Posts from — March 2009

Many corporations recognize the need for a comprehensive strategy to help their workers be the best they are able to be. They also know that efficacious and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

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

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

Starting Your Company Health Promotion Program

Plan carefully to make sure that your wellness program is seen as part of a sweeping responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of all employees. Yes, creating a strong plan takes much effort and time (and occasionally resources). But planning is critical and well worth the cost needed. As the addage 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 workers will not support the program.

Collecting information about what you already offer is also a good idea. For example, you might be surprised by your company or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

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

Senior Leadership

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

• Establishing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested workers.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the employer (to senior managers and fellow staff members alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Developing 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 objectives and goals at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a successful wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many individuals as possible in the program. For example, you’ll want to form a Company Wellness Program Committee made up of a diverse group of employees to provide advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to obtain significant information from all parts of the business.
• Create ambassadors who will help you implement the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

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

• Identify areas of excellence.
• Ascertain factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Grasp management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).
• 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 have the potential to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The expense of your EAP.
• The expense of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expenditure of your prescription drug 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 problems.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other perceivable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A great communications plan supports ongoing information to employees (including senior managers) and creates excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. For example, you may recognize individuals who have helped set up the program or offer tangible rewards for meeting goals and objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether or not employees are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some advance from them. Showing that a wellness program has economic benefits is frequently an valuable factor in maintaining strong support from the top.

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

How does physical activity fit into a full-time employee’s full schedule? Often, 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 beneficial for staff members. But employers also advance from having fit, energetic and healthy staff members who are more beneficial.

The challenges

Your job takes up an abundance of your time. In addition to the hours you spend actually working, there is the time needed 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 difficult.

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.

Corporate Wellness Programs: Get started on a workplace exercise program

Upper Management plays a key role in creating a culture that promotes health. The leaders at your workplace impact 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 advantages of a healthy active workplace. The best way to guarantee the success of a business physical activity program is to have the management on side and cheering you on.

Ask your higher-ups to consider taking these actions:

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

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

You do not need an onsite fitness center

Only very large corporations can afford on-Site fitness facilities such as exercise equipment or squash courts. Still, most employers can take other affordable steps to support employees who wish to become more active.

For example:

• Arrange for discounted fees for staff members 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 lighted.
• Have walking gatherings and set up lunch-hour walking groups
• Make staff members alert to safe and pleasant walking routes near the workplace, as well as nearby locations that offer physical activity 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 is able to promote workers who wish to be physically active. It’s highly desirable to get management on side. Even if your boss isn’t supportive, you are able to still discover ways to get moving more. Set up activities for groups and individuals, and encourage your co-workers to join in.

We all know that physical exercise is an significant part of health and wellness. But occasionally it’s difficult to find time for physical exercise. Lack of time is the number one barrier that individuals say prevents them from participating in physical exercise on a regular basis.

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

Also, there are numerous ways busy people are able to use to be more active. These strategies include:

• multi-tasking
• being active at work
• being active with loved ones
• scheduling activity into daily life

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

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

Strategy #1: Multi-tasking

The first strategy you can 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 building your activity level, and it also benefits your neighborhood and the environment by decreasing the number of cars on the road.

You can also get physical exercise while doing chores.

When you’re working around the house, try to be creative and look for the active choice. For 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. By way of example, use a snow shovel instead of a snow blower.

Strategy #2: Be Active at Work

Many American citizens spend 8 hours a day or more working at a sedentary 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 advantageous.

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 abs 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 learn 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 instead of the elevator whenever you can. The stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

Establish walking meetings at work. Getting outside and having meetings 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 plan, 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 instead of just watching them play.

Many area facilities offer classes that keep you and your little ones 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. For 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: Schedule Physical Activity into Your Day

Plan your physical activity directly into your daytimer. Set a specific time and place for working out. Make your physical activity appointments a priority, just as significant as any other appointment you put in your daytimer.

To help you stay committed to your physical exercise 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 ought to 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: figure out what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to others 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 sufficient effort, you will discover what works for you. Then, run with it!

