Our experience indicates weekly is the best frequency.

If the majority of your staff members do not have e-mail, consider providing the information to them through:
• Bulletin boards
• Check stuffers
• Mailbox stuffers
• Newsletters

SAMPLE #1 Job Site Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Company Health Promotion Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Layering for Exercise

One way to help ensure enjoyment of a winter walk (or run) is to make sure you’re dressed properly for the weather. And the secret to that, for a winter workout, is to dress in layers.
Layer 1 — Avoid 100 percent cotton in the first layer, next to your skin. Cotton holds perspiration. Wear underwear made from manmade fabrics to wick perspiration away from skin.
Layer 2 — A zippered sweatshirt and sweatpants will keep you warm. Just open the zipper if you get too warm.
Layer 3 — If required, over the sweatsuit, you have the potential to add a waterproof and windproof jacket. If it’s very cold, you may want to wear a jacket made with goose down.
Hands — Mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves.
Feet — Wear socks made from wool or manmade fabrics that keep your feet dry and warm. Avoid 100 percent cotton socks. Don’t wear sneakers or boots that fit too tightly … this will restrict blood flow and your feet will end up feeling colder.
Head — About 40% of your body heat is lost through your head. Wear a hat and cover your ears.
Lips — Don’t forget lip balm with sunscreen … even in winter!

SAMPLE #2 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Worksite Health Promotion Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Energy Boosts

Need an energy boost? Here are some ideas for tapping into your own energy sources — and most require little effort.
• Get an extra hour of sleep. No surprise here — it has the potential to make a big difference in your energy level the following day.
• Eat less more often. Have small, balanced meals or snacks throughout your day for a steady supply of fuel and energy. Make note of which foods seem to boost your energy level.
• Drink enough water. Dehydration contributes to fatigue, which you can offset by drinking water throughout the day.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Both are able to contribute to dehydration and fatigue. They also tend to disrupt sleep patterns.