Posts from — June 2010

According to the American Journal of Wellness, “Wellness is the science and art of assisting people  change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health.

Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change may be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, change behavior, and create environments that support good health practices.

Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”

Wellness Program –  Action Steps

The process of building a Wellness Program involves –

• Identifying the current health status of your workers

• Decidingthe appropriate programs and interventions to offer

• Promoting and beginning the programs

• Building in motivational incentives

• Measuring the impact

• Revising programs based on investigation outcomes

It could even include developing policies and procedures that support staff member participation in wellness activities at your worksite (such as flextime).

Steps to Beginning a Wellness Program

• Conduct an organizational assessment

• Obtain management support

• Establish a wellness committee

• Obtain staff member input

• Develop objectives and objectives

• Design and implement program activities

• Choose incentives

• Evaluate outcomes

One of the ways the government plans to improve the nation’s health is through comprehensive Wellness Programs.

As reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help employees live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior change programs.

Indeed, among the objectives of Healthful People  2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to raise the proportion of staff members that participate in a comprehensive Wellness Program at their worksite to 75 percent.

5 Ways to Assess and Improve Your Employees’ Health

Emotional health is a state of wellness that comes from understanding and acknowledging our emotions and locating appropriate ways to express them.

As workers, we often bring emotional problems from our childhood or current family life into the workplace because we have not dealt with them effectively outside of work.

This can seriously damage workplace relationships and lead to poor performance and negative feelings all around.

Many tools and techniques exist for helping us improve our emotional health. Some of the most common are given below, with real-life case histories illustrating their use.

When an unpleasant mood or feeling persists over a length of time, don’t hesitate to seek out a qualified expert. Wellness programs usually have expert support already in place as part of their services.

1. Coaching/Counseling –

One of the hallmarks of emotional health is the willingness to ask for help when we need it.

Confidential expert help, the coaching and counseling provided by staff member assistance or wellness programs, can provide an external source of strength and insight for “working out” emotionally-based problems instead of “working them in” to your job.

2. Self-help Groups –

Self-help groups are designed to aid individuals  in emotional situations in which they feel alone. the purpose of these groups is twofold –  to allow individuals  to safely feel and express their emotions, and to help break their isolation at work and/or in society at large and reintegrate them into society with the support of a coworker group.

The classic self-help group is Alcoholics Anonymous, but thanks to technology, it’s possible to connect with others that have common health challenges, no matter how unique the situation.

Individuals  are taking advantage of tele-conference groups and social websites, like sparkindividuals .com and revolutionhealth.com. Wellness programs often have such groups available through online or telephone support. Progressive corporate wellness provider

Exan Wellness, for instance, offers teleconference cell groups and moderated wellness forums for interacting with others in a supportive, confidential and anonymous environment.

Individuals  with shared challenges get together and discuss the emotional challenges they are facing at work or in other areas of their lives and work through change together.

3. Journaling –  Journaling is often advised by counsellors as a way to help identify and process emotions. Individuals  record their emotions in writing as they experience them, in whatever form they wish.

By helping the writer gain greater emotional clarity, journaling can help in making more emotionally informed decisions. In much the same way, letter writing enables people  to identify and process the emotions they feel about others.

The letter doesn’t have to be sent or its contents shared –  it simply provides a place for the expression of feelings.

An 18-year-old “army brat,” Brent has always done well at school, academically and athletically. But in his last year of high school, something seems to have happened to him. He has lost all interest in school, becoming moody and withdrawn.

Brent describes to his guidance counselor all the times he had to move when he was growing up. Each move wrenched him from his friends and forced him to play the role of the “new kid on the block.”

The counselor suggests that Brent write letters to the friends he’s missed over the years telling them how he felt. Lastly, he’s a chance to say a proper goodbye.

4. Assess Your Emotional Health –  Corporations that seek to boost employees’ interpersonal skills, or emotional intelligence in the workplace are more successful, as reported by ground-breaking journalist Daniel Goleman.

And emotional intelligence is the buzzword in workplaces these days. Some wellness programs have information about emotional intelligence, or emotional health assessments. Seek out more information about emotional intelligence for better corporate wellness.

