Posts from — May 2010

To make a difference in the lives of your fellow employees, you first need to understand that getting active isn’t simply a matter of option. Some things are within our individual control, but others are shaped by the individuals  and circumstances in which we live and work.

It’s Easier to be Active When…

• We know what to do and have the confidence, skills and opportunity to do it.

• It’s fun. “Working out” at the fitness club does not appeal to everybody. Activities need to reflect what people  enjoy.

• Our friends, family or coworkers are active with us (or at least support us).

• We feel safe, thanks to well-lit streets or stairwells.

• Sidewalks, walking/biking trails, parks and health clubs are nearby.

• We’ve money to pay for equipment, instruction or memberships.

• We can walk, bicycle or take public transit to work.

• Active options like taking the stairs, having stretch breaks at meetings and going outside at lunchtime are “normal” in the workplace.

• Managers support and recognize worker efforts. Better yet, they participate.

• We can juggle our work hours to fit in exercise.

Think about how you could create some of these conditions in your workplace. By taking these steps, you’ll make it more likely that employees both want and are able to be active during the workday.

Workplace physical activity programs that focus only on person have limited success. Studies show that reaching people  in various ways gives the best chance of long-term success.

A strategy directed at multiple levels is also called an “ecological approach.”

The type of examination you choose depends on when you do it and the type of information you collect.

This section describes when to use three types –  formative, process and summative examinations.

During the Planning Stage

Use formative analysiss in the planning stages to ensure that your program is based on solid information. These analysiss also help you to develop effective and appropriate materials and procedures.

Examples of formative analysiss include –

• records of management commitments to the program

• worker interest surveys

• workplace environmental assessments

• pre-testing of program materials

During Your Initiative

A process analysis is used when the initiative is underway. These analysiss help you –

• track what is going well and what isn’t (and how to revise your program)

• find out if you’re reaching the workers you want to reach

• describe the initiative to others

• monitor who is participating in the initiative

During or After Your Initiative

Summative investigations happen when the initiative is already in place or completed. Use this kind of investigation to measure what staff members like about the initiative and what can be improved.

All three kinds of examinations are useful. the examination you pick depends on the time and financial resources you have available.

What Do You Want to Achieve?

Think about why you are assessing  and what your evaluation is going to measure.

If you’re trying to find out whether an initiative has been successful, see if you followed your mission statement and met your objectives and objectives.

When you don’t have a mission statement or objectives or objectives, decide with management and your staff member committee how your organization will measure success.

For example, you are able to measure success by changes in –

• Physical measures (e.g., strength, flexibility, waist circumference of employees).

• Psychological measures (e.g., worker morale, satisfaction levels, stress levels).

• Productivity measures (e.g., decrease in absenteeism rates, increased staff member productivity).

Thinking About Employees

If you are considering making improvements to the initiative, think about whether the initiative is still relevant and appropriate for staff members. Find out when there are any barriers to participation in the program or to participation in physical activity during the workday.

As staff members are the ones participating in the program, it’s important to give them a chance to provide feedback on the physical activity initiative.

Selecting an Analysis Method

Decide on your evaluation method. Both measurable results (e.g., absenteeism rates or questionnaire responses) and descriptive results (e.g., one-on-one interviews or focus groups) could be used to evaluate.

The method you choose will depend on the time and funding available and what you want to measure.

Deciding How to Do the Examination

Plan when and where you’ll do your evaluation (and who will be examined). for additional information, read the “Types of Examinations” section on this website.

You may want to pilot test your analysis (e.g., with members of the worker committee) before sending it out to workers. the worker committee may also want to evaluate the initiative’s planning process.

Doing the Analysis

• Compare your results to baseline information (i.e., investigation results from before the launch of your initiative). When you do not have this information, save your investigation results to compare with later results.

You can also look at other information you could have, like staff member satisfaction survey results.

• Analyse and share meaningful and easy-to-understand results with management and workers.

• Analysis results can be used to improve the current physical activity program and/or to develop new programs in future.

Before launching your Workplace Physical Activity Program, summarize the information you have accumulated and plan your next steps.

At this point, you have

• gained support from management for the Workplace Physical Activity Program

• formed an staff member committee

• assessed what is possible in your workplace

• found out what employees want and need in a Workplace Exercise Program.

Based on this information, you’re now ready to develop your action plan to elevate physical activity at your workplace.

With the staff member committee, take the following steps.

• Combine the results of the worker survey with the workplace environmental assessment, and report to management and employees.

• Prioritize the possibilities at each of the “levels” (individual, social, organizational, community, policy) in the workplace listed in “Keys to Success”. for  instance, suppose a large group of staff members show an interest in biking to work.

Since these individuals  may want to shower and change after their commute each day, you may give showers and changing facilities priority in your workplace. Bicycle racks could also be important for making employees’ bikes secure during the workday.

