Posts from — April 2009

Ideally, you will foster an central plan for a Workplace Health Promotion Program before beginning to plan specific wellness programs. By way of example, you can begin by getting the following elements in place:

• support from senior staff
• a Company Wellness Program Committee or group
• information about the wellness needs and interests of workers
• a budget
• program objectives
• an evaluation plan

Even if you have few monetary and/or human resources(HR), you are able to still take a “micro” approach. For example, you could focus on only one specific concern. Creativity, enthusiasm and planning are able to help you overcome limitations.

This article will give you some with some ideas for establishing Workplace Wellness Programs. Even the smallest steps are able to have an effect.

Whether you choose to start with a single program or advance something larger, planning is essential. First consider the big picture and then look after the details.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Ascertain an action. What health-related program will fit the bill and best suit the staff members and corporation?
• Promote. How can you most effectively spread the word to staff members? What opportunities exist for promotion? Consider everything, since staff members have access to and pay attention to different types of messages. In a typical workplace, staff members receive information from e-mail, newsletters, bulletins, brochures, meeting announcements and fellow staff members.
• Deliver. Who is the best person or group to put the program into action? Ask other corporations about approaches they have used. Decide on your budget before making a decision.
• Evaluate. What should you evaluate to determine success? Do you need hard data and/or testimonials from individual participants?

We recommend the following when creating your program:

• planning and communicating clear objectives
• targeting your audience
• deciding on the type of program or campaign

The Elements of a Company Wellness Program

Initiatives to reward wellness in the workplace don’t need to be restricted to one area. You might think workplace wellness only involves promoting positive personal health, e.g., Blood Pressure (BP) clinics, brochures on heart disease, “lunch and learn” sessions on eating habits and short-term physical activity programs.

These activities are important, but workplace wellness ought to also be part of company’s business plan and go beyond traditional programming.

Taking a broader approach, the National Quality Institute recently detailed 3 key elements of a healthy workplace:

• physical environment
• social environment and personal resources
• health practices

Specific Program Ideas

Physical Environment

Look after workers’ health and safety and establish regulations to support their health and safety. Consider offering the following:

• Safe bike storage and shower and/or change facilities for cyclists and other commuters.
• Fridges for workers to keep snacks and meals fresh and/or healthy snacks in snack machines and cafeterias.
• Ergonomic assessments.
• Subsidies to assist employees join local recreation centres.
• Classrooms/conference rooms available for booking activities such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation and aerobics.
• Safe and pleasant stairways that invite workers to use them.
• Assessing the potential for violence at work with plans to deal with such risks.
• Good lighting and sound and air quality.

Social Environment

Human relationships and communication, as well as ways of doing business, have the potential to affect an employee’s mental and physical health. Organizations should consider the following:

• respectful workplace policies that offer safe worksites
• policies on flex time
• policies on working from home
• employee satisfaction surveys
• leadership coaching
• resiliency training
• Employee Assistance Program(EAP)s

To cultivate a positive social culture or climate, consider employees’ needs, which include:

• being respected
• a sense of belonging, purpose and mission
• freedom of expression
• protection from harassment and discrimination

What you’ve “always done” may not address current employee needs. Making sure that individuals enjoy being at work is not an simple task, but making the right changes can have a huge effect.

Health Practices

Provide programs and set policies that help staff members remain healthy or better their health while at work. Consider offering the following:

• “Lunch and learn sessions” on healthy habits such as sleeping better, eating on the run, healthy snacks, using a pedometer, pole walking, work-life balance, time management, stress management, resiliency, parenting and reading diet labels.
• Tobacco cessation clinics or subsidies to help workers quit.
• Health risk appraisals, including fitness assessments.
• Programs to address the problems raised in the health risk appraisals.
• Healthy snacks provided at meetings and conferences.

Personal Corporate Wellness Program Tips

If there is no wellness program at your workplace, do not let that stop you from keeping healthy. Perhaps your example will spark a movement toward a healthier workplace.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Be active at work. There are countless ways to bring activity into your workday. Walk to work, even if it’s just one way. Have walking meetings. Bike to work. Use the stairs. Walk to a workmate’s office rather than sending an e-mail.
• Eat smart at work. Pack a healthy snack. Place a bottle of water at your desk or workstation. Eat breakfast and eat regularly during the day. Take turns bringing a basket of fruit for co-workers’ snacks. Order healthy snacks for meetings.
• Maintain work-life balance. Work efficiently so you can leave on time. Conduct short, effective meetings. Leave your work at work and be sure not to take it home. Minimize social chit-chat. Arrange your office to enhance your work. Avoid clutter. Create and prioritize to be sure that the most significant things get done first.