5. Friendships/Support Systems –  Friendships allow individuals  to feel supported in their emotional journeys. at the same time, they give individuals  an opportunity to create their empathetic skills.

These skills are also important for workplace health. When we’re empathic with fellow workers, we help them resolve negative or unhealthy emotions. New friendships are made through hobbies, classes, clubs, or even through internet based groups.

Many people  are locating emotional satisfaction by connecting or re-connecting with friends through Facebook and other social web sites.

Sometimes workplace stress that isn’t dealt with in a healthy manner may be brought home. A 36-year-old mother of three, Sarah, wants to be a good wife, a good mother, and a success at her job.

One day, drained after a long day at work, she shouted at her rambunctious children and threatened to hit her youngest son. Her behavior horrified her. to make matters worse, she believes she’s a failure at her job in addition to at motherhood. She watches with jealousy as younger colleagues advance much more rapidly up the corporate ladder despite having less experience than she has.

On the advice of a counselor, she decides to take time out for herself and take a course for amateur painters. It does not take long before she strikes up a friendship with a single mom in the class.

She once led a life very similar to Sarah’s before managing to achieve a better balance between work and family. Her new friend becomes a much-needed sounding board for Sarah and offers her perspectives on her life that she hadn’t considered before.

25 percent Jump in Corporation Interest in Worker Wellness

Corporate wellness for their staff members, businesss are discovering, is good for the health of their corporations as well. Wellness programs help to cut the costs associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of productivity and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 USA corporations indicated a significant paradigm shift in how corporations view health benefits for their staff members.

Of those surveyed this year, 88 percent are committed to instituting long-term healthcare assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their employees, with the goal of boosting the health and productivity of their workforce. This represents a 25 percent increase in interest in wellness programs over 2007.

A strong offering of wellness programs to meet the demand has resulted. Health assistance providers have broadened their programs with tools that address general lifestyle factors, physical, social and psychological health factors.

Programs look to predict chronic disease in their employees and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Companies also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their healthcare spending.

Self-care is our motive, says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive wellness provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving workers tools to help them manage their own health, and promoting the benefits, while giving individuals  resources to reach out for help is the key to successful lifestyle change.

Companies are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver wellness programs. the kind of program we have created over years delivers the highest healthcare return on investment.”

Combining corporate wellness promotions, internet based assessments and health trackers, internet based medical information, telephone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a wide variety of health specialists, is behind the success of the Exan program. “Having internet based statistics about employees’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – ROI” says Vic Lebouthillier.

Companies are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of healthcare benefits to develop holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their worker populations, drive worker behavior change and eliminate barriers to healthcare, says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

Nevertheless, in a separate survey of 30,000 staff members, 74% said that, although they felt their corporation had an obligation to help them understand how to use their health benefits program, only 12% felt the corporation had any right to tell them how to be healthy.

Based on these results, employers need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their staff members in addition to the business. It’s a win-win situation.

Companys and staff members did find common ground when it came to future healthcare. Both surveys indicate that 95% of staff members understand that their taking care of their health today will impact future healthcare payments.

A similar percentage also understand the important of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on healthcare costs.

Cost is important for most corporations as well. Over 80% of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for healthcare onto workers.

Although 64% of corporations have shifted costs to their staff members, only 17% plan to do so in the next 3-5 years. In like fashion with health reimbursement accounts, 20% now offer these, but only about 5% plan to use them in 2008.

These survey causesdicate companies are getting more proactive in assisting their workers to change behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is clearly good for the well-being of workers, but also for the well-being of the companies they work for.

Almost half the businesses surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to increased productivity and lower absentee rates. Over 60% plan to institute programs that help workers change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle.

Nearly of these corporations will also use data and measurements to ensure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?

It is clear to virtually every American (specifically those of us in business) that health care costs are skyrocketing out of control.

No one doubts that either the market will solve the problem OR the government will impose one on us. Managed care has failed from either a cost containment or quality of care perspective.

Corporations have reached the point where the cost of providing medical insurance is almost as burdensome as government regulation. It’s time for some new thinking on healthcare and its impact on company and vice versa.