• Commit to workplace physical activity in policy statements and commit funding to physical activity initiatives.
• Clearly communicating the benefits of being physically active during work reinforces the company’s commitment to assisting all staff members be active. Use meetings, bulletin boards, newsletters and e-mail to reach as many staff members as possible at least once a year.
• Provide flex time for physical exercise. Invite workers who actively commute to work or exercise at lunchtime to make up any missed time later in the day.
• Allow staff members to work part time, so that they are able to take part in physical exercise.
• Include a physical exercise account in your benefit plan to pay for or subsidize fitness memberships, assessments, classes, counselling or instruction.
• Offer interest-free loans for workers to buy bicycles or good walking shoes/runners.
• Conduct periodic employee interest surveys of employee physical activity 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 workers who participate in physical activity. Survey workers first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through organization 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.
• Promote active breaks instead of coffee breaks.
• Have active fundraisers rather than bingos. By way of example, workers 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 exercise. Options might include a session with a yoga instructor or an evening ski trip.
• Encourage a casual dress day. One study found that staff members who dress casually were more physically active.

• Make sure that your building’s stairwells are clean, attractive and safe, and post signs encouraging employees to use the stairs.
• Develop a wellness newsletter or intranet.
• Encourage the Activity Tracker and bolster employees to track their physical activity every week.
• Be creative, and make the most of the workspace you have. By way of example, mark off a safe walking path inside or around the building. You might also set up a training circuit, highlighting features of the workplace such as stairs.
• Offer 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 activity available to staff members 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.
• Provide facilities that invite worksite physical activity. Possibilities include bike racks, physical activity room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.
• Hold walking gatherings.
• Encourage employees to walk to co-workers’ offices rather than 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.
• Offer incentives and 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 have the potential to find out how many steps they usually take and how much exercise they need to add to get basic health benefits.
• Create space for workers 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.
• Develop a workplace health fair.
• Hire a certified fitness specialist to design and manage an worksite fitness facility.
• Supply workers with active wear that displays the company logo.

• Design a launch event to foster excitement about upcoming activities and to establish a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.
• Organize and promote monthly or bi-monthly business programs 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 programs such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.
• Start a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of staff members to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward staff members who complete the swim. Set up a challenge between staff members and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.
• Display a sign-up board where employee can join a group or find a buddy to participate in activities of interest.
• Organize a corporation badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each employee playing once a week. Display the results as the tournament progresses.
• Design 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 workers have the potential to track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.
• Organize a stair climb challenge. Post a chart at the top of the stairwell, and bolster employees 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 reward a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.
• Create a walk “across the U.S.” Choose a route, learn how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge staff members to do it. Give or loan pedometers to staff members, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you can’t afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Set up a challenge between staff members and managers to see who has the potential to 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.
• Design 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 could compete with each other and with management.
• Encourage 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 responsibility from management, employee participation, adequate resources, and a health policy that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Corporate Wellness Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the intention is to eventually have a long-term, comprehensive wellness program, some employers prefer to start with a single program at a basic level. By way of example, the first steps might be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthy eating; or they might launch a pilot project to discover how interested workers are to ensure workers needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach supports a chance to show the influence on workers and the workplace so upper management will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching strategy.

Other corporations plan a variety of drives to meet the needs of the different types of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to develop a sound corporation case, complete with a health plan, before beginning any type of program. Companies want to make sure that a new program is totally integrated with their overall corporation vision and mission.

Workplace Wellness Program: Success Factors

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

• reinforcement 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. Organizations 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 costs can be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small concerns from becoming bigger.

Steps in Creating a Employee Health Promotion Program

Get senior staff support. You may need to cultivate a corporation case to convince managers that the wellness program is a corporation strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction impacts their productiveness. workers need to see evidence that senior staff believes in and is committed to employee health.

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

Accumulate 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 expenditures or WCB expenses. 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.

Design the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include program objectives, activities and how you are going 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 management approval. Support for employee time and a budget are necessitated.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that foster awareness, expand knowledge, develop skills, and provide 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 provide information about community resources.) Workplaces are able to also make it easier for workers to make healthy choices by offering flextime to allow workers to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for gatherings can make sure that healthy foods are offered.

Assess 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 cost. Just do it. Get support from senior staff, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.

How does it feel to walk into your worksite? Do people look content? Is the place illuminated and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a dark cloud descend upon you, and count the hours until you have the potential to leave?
The influence of the workplace environment on the wellness and health of workers 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 light up around you. As time passes, 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, employees feel that the organization they work for supports 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 constructive.
The following ideas will help you change your workplace environment into one that truly supports the wellness of your workers and business.