There’s no limit to the number or variety of Company Wellness Programs. A key to success is planning well and ensuring that you can evaluate the outcome so that you can sustain momentum.

Talk to other wellness practitioners to learn what works well for them. Listen to your co-employees to determine their needs and interests. And do not forget to promote, promote, promote.

Many corporations recognize the need for a all-inclusive plan to help their staff members be the best they have the potential to be. They also know that successful and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

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

• A clear agenda or statement of 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 strategy (what’s significant gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Planning Your Worksite Health Promotion Program

Develop carefully to make sure that your wellness program is seen as part of a broad responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of all staff members. Yes, creating a strong plan takes an abundance of work and time (and sometimes resources). But planning is important and well worth the expenditure necessitated. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might begin by conducting a survey of employee needs and interests. If you do this, pay attention to the outcome and plan accordingly. If you do not, the staff members will not support the program.

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

Another significant step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable objectives to help you come up with priorities, timelines and the resources needed to launch 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:

• Implementing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested staff members.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the corporation (to senior managers and fellow employees alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• 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 goals/objectives 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 people as possible in the program. For example, you’ll want to form a Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee made up of a diverse group of staff members to offer advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to obtain valuable information from all parts of the business.
• Develop ambassadors who will help you enable the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

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

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

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

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The cost of your Employee Assistance Program(EAP).
• The expense of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expense of your 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 concerns.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other perceivable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan supports ongoing information to staff members (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is critical in an effective communications plan. By way of example, you may recognize individuals who have helped established the program or provide tangible rewards for meeting 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 significant factor in maintaining strong support from the top.

If you focus on the key elements of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while planning and delivering it, you will lay a solid foundation and leave a legacy that endures.

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

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

The challenges

Your job takes up a lot of your time. In addition to the hours you invest actually on the job, there is the time required 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 a myriad of American citizens 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.

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

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

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

Ask your management to consider taking these actions:

• Send a memo or message about the importance of health and healthy living that encourages employee to take an active break each day.
• Provide for flexible work hours that help employee to be more physically active. By way of example, they might need to take a longer lunch break to attend physical activity class, making up the time by coming to 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 fitness program, do not forget to show appreciation.

You don’t need an onsite gym

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

By way of example:

• Arrange for discounted fees for employees at a fitness club, 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.)
• Provide 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 cognizant of safe and pleasant walking routes near the workplace, as well as nearby facilities that offer fitness programs (such as walking, swimming, running, yoga, stretching).
• Hire a certified instructor to teach employee about health, fitness and how to become more active.

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

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

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

Also, there are numerous ways busy individuals have the potential 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 individuals. 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 responsibility, some of them are sure to work for you.

Strategy #1: Multi-tasking

The first strategy you have the potential to try is multi-tasking. This means doing things you already do, but in a more physically active way. This way you get done what you need to get done and you get physical activity 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 exercise 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 rather than a snow blower.

Strategy #2: Be Active at Work

Many American citizens spend eight hours a day or more working at a sedentary job. Here are a few simple ways to keep your body moving throughout the workday. The physical activity will revitalize you and help you be more productive.

When you’re working at your desk, try sitting on a stability ball or disk for part of your day (30 minutes to an hour). This gives your back and abs a workout.

Take active breaks at least once per day. During your coffee break, try doing some yoga, stretching or taking a quick walk. You may discover that walking up and down the stairs a few times does a better job of rejuvenating you than the java jolt.

Speaking of the stairs, take them rather than the elevator whenever you can. The stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

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

Strategy #3: Be Active With Your Loved Ones

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

Many community facilities offer classes that keep you and your little ones active at the same time. Research these classes and take one or two.

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

Strategy #4: Schedule Physical Activity into Your Day

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

To help you stay committed to your physical activity appointments, you might want to make appointments that involve other people: such as by meeting with a personal trainer, taking physical activity 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 cultivate a physical activity plan and schedule.