• Consult the list of practical suggestions found this website.

• Create a mission statement (one which aligns with your corporation’s overall mission statement) to define your purpose and help guide your process. Establishing objectives and objectives will help you reachyour mission statement.

• Put together a plan or blueprint addressing what you have learned. Make program and activity recommendations with timelines, identify resources and assign responsibilities. Revisit the list of tasks outlined in “Step 2 –  Forming an Employee Committee.” Seek management approval to move ahead.

• Once your initiative is in place, it’s important to promote it to workers. Organizing a launch is a good way to do this. A formal launch also demonstrates management commitment. When workers don’t know about the initiative, they cannot take benefit of it!

• Decide what you need to track to show that you have reached your goals. Measure these factors before you begin. This way, when you evaluate later, you’ll know if there has been a change.

To succeed in encouraging exercise during the workday, you have to find out what workers need and want. They are the individuals  whose behaviour you are trying to influence, so it’s vital to understand their needs and gain their support.

The Employee Interest Survey

Ask workers questions that allow you to assess such key characteristics as age, gender, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical activity participation.

It’s important to know this information so that your physical activity initiative meets employees’ needs. Workers are not going to participate in something they’re not interested in.

Ask workers what they want, and then implement changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. for  instance, workers may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they don’t want to shower at work.

Ask staff members what the organization could do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during the workday. When there’s a common trend throughout your organization, a single change could affect a lot of individuals .

For  instance, suppose a big group shows interest in biking to work. They could want to shower and change after their commute. You could give priority to installing workplace showers and changing facilities. Secure bicycle storage could  be important as well.

When you are launching a program that requires going outside, begin in the spring. By the time winter comes around, participation is already a habit.

Involving workers is key to increasing exercise participation rates. Individuals  are more willing to participate in and support exercise programs when they’re involved in decision making.

The following tips will help you produce your own worker interest survey –

• Keep it short (no longer than 10 minutes to complete).

• Let workers know why you are doing the survey.

• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and challenging to analyze, ask individuals  to pick from a drop-down list of possible responses.

• Ask for comments and suggestions in one open-ended question at the end.

• Make it confidential and anonymous. Don’t request information that may identify a person.

• If you’re including a list of potential programs or environmental changes, be sure your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.

Workplace Exercise Programs –  Forming an Employee Committee

Although support from the top is vital to a successful initiative, support from other workers is also important.

Once you get the go-ahead from management, identify others who are interested in the project and form a committee to help determine the next steps.

Depending on the size of your workplace and the amount of staff time management is willing to contribute, this committee may  be advisory or may plan and carry out the initiative.

The committee could include staff members from HR, occupational health and safety and finance. It’s also a good idea to involve staff from other areas who have an interest in promoting physical activity.

Terms of reference will define the boundaries of the project. for  instance, it’s important for the committee to have clearly defined and understood tasks. Possible tasks include the following –

• Evaluating your workplace environment

• Carrying out an employee interest survey.

• Developing a mission statement and goals and goals.

• Writing a physical activity or wellness policy declaring the corporation’s commitment to physical activity.

• Brainstorming program ideas.

• Promoting, communicating and marketing the initiative.

• Coordinating specific activities.

• Deciding how the initiative will be analyzed.

• Continually evaluating  what’s or isn’t working and adjusting the plan.

Before making plans to encourage exercise during the workday, it’s important to find out what’s “doable” in your workplace.

You don’t want to elevate staff member expectations by offering something that’s impossible due to funding or space limits.

For example, it’s not realistic to suggest putting in a workout facility when there’s no room for it. be open, however, to creative ways around limitations.

Workplace Exercise Programs –  Locating out What’s Possible in Your Workplace

Check with recreation departments or fitness facilities for maps of the local walking trails or underground pedways. Excellent walking trails might  be right around the block from your workplace.

Below are some questions to help you assess your workplace –

• What facilities or opportunities does your work space offer that make it easier to be physically active during the workday? for example, do you’ve stairs, bike racks, showers, space for a fitness facility, factory walking lanes?

• What nearby facilities or opportunities could workers use to be more physically active during the workday? Are you close to sidewalks, walking trails, community centers, bicycle lanes for active commuting and/or exercise facilities?

• What resources are available?

• can the initiative access funds, personnel, space, equipment, facilities?

• What’s the structure of your organization? for  instance, consider staff size, working hours, number of sites, unusual shifts, length of lunch breaks and ability to use flex time.

Gaining management support is crucial to the success of a exercise initiative.

Whether the changes you’d like to make involve the work environment, overall policies or specific programs, successfully implementing your ideas depends on management support.

Support from management is crucial for three reasons –

• You need their agreement to involve workers in a workplace initiative.

• When management compensates attention to and supports an initiative, workers also see the initiative as worthwhile.

• Management has the power to give work time and money to support the initiative.