Corporate wellness as an operational perspective instead of merely window dressing is one way to deal effectively with rising healthcare costs.

The Insurance Problem

The first step in correcting the problem is to realize that an employee’s health is their own responsibility. Expecting businesss to provide unlimited health insurance coverage is simply unrealistic and unreasonable.

It’s time for businesss (on a broad scale) to reconsider their role in providing health insurance coverage. Instead of providing complete coverage for all staff members through group plans, companies should begin to shift the burden of health coverage to those covered.

Here’s the approach. Provide catastrophic medical insurance as a group benefit to all workers with a large enough deductible (say $5000 per employee) to make the cost cheap for the company.

Then, allow staff members to buy their own medical insurance policies (based on their own needs) and pay for them through payroll deduction with pre-tax earnings.

There are numerous insurance corporations that sell individual plans on this basis. Everyone wins. Workers can tailor their coverage to their own needs and circumstances using their own doctors. Companies win by stopping the endless cycle of rising costs and ever-changing plans.

And when individuals become responsible for the cost of their own insurance, they become more attentive to their own health.

Besides, if an employee is interested in working for you ONLY because your business offers great insurance benefits are not they telling you they’re going to cost you more money in the future?

Develop a “Wellness Culture”

Our current “sickness culture” perpetuates the health care crisis and hastens the demise of market-based solutions. By illness culture, I mean our focus on health problems in lieu of on having a healthful workplace and performance culture.

Additionally, what would a “wellness culture” look like? First, in lieu of paid sick days, employees may  be rewarded at year’s end with an attendance bonus.

Employees would be reimbursed for successful completion of use of tobacco cessation and weight-loss programs. Companies would invest in corporate memberships at local gyms so every employee can participate.

Employees would be offered in-house wellness programs on a selection of issues ranging from ergonomics to stress management. Finally, businesses would commit to hiring and retaining healthy employees.

Simply put, healthy employees cost less and are more productive than unhealthy ones. Applicants must be screened for health habits and practices that limit their productivity and increase the likelihood of future expense.

While this might seem harsh, it rewards those staff members whose personal lifestyle and habits ensure the best Return on Investment by the business committing to hire, train and pay them.

Be open to “alternative and complementary” approaches

Studies published in major medical journals reveal that individuals who use “alternative and complementary” health modalities (including chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga and massage) are typically healthier, better educated, take fewer medications and miss fewer days from work than the typical American.

Since these individuals look for ways to stay healthy without drugs and surgery, they end up being a net benefit as for attendance and productivity. Old prejudices in this area should be discarded in order for companies to improve productivity and increase profitability

Conclusion

Healthcare costs are increasing at a staggering pace. Managed care is an awful failure. Companies are buckling under the pressure of providing health coverage to their workers.

American competitiveness in the market is sagging. These times call for extraordinary solutions. It’s time for American businesses to consider some out-of-the-box solutions to the healthcare crisis.

Corporate wellness is an approach that is timely, achievable and reasonable given the alternatives. All choices should be considered while we still have a chance.

Research spanning more than a decade has consistently shown wellness programs to be financially effective and that every dollar invested on a wellness program can return $2.30 and $10.10 by reducing absenteeism, sick day usage and by decreasing insurance costs.

Also it is noted that there are marked improvements in employee performance and productivity in organizations that implement a wellness program.

Healthy organizations enjoy increased worker morale and an improved ability to attract and retain key individuals . Also, employees are more alert and productive.

For example, Coca Cola reports that they save an estimated $500 a year per staff member once they implemented a workout planin which 60 percent of their employees participate.

Coors Brewing Business reported that employees who participated in their wellness programs reduced their absentee rate by 18 percent.

Workers enjoy their share of benefits from wellness programs too. A healthy lifestyle affects every part of a person’s life, including their work environment.

Wellness programs result in fewer injuries, less human error and a work environment that is more harmonious and relaxed. Also, employees who work at a company that implements a wellness program know that their organization is concerned about their wellness.

Employees often report a reduction in their stress levels due to wellness programs.