The bottom line: figure out what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to other people about how they remain 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 proper effort, you will discover what works for you. Then, run with it!

• Commit to workplace physical exercise in policy statements and commit funding to physical exercise initiatives.
• Clearly communicating the advantages of being physically active during the workday reinforces the company’s responsibility to supporting 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.
• Offer flex time for physical exercise. Invite employees who actively commute to work or exercise at lunchtime to make up any missed time later in the day.
• Consider allowing workers to work part time, so that they can 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 great 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 staff members who participate in physical exercise. Survey staff members first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through employer newsletters, appreciation lunches, rewards and/or thank you notes.
• Give child care and other family-friendly amenities during physical activities that occur after work.
• Avoid scheduling meetings during lunch.
• Encourage active breaks instead of coffee breaks.
• Have active fundraisers instead of bingos. For example, employees 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 reported that employees who dress casually were more physically active.

• Make sure that your building’s stairwells are clean, attractive and safe, and post signs encouraging workers to use the stairs.
• Establish a wellness newsletter or intranet.
• Encourage the Activity Tracker and encourage staff members to track their physical exercise 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 exercise opportunities at different times to accommodate night-, shift-, and part-time staff members.
• For employees 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 employees with special needs. Adapt information and activities for any employee who are visually impaired or physically disabled as well as for people who speak English as a second language.
• Educate workers about physical activity using information from reputable sources such as the Alberta Centre for Active Living.
• Offer facilities that invite onsite physical exercise. Possibilities include bike racks, exercise room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.
• Have walking gatherings.
• Promote workers 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 rewards and incentives such as shoe bags, ball caps, T-shirts or water bottles to reward employee participation.
• Loan out pedometers for three months, so that employees are able to discover how many steps they usually take and how much exercise they need to add to get basic health benefits.
• Allocate space for employees to plant and maintain a flowerbed or garden at the workplace. Use any resulting produce for gatherings and potluck lunches or donate it to charity.
• Establish a workplace wellbeing and health fair.
• Hire a certified fitness specialist to create and manage an worksite fitness facility.
• Supply staff members with active wear that shows off the business logo.

• Organize a launch event to foster excitement about upcoming activities and to set up a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.
• Create and reward monthly or bi-monthly corporation events that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, employee tournaments and dragon boat racing. Encourage families to join in by including all-ages events such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.
• Begin a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of workers to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward workers who complete the swim. Set up a challenge between workers 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 take part in activities of interest.
• Design a corporation badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each employee playing once a week. Display the results as the tournament progresses.
• Create an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in several activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.
• Design a point system in which one minute of exercise 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.
• Develop a stair climb challenge. Display a chart at the top of the stairwell, and promote employees to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday. Set up teams, and award a prize to the first team to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.
• Post and promote a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.
• Develop a walk “across this country” Select a route, figure out how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge employees to do it. Give or loan pedometers to employees, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you cannot afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who can walk across this country 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.
• Organize a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined total of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites might compete with each other and with senior staff.
• 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 single correct way to approach wellness programs but successful programs share common success factors. These include management support and responsibility, employee involvement, adequate resources, and a health policy that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Workplace Wellness Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the goal is to eventually have a long-term, all-inclusive wellness program, some businesses prefer to begin 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 staff members are to ensure staff members needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach provides a chance to show the effect on staff members and the workplace so senior staff will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching plan.

Other organizations plan a variety of pushes to meet the needs of the different sorts of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to foster a sound business case, complete with a health plan, before setting out on any sort of program. Businesses want to ensure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall business vision and mission.

Company Wellness Program: Success Factors

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

• support and participation from 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 team must follow to accomplish its objective 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 ensure 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 Developing a Employee Health Promotion Program

Get management support. You may need to foster a business case to convince managers that the wellness program is a business strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction impacts their work rate. employees need to see evidence that management believes in and is committed to employee health.

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

Gather information. To prove that your Worksite Health Promotion Program is productive, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, prescription drug costs or WCB costs. Review 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. Review employee needs through a survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

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

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that establish awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills, and support social interaction. (Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Company Health Promotion Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that support information about community resources.) Workplaces have the potential to also make it easier for employees to make healthy choices by offering flextime to allow employees to fit exercise in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for gatherings has the potential to make sure that healthy foods are provided.