It’s important to keep management involved throughout a exercise initiative, but at three points you’ll need support for –

• an overall concept, including a go-ahead to assess what staff members want to do within the limitations of your workplace environment.

• A detailed plan (based on the assessment above) coupled with resources to carry out the plan.

• Assessing the initiative to improve it along the way or to advocate for continuing or expanding the initiative.

Approaching Management

Before approaching management to gain initial support for promoting exercise during the workday, do your homework.

• Prepare a company case clearly outlining how the organization will benefit by promoting physical activity during the workday.

• List the individual, social and corporate benefits of exercise and the benefits of being active during the workday.

• Present some general ideas about what the program might include. See the Success Stories and Ideas sections on this website to highlight what other workplaces have done.

Expect questions such as the following from management –

• How will this help our company?

• How can we motivate staff members to participate?

• How much will it cost to run this program or make this change?

• How are we going to know a year from now when this was a good use of time and resources?

Ask managers about the range of activities they’d support. Often managers have ideas of their own they’d like to see acted on to improve the workplace.

Don’t forget to include middle managers when gaining support for your initiative. They can be very helpful when you need volunteers to lead teams in corporate exercise challenges.

In today’s business environment, the health of staff members is often related to the health of the business. Increased job satisfaction, improved morale, reduced illness and injuries, and increased productivity are just some advantages of having healthful staff members.

Promoting health in your workplace doesn’t have to be complicated, costly or time-consuming. Any organization, large or small, can promote healthful consuming and active living in the workplace. Here are some suggestions –

Healthy Eating

• for breakfast meetings, instead of serving donuts, large muffins, cookies, tea and coffee with cream and sugar, offer healthier alternatives such as bagels, small muffins, fresh fruit, water, 100% fruit juice and milk with coffee and tea.

• for lunch meetings, avoid serving chips, fried foods, rich pastas, and salads loaded with dressing. Instead, offer sandwiches, bagels, whole grain low fat crackers and cheese, 100  percent fruit juice, water, salads with dressing on the side, vegetable and fruit trays.

• Reimburse workers for items purchased to improve their health (e.g. healthful eating cookbooks, consultation with a Registered Dietitian).

• Arrange for the cafeteria or food vendors to offer healthy food choices.

• Arrange to have healthful choices like bottled water, 100 percent fruit juice, fruit bars, and raisins available in vending machines.

• Give a means for people  to share healthful recipes with each other (for example, posting recipes on the Intranet, on posters or by e-mail).

Active Living

• Plan events and group activities to encourage employees to become active, like walking programs, contests and challenge events, stretch breaks, team sports or participation in local or provincial events.

• Offer onsite health experts (e.g. personal trainers, fitness instructors) or incorporate this service in staff member assistance programs to help workers work towards physical activity objectives.

• Give a supportive environment in the workplace that makes healthy options easy –  bike racks, shower facilities, clean, safe and accessible stairwells, walking or running routes in the vicinity of the workplace, and gym facilities.

• Allow for flex time so that employees have more opportunities to participate in exercise plans as part of their working day.

• Reimburse employees for full or partial club membership fees, fitness class registrations, and fitness equipment purchases.

• Give corporate health club memberships to reduce costs of individual memberships.

Keeping It Fresh!

Find a champion to –

• Organize lunch “n learn sessions to provide information and motivation for healthful eating and active living.

• Invite demonstrators to provide cooking lessons or tips for making healthy foods.

• Post a rotating list in a common room of local restaurants that offer healthy food options on their menus.

• Distribute information to educate employees on portion sizes.

• Include exercise and nutrition information in newsletters, pay check inserts, bulletin boards or e-mails.

• Plan activities that promote healthy eating and exercise. for  instance, start a year-round lunch-time walking club, and special activities

Can a small business support corporate wellness? Absolutely! In truth, in some ways it’s easier to develop a healthful workplace in a small business than in a big business.

Limited resources, particularly in small corporations, can prevent an company from setting up a wellness program. Reasons can include –

• lack of budget resources;

• lack of staff;

• lack of senior-level support;

• little knowledge of the wellness theory and;

• concern about making wellness available to all employees.

As reported by the Wellness Councils of America, some small company owners may have the wrong idea of what’s involved in having a wellness program.

Some companys aren’t sure a program would really work and others feel that attempting to change personal lifestyle behaviours is intruding and “none of their business”.  

Perhaps they don’t understand that it does not need to be costly and that they don’t need special staff. They could not realize that some staff would like to see some healthful changes and would help make things happen in their workplace.

It can be Done

Many small businesses have found ways to have a wellness program that works for them. They keep the cost and effort to a minimum and still have results that are positive for everyone.

In 2006, Graham Lowe wrote a report on the best places to work in Calgary. He said that healthful workplaces often have a “positive workplace culture”.  In a workplace with a positive culture, individuals  feel appreciated, valued, and trusted.