Workplace Wellness Program Ideas for Fostering Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you arrive at a workplace, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there proper 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 proper space?
• Vending machines with healthy meal choices like low-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other exercise opportunities 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 risks have been eliminated
• Lockers and showers are available for employees who exercise before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it difficult to evaluate a worksite. People get used to stressful conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It might be useful to ask someone who is unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also prove helpful.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to effect behavior is through policies and procedures. If nurses aren’t permitted to work more than twelve hours in a row, there will be less medication errors. If parents are given flextime to manage their children’s needs, they’ll be less stressed. If staff members have the potential to apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they’ll save them up instead of calling in sick to use them all.

Supportive corporate policies may include:

• Seatbelt use demanded in business vehicles
• Drug and alcohol policies are relevant to the industry
• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced
• Flexible work schedules allow employees to exercise, attend children’s school conferences, etc.
• Tobacco-free policy is enforced
• Excessive overtime is discouraged
• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed
• Shift workers are scheduled to allow adequate rest
• Medical Costs coverage rewards good health
• Absenteeism policy rewards staff members who don’t use sick days
• Employee Assistance Program(EAP) available to help employees with chemical dependencies, depression, family concerns
• Meaningful consequences are used for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your organization 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 lunch-and one in which written policies are able to be safely ignored. Prohibited behaviors must be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies become mere lip service rather than springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition And Rewards For Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are given for wellness achievements.
You have the potential to show you value the Employee 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. Employees who support others’ efforts to better their health are noticed and appreciated. Peer modeling and mentoring classes have the potential to bolster those who enjoy assisting 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 are able to also provide support for staff members who are working on improving their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “good job” or “nice to see you at the fitness center” has the potential to put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers might also help by allowing employees the flexibility to attend wellness events.

Ongoing Company Wellness Programs

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

These are easy and fun events that have the potential to be done within your company to excite healthy lifestyles during a contest or during other times. The goal is to promote employee participation. Some examples:
• Create a sub-committee of enthusiastic workers who will help reward the physical activity program by offering ideas, ideas and encouragement to fellow workers.
• Create monthly mailbox brochures to reward a contest or support fitness-related education/encouragement information.
• Send a periodic voicemail on each member’s phone with encouraging wellness messages.
• Make available regular cumulative health progress reports.
• Provide low-fat or heart-healthy lunch selections on a weekly basis 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 starts.
• Allow employees “Fitness 15-Minute Walk Breaks;” company time to walk, exercise, etc. If appropriate, you might use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, some no cost weights and meditation music.
• Have a T-shirt design contest.
• Designate 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 display in the office showing how they have progressed - workers are able to 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.
• Provide aerobic dance or walking videos in your conference or break rooms.
• Compile a list of organized events in the community that offer opportunities to get workers 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 neighborhood walks or runs
• Establish or go to a health-and-fitness retreat or workshop.
• Have 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 employees to take an extra 10 minutes at lunchtime for exercise.
• Designate “Tasty Tuesdays” - offer workers with low-calorie treats/snacks.
• Designate “Walking Wednesdays”- allow employees to take an extra ten minutes at lunchtime to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow employees to explore new exercises.
• Designate “Thirsty Thursdays” - make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for employees.
• Designate “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for employee - offer seasonal produce treats.
• Send weekly physical activity tips to workers via the most effective communications vehicle in your workplace.
• Partner with another employer representative for local media events coordinated through your advertising or communication department.
• Urge departmental teams to challenge each other (examples: Customer Service, Marketing, Medical Support).
• Create walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.
• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or classes through churches, area groups, college, YMCA, etc.
• Contact several local area fitness centers 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.
• Have a Frozen Yogurt Social - “Reap the Benefits of Fitness.”
• Map out a walking track around the building including the number of laps needed for one mile.

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

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

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

SAMPLE #1 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Workplace 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 needed, over the sweatsuit, you are able 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 percent of your body’s 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 is able to make a large difference in your energy level the next day.
• Eat less more frequently. 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 sufficient amounts of water. Dehydration contributes to fatigue, which you can offset by drinking water throughout the day.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Both can contribute to dehydration and fatigue. They also seem to disrupt sleep patterns.