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

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

How does it feel to walk into your workplace? Do people look happy? Is the place well lit and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a gloom come over you, and count the hours until you are able to leave?
The impact of the worksite environment on the health and wellbeing 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 smoke around you. As time passes, more subtle factors begin 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, workers feel that the company they work for provides them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles. And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Workers who feel cared are naturally more loyal and beneficial.
The following ideas will help you transform your workplace environment into one that truly supports the wellness of your staff members and employer.

Workplace Health Promotion Program Ideas for Creating Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you enter a workplace, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there sufficient light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent food, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. How does it smell? Sound? Do the workers have sufficient space?
• Vending machines with healthy food choices like non-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other exercise opportunities onsite or nearby
• Cafeteria offers healthy foods including 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 staff members who work out before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it hard to evaluate a workplace. People get used to stressful conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It might be useful to ask people who are unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also help.

Proactive Wellness Policies

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

Supportive corporate policies may include:

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

Consistent Recognition And Incentives For Success

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

Managers Model And Support Healthier Behavior

Nothing might say “We advocate you to exercise frequently” 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 encourage relaxed interaction between people from different departments and at different levels 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 bettering their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “great job” or “nice to see you at the fitness center” can put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers are able to also help by allowing employees the flexibility to go to wellness programs.

Ongoing Workplace Health Promotion Programs

It’s important to give employees the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and important part of the organization, not a organization 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 ought to be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who encourages the new employee to participate.
The workers are familiar with the ongoing wellness programs.
The wellness programs and wellness coordinator are visible in the corporation. Opportunities to participate are abundant and it’s easy to sign up.
A wide variety of awareness classes are offered. There are topics of interest for everyone.

These are simple activities that are able to be done within your business to excite healthy behaviors during a contest or during other times. The goal is to encourage employee participation. Some examples:
• Develop a sub-committee of enthusiastic employees who will help reward the physical activity program by offering ideas, suggestions and encouragement to fellow employees.
• Establish monthly mailbox flyers to encourage a contest or support fitness-related education/encouragement information.
• Send a periodic voicemail on each participant’s telephone with encouraging wellness messages.
• Make available regular cumulative health progress reports.
• Offer low-fat or heart-healthy lunch selections on a weekly basis in your cafeteria or have workers bring a healthy snack to share, with a recipe book compiled at the culmination 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.
• Allocate for employees “Fitness 15-Minute Walk Breaks;” corporation time to walk, exercise, etc. If appropriate, you could use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, some free weights and meditation music.
• Hold a T-shirt design contest.
• Designate posters to map contest (or fitness) progress and to serve as reminder of your objectives:
   • Use push pins or other identifiers for each individual to put up in the office showing how they have progressed – staff members can get very creative with this and design pins that reflect their personalities.
   • Use a chart to compare progress.
   • Use a “thermometer” type graphic and illustrate progress – consider a different, health-related graphic all together and color it in as you progress.
• Offer aerobic dance or walking videos in your conference or break rooms.
• Compile a list of organized events in the neighborhood that offer opportunities to get workers working out 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 community walks or runs
• Designate or attend a health-and-fitness workshop.
• Hold a soup-and-salad luncheon followed by a hula-hoop contest!
• Use the mall as an alternate walking location during inclement weather.
• Designate “Move it Mondays” – allow employees to take an extra 10 minutes at lunchtime for exercise.
• Create “Tasty Tuesdays” – provide workers with low-calorie treats/snacks.
• Designate “Walking Wednesdays”- allow workers to take an extra ten minutes during lunch to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow workers to explore new exercises.
• Designate “Thirsty Thursdays” – make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for workers.
• Establish “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for employee – offer seasonal produce treats.
• Send weekly exercise tips to workers via the most effective communications vehicle in your workplace.
• Partner with another company representative for local media events coordinated through your advertising or communication department.
• Encourage departmental teams to challenge each other (examples: Customer Service, Marketing, Health Support).
• Designate walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.
• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or classes through churches, community groups, college, YMCA, etc.
• Contact several local area fitness clubs and ask if they can or will offer group discounts for physical activity programs, waive enrollment fees, or set up a 12-week program as opposed to signing an extended contract.
• Hold a Frozen Yogurt Social – “Reap the Benefits of Fitness.”
• Map out a walking track around the building including the number of laps necessitated for one mile.