As employees feel better, more relaxed, more valued and more human to their company; they enjoy an increase in productivity. This increase in productivity, while beneficial to the corporation, is also essential to the employee as it increases their own sense of self worth and confidence levels.

Staff Members who feel successful and who feel that they accomplish goals are overall happier and in a better frame of mind.

The advantages of wellness programs, both tangible and intangible, are evident. It is a wise move for a business to start a wellness program, especially when they incorporate some form of mental health aspect into it.

This also has social benefits as domestic violence and child abuse is shown to be decreased in areas where wellness programs are implemented. These days, an organization can nearly not afford to have some sort of wellness program to offer to their workers.

Some of the top wellness programs currently in use today include –

Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal}s

Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal} is a top wellness program currently in use globally. Organizations that start it determine the safety and health concerns of staff members by the assessment of appropriateness of the facilities and equipment against the needs of the staff members.

It can, for example, guide the organization into deciding how the air quality within an office room affects the users and then help the assessment team to come up with the measures necessary to correct the problem. an HRA can also evaluate the level of exposure workers have to certain hazardous or hazardous materials and practices.

Immunizations

This is not always practiced in every country since there are regions where government sponsored immunization shots are available. Nevertheless, it has also become an important component of the top staff member wellness programs in many organizations in North America.

Immunization shots, such as those used to combat flu, for instance, are offered to staff members for free.

Employee Assistance Programs

Worker Assistance Programs consist of a wide variety of services. It can range from providing educational resources to workers regarding health issues to sponsoring health services and medical care. In many companies, medical and insurance have also become a staple part of their benefits system.

In-house diet and nutrition drives

This is another wellness program that organizations use, specifically those that offer in-house commissary or cafeteria services. Instead of serving richer, high-calorie fare, cafeterias offer options for a healthier diet, usually in the form of low-calorie foods and sugar substitutes.

In-house wellness newsletter and campaign drives

One of the top wellness programs that organizations can implement is a self-powered tool using a newsletter to promote wellness, coupled with a visible campaign.

The campaign may  be done periodically and focus on a specific topic, such as tobacco use hazards, cancer, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, safety in the workplace, etc.

The newsletter in itself can be an effective means to deliver information to workers or members of an organization but it is far from perfect.

Some workers, for instance, might not peruse the newsletter entirely or even pay attention to it. If the issues outlined in the newsletter are promoted through an active and highly visible campaign, it will be easier to maximize positive results.

Exercise and exercise

Another top wellness program for organizations is one that involves physical activities. Businesses often sponsor exercise-related events such as marathons and business sports programs to encourage staff members to remain fit or lose excess weight.

In mid- to large-sized businesses, businesses might even pay for health club memberships or in-house exercise facilities.

Wellness Incentives

Some of the top wellness programs implemented by companies involve incentive rewards. This involves company-sponsored programs that reward staff members for achieving specific wellness-related objectives.

Participation in health campaigns and signing up for wellness programs are two of the most widely rewarded schemes. Rewards can range from special recognitions to over time obtained points (for larger rewards) to specific gifts. In a few cases, cash may also be used.

However, incentive systems have had mixed reactions and levels of success. But it continues to be among the top choices among corporations who are willing to modify it in order to fit their unique needs.

Colleague Pressure

In many organizations, companies take benefit of coworker pressure in order to encourage workers to participate in wellness programs. This is currently among the favorite worker wellness programs currently in use today and growing in popularity.

Colleague pressure is often leveraged to help promote competitions referring to corporate wellness and to persuade workers to be active in company-sponsored health fairs.

Wellness is a great concept. It brings happiness into health and encourages a in truth holistic approach to life. Wikipedia defines wellness as a healthful balance of the mind-body and spirit that leads to an overall feeling of wellness.

It sounds like exactly what every one is looking for. But when you start to talk about corporate wellness, or corporate wellness, all life goes out of the concept. Total solutions, disease management and medical screening don’t inspire visions of enjoying life and living it to the full.

They start from the assumption that sickness is here to stay and needs to be discovered, managed and controlled but can never be healed.

