Posts from — June 2010

To make a difference in the lives of your fellow workers, you first need to understand that getting active is not simply a matter of choice. 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 health club does not appeal to everyone. 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/bicycling trails, parks and fitness centers are nearby.

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

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

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

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

• We can juggle our work hours to fit in physical activity.

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

Workplace exercise programs that focus only on individuals have limited success. Research shows that reaching individuals  in various ways gives the best chance of long-term success.

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

The kind of investigation you select depends on when you do it and the kind of information you collect.

This section describes when to use three kinds -  formative, process and summative investigations.

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 create effective and appropriate materials and procedures.

Examples of formative investigations include -

• records of management commitments to the program

• worker interest surveys

• workplace environmental assessments

• pre-testing of program materials

During Your Initiative

A process evaluation is used when the initiative is underway. These evaluations help you -

• track what’s 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’s participating in the initiative

During or After Your Initiative

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

All three types of investigations are useful. the investigation you pick depends on the time and financial resources you have available.

What Do You Want to Achieve?

Think about why you’re analyzing  and what your examination is going to measure.

When you are attempting to find out whether an initiative has been successful, see when you followed your mission statement and met your objectives and objectives.

If 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 can measure success by changes in -

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

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

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

Thinking About Employees

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

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

Choosing an Examination Method

Decide on your investigation 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 Analysis

Plan when and where you will do your examination (and who will be evaluated). for additional information, read the “Types of Evaluations” section on this website.

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

Doing the Examination

• Compare your results to baseline information (i.e., evaluation results from before the launch of your initiative). When you don’t have this information, save your evaluation results to compare with later results.

You can also look at other information you may have, like worker satisfaction survey results.

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

• Examination results can be used to improve the current exercise program and/or to create 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 Exercise Program

• formed an worker committee

• evaluated what is possible in your workplace

• found out what staff members want and need in a Workplace Physical Activity Program.

Based on this information, you are now ready to create your action plan to raise exercise at your workplace.

With the worker committee, take the following steps.

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

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

Since these people  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’ bicycles secure during the workday.

• Consult the list of practical suggestions found this website.

• Develop a mission statement (one which aligns with your corporation’s overall mission statement) to define your purpose and help guide your process. Setting goals and goals will help you achieveyour 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 Staff Member Committee.” Seek management approval to move ahead.

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

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

To succeed in encouraging physical activity during the workday, you have to find out what staff members need and want. They’re the people  whose behaviour you’re attempting to influence, so it’s vital to understand their needs and gain their support.

The Employee Interest Survey

Ask employees 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 exercise initiative meets employees’ needs. Employees 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 example, workers may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they don’t want to shower at work.

Ask employees 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 people .

For  instance, suppose a large 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.

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

Involving staff members is key to increasing exercise participation rates. People  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 employee 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 difficult to analyze, ask individuals  to select 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 individuals.

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

Workplace Exercise Programs -  Forming an Worker Committee

Although support from the top is critical to a successful initiative, support from other staff members 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 might  be advisory or may plan and carry out the initiative.

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

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

• Investigating your workplace environment

• Carrying out an worker interest survey.

• Developing a mission statement and goals and goals.

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

• Brainstorming program ideas.

• Promoting, communicating and advertising the initiative.

• Coordinating specific activities.

• Deciding how the initiative will be analyzed.

• Continually investigating  what is 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 increase worker expectations by offering something that’s impossible due to funding or space limits.

For  instance, it’s not realistic to suggest putting in a exercise facility when there’s no room for it. be open, notwithstanding, 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 have stairs, bicycle racks, showers, space for a workout facility, factory walking lanes?

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

• What resources are available?

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

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

Gaining management support is vital to the success of a physical activity initiative.

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

Support from management is vital for three reasons -

• You need their agreement to involve employees 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 physical activity initiative, but at three points you will need support for -

• an overall concept, including a go-ahead to assess what employees 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.

• Reviewing 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 physical activity during the workday, do your homework.

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

• List the individual, social and corporate advantages of physical activity and the advantages 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’ll this help our company?

• How can we motivate employees 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 if 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.

Do not forget to include middle managers when gaining support for your initiative. They may be very helpful when you need volunteers to lead teams in corporate exercise challenges.

In today’s company environment, the health of workers is often related to the health of the company. Increased job satisfaction, improved morale, decreased disease and injuries, and increased productivity are just some of the advantages of having healthful workers.

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

Healthy Eating

• for breakfast meetings, in lieu of serving donuts, large muffins, cookies, tea and coffee with cream and sugar, offer healthier alternatives like bagels, small muffins, fresh fruit, water, 100 percent 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 % fruit juice, water, salads with dressing on the side, vegetable and fruit trays.

• Reimburse employees 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 options.

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

• Give a means for individuals  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 exercise 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 about the workplace, and fitness club facilities.

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

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

• Provide corporate gym 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 healthy 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 staff members on portion sizes.

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

• Plan activities that promote healthful consuming and physical activity. for example, start a year-round lunch-time walking club, and special activities

Can a small business support corporate wellness? Absolutely! Truly, in some ways it’s easier to develop a healthy workplace in a small business than in a large company.

Limited resources, in particular in small businesses, 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 corporation owners might have the wrong idea of what’s involved in having a wellness program.

Some businesss are not 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 may 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

A lot of 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, people  feel appreciated, valued, and trusted.

Dr. Lowe says it is easier for a small workplace to have a positive workplace culture than for a large workplace. A lot of employees prefer to work for a small company, he says, because it provides more opportunities to work closely with others and develop a sense of community.

In his report, Dr. Lowe says the most successful corporations with fewer than 100 workers have -

• great staff member benefits;

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

• flexible schedules;

• competitive salaries;

• great leadership with an emphasis on teamwork;

• environmentally responsible company 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 don’t necessarily need a wellness specialist or a fancy fitness center.

What you do need is support from management and a committee of a few committed individuals . 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 Healthful U Hot Tip.

• Use promotions that are already designed like Healthy 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 employees and track their steps.

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

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

• Install secure bicycle parking.

• Serve healthy 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).

• Provide 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 Healthy Workplace Week).

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

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

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

That is a great foundation for a wellness program. When workers are satisfied, enjoy their work environment, they are 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 create healthy workplaces focused on safety at the worksite and injury avoidance for employees.

More lately, programs are designed to assist employees to choose healthier behaviours like being more physically active or quitting smoking.

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

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

While safety and lifestyle programs are two aspects that contribute to the health of workers, 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 is recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people ’s health. When people  are satisfied with their job, they’re 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 worker 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 friendship.

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

Businesses today who want to attract and keep good workers have leaders who understand the connection between employee satisfaction and employee health and believe that corporate wellness is a corporation 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.

Corporations know that employees are looking for jobs that pay well, have good benefits, are intriguing, 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 employees enjoy being on the job.

Corporate wellness benefits both corporations and workers.

How does corporate wellness benefit the employer?

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?

Employees 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;

• decreased personal healthcare costs; and

• a more relaxed/flexible approach to health issues.

Both businesss and workers have a responsibility for creating a healthful workplace. Employees are expected to arrive at work in good health, and the business is expected to provide an environment that permits workers 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 “people  first” approach to doing business.

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

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