Dr. Lowe says it’s easier for a small workplace to have a positive workplace culture than for a big workplace. Many workers prefer to work for a small company, he says, because it provides more opportunities to work closely with others and create a sense of community.

In his report, Dr. Lowe says the most successful companies with fewer than 100 staff members have –

• excellent worker benefits;

• policies that promote a balance between work and personal life;

• flexible schedules;

• competitive salaries;

• excellent leadership with an emphasis on teamwork;

• environmentally responsible corporation policies;

• procedures for seeking staff member input; and

• a focus on placing employees’ personal wellness ahead of the personal gain of corporation leaders.

All or most of these elements are also components of a good wellness program.

Tips and Ideas

There are many ways to include wellness in a small company. You do not necessarily need a wellness professional or a fancy fitness center.

What you do need is support from management and a committee of a few committed people . Here are some ideas that your workplace can consider.

Communications and Promotion

• Send out a regular “wellness” newsletter in hard copy or online. Or send out a simple message like the weekly Healthy U Hot Tip.

• Use promotions that are already designed such as Healthful Workplace Week.

Active Living and Healthy Eating

•  Be sure to encourage staff to sign up for the Stairway to Health stair climbing competition.

• Get pedometers for workers and track their steps.

• Rent a nearby school or community fitness club and offer exercise classes.

• Hire a local fitness instructor to give classes or lead stretch breaks. Costs may be shared with workers.

• Install secure bike parking.

• Serve healthful alternatives at company meetings and lunches.

Policy and Organizational Programs

• Hire an ergonomics expert to assess workstations.

• Create policies to support work-life balance (for example, mandatory vacations, flextime, limits to work and e-mail on personal time).

• Give a wellness subsidy for a selection of health and leadership activities and courses.

• Offer financial incentives to be healthy.

• Offer wellness incentives as rewards and recognition for a job well done.

• Conduct an organizational health audit (NQI Healthful Workplace Week).

• Become a partner with the community (for example, daycare, health clubs, festivals, parks, restaurants).

• Spread the workload. Be certain to set up a wellness committee.

Small businesses may not have a lot of time, money, or human resources (HR) available for a wellness program. But they often have a enormous advantage over large companies-a positive workplace culture.

That is a great foundation for a wellness program. When staff members are satisfied, enjoy their work environment, they’re more productive, and tend to be healthier.  With a little creativity and passion, small businesses can develop successful wellness programs.

Get support from management, form a committee of two or more and discover the possibilities!

Corporate wellness is evolving.

Early efforts to develop healthy workplaces focused on safety at the worksite and injury prevention for workers.

More recently, programs are designed to assist employees to select healthier behaviours like being more physically active or quitting tobacco use.

Campaigns to increase awareness, educational sessions to increase knowledge, opportunities to learn new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for staff members to make healthful choices are often included.

This approach is taken because the workplace is a good way to reach people , since most adult Americans spend a large part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are two aspects that contribute to the health of staff members, corporate wellness is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation-the environment at work.

How the workplace affects health.

Increasingly, it’s recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people ’s health. When people  are satisfied with their job, they are more productive and tend to be healthier. When employees feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed.

Stress has a large impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified five components of workplace culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the organization overall-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie.

The underlying idea is that companies must genuinely care about the well-being of their workers.

Corporations today who want to attract and keep good workers have leaders who understand the connection between worker satisfaction and worker health and believe that corporate wellness is a business strategy.  

Their management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving staff members in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and providing support to balance work and home life.

Companys know that staff members are looking for jobs that pay well, have good benefits, are fascinating, and include excellent health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more important than ever for corporations to enhance job satisfaction and ensure that staff members enjoy being on the job.

Corporate wellness benefits both companys and staff members.

How does corporate wellness benefit the corporation?

A wellness program can help a business to –

• attract and keep employees;

• reduce the costs of disability, drugs, and absenteeism;

• reduce the effects of a stressful workplace;

• reduce health costs or keep them contained; and

• improve morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

How does corporate wellness benefit employees?

Staff Members of businesses that have a wellness program are likely to have –

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to improve their health;

• a better (less stressful) workplace;

• increased protection from injury;

• improved health and wellness;

• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;

• increased productivity and effectiveness at work;

• reduced personal healthcare costs; and

• a more relaxed/flexible approach to health issues.

Both employers and staff members have a responsibility for creating a healthy workplace. Staff Members are expected to arrive at work in good health, and the employer is expected to provide an environment that authorizes staff members to maintain good health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the corporation’s success.

Corporate wellness is more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about developing a “individuals  first” approach to doing company.

It’s about taking care of employees, establishing a positive work environment, and paying attention to the factors that keep employees healthy and happy at work.

A good wellness program has an impact on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.