The wellness industry is growing phenomenally fast. Wellness guru, Paul Zane Pilzer, has labeled it the next trillion dollar industry. But wellness has two different faces.

On the one hand there are the small companies – individuals  working from home or in small centers selling all kinds of wellness products and services at a speed of growth that is escalating quickly.

On the contrary corporate wellness is also exploding but in a very different direction.

The baby boomers who are driving the popular wellness revolution have been described as the first generation to refuse to accept the inevitability of death.

They are actively looking for ways to prevent aging, stay healthy into old age and enjoy themselves more than ever before after retirement. This is a radical departure from current notions of old age, which are often dominated by pictures of sickness, frailty and suffering.

The companies have been largely forced to take on wellness. This is partly through legislative pressure, with many countries introducing laws to make companies liable for stress-related sickness in their staff members.

It is also financially motivated, as research has repeatedly shown the immense costs of absenteeism (and increasingly of presenteeism as well).

Whereas the baby boomers are actively looking for new solutions and new lifestyles the corporations are struggling to organize largely traditional and mainstream health systems, such as doctors, nurses, insurance and screening systems.

The problem is that the traditional health system doesn’t have solutions for the problems that people  are handling.

Nobody ever went to see a doctor to get happy, because a doctor does not have any clue how to make people  happy. and many stress-related health problems are described as chronic diseases, which means that they last for a very long time – or maybe for the rest of your life – because there is no medical cure.

Counseling is a common offering in companies for emotional problems, but whilst it could provide a useful pressure valve it isn’t a powerful treatment for stress, unhappiness or depression.

Imagine walking into a company where the employees are happy, healthy, full of inspiration, fit, love working, have meaningful family lives, active social lives, and enjoyable relationships at work and in their community.

That type of company would be a pleasure to work in and bound to be successful because people  would be working to their optimum capacity.

So can we develop a system of true wellness that will serve the development of the corporations and their workers and will pay for itself because of the benefits that both sides will gain?

First of all we have to face the fact that we can’t place all the responsibility into the hands of the current health system. Absenteeism, stress, depression, the very roots of the wellness revolution, have not been solved by the current system.

If they’d been we wouldn’t have this revolution, we would all be much more well. So we need to look elsewhere for solutions.

We also cannot rely on makeshift feel-good wellness offerings, like the on-site massage team which visits the office once a month or the wellness day that raises awareness for a little while but leaves most individuals  unaffected. They’re easy to organize but have little or no real effect on employee wellness.

Corporate needs are different than individual needs and many of the new small wellness businesses that are springing up simply don’t have the capacity to serve the corporate market.

Nonetheless it is in the best interest of both corporations and staff members to find and develop systems of wellness that really work – that benefit individuals  to be happy, handle stress, love working, and to have enough energy to go home at the end of the day and enjoy their family and social life.

So far the corporate world has hijacked the theory of wellness and turned it into a modern version of occupational health. It’s time to raise the vision and find out how to make in fact healthy, happy workplaces where people  thrive.

High rates of staff member turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into corporate profits. the high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average company.

A lot of corporations are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of programs that yield a reduction in these costs.

It’s become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed wellness/fitness program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need.

Management’s goals for a productive wellness program ought to be viewed through the perspective of increased employee productivity, decreased absenteeism due to health related causes, improved employee morale, decreased utilisation of company subsidised health benefits, enhanced team cohesion and effectiveness and a decrease in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction.

It is obvious that an betterment in any of these areas will have a positive impact on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an staff members point of view may be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, decreased body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social connections at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most productive a wellness program needs to achieve both managements and staff members goals, and this may be accomplished through a program that will provide the individual worker with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and wellness, and the advantages of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the necessary changes to their physical condition that may be applied in their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Wellness Programs

Decreased Absenteeism – Dupont reduced absenteeism by 47.5 percent over six years for the participants of their corporate fitness program, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Decreased Health Care Costs – Steel case showed a reduction in medical claim costs of 55% for corporate fitness program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an typical of $478.61 for participants versus non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Wellness, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Decreased Turnover – Turnover among fitness program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Business was 32.4 percent lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross Blue Shield  of Indiana found that its corporate fitness program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Wellness, March, April, 1991).

The Partnership for Avoidance was formed to encourage Fortune 1000 companies to consider making workforce health a CEO issue and adopt strategies to promote avoidance and wellness.

After several years of double-digit rate increases for medical insurance, businesses are realizing that among the best ways to slow the cost increases is to have workers take more responsibility for both costs and health options.

A majority of corporations surveyed feel that the best way for lowering costs is financial incentives to encourage staff members to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Nearly 100 percent of businesss surveyed say that health costs will be a crucial or significant concern over the next five years, according to a recent survey by United Benefit Advisors.

More employers are adopting higher deductible health plans with HRA’s or HSA’S, wellness programs, and broader disease management (DM) programs to control ever-increasing healthcare costs.

Failure to deal with these issues may be disastrous for an corporation. Wayne Sensor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alegent Health recently stated, “I think that we’ve built a healthcare machinery we cannot afford. I think we’re choking the economic engine of America.”

In his October 2005 newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil stated, “I think rising health- care costs are becoming the major economic issue in our nation”. Obesity costs California companies billions of dollars each year.

Projected costs for 2005 may reach 28 billion dollars for direct and indirect health care costs, employee’s compensation, and lost productivity. California has experienced among the fastest growing rates of obesity of any state.

According to California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, “The obesity epidemic is more than a public health crisis, it’s an economic crisis.” What is frightening is that most people  do not even realize that they’re obese, which is defined as only 20 percent above normal weight.

There is a great need for additional education on weight and resulting illnesses, and the workplace is an ideal venue. Wellness education and programs can lead to a significant return on investment and, when structured properly, can produce results in a very short period of time.

Although many companys have attempted some form of wellness program in the past, results from those efforts have been disappointing.

In many cases, the healthier staff members participated for incentives, such as gym memberships, but those who needed it most didn’t take advantage of the program in a meaningful way.

Corporations are looking at ways to encourage more workers to buy into the wellness movement.

A recent webinar hosted by Human Resource Executive Magazine and presented by Carlson Marketing Group titled, “Healthier Employees; Healthier Bottom Line –  Engaging Employees is the Missing Link in Managing Healthcare Costs,” drove this point home.

This session provided actionable advice on how companies are achieving higher impact with their wellness investments by focusing on staff member engagement. It also highlighted how you can create an Economic Engagement Model to forecast the potential impact for your organization.

Businesss can simply no longer ignore the issue of their employee’s unhealthy lifestyles and must take action to engage them in a meaningful wellness program to reduce health costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Employees also benefit as they derive better health and greater satisfaction in both their personal and professional lives. the alternative is being caught in a non-competitive position and severely impacting the bottom-line of the company.

A listing of potential wellness topics and ideas not previously mentioned follows. Take some time to “think tank and brainstorm” new ideas with your own internal employee Wellness Committee.

Nutrition Category

• Low-fat campaign/food groups

• Team salad bars

• Vending machine changes

• Diet analysis by a nutritionist

• Produce on parade

• Eating disorder support group

• Restaurant education

Exercise/Exercise Category

• “Elevoiders” – stair climbing

• Poker walk

• Mall walking program

• Facilities – showers, bicycle lockers, exercise space, etc.

• Team treks

• Walk-a-block trails

• Recreational tournaments

• How-to-select equipment talks

• Running maps

• Bicycling maps

• Deskercises (mini stretches for desk jockeys)

• Fit-over-forty club

• Tennis shoe Tuesday

• Walk 100 miles in 100 days

• Walking “buddies”

• NW Trek!

Miscellaneous Category

• House calls

• Meet your benefits providers

• Dental health

• Fire safety

• Ergonomic assessments

• Self-help learning

• CPR/first aid course

• Hearing test

• Hand washing campaign

• Cancer screenings

• Back class

• Passports to health

• Vision screenings

Stress Management Category

• Comedy hour

• Stress Pest

• Humor newsletter

• Money management seminars

• Time management seminars

• Relaxation class

• Better sleep campaign

• Relaxation room