Practical Tips for Creating Healthier Workplaces

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A recent study from Business Finance magazine showed that two-thirds of workplace wellness programs fail because employees are not engaged or adequately motivated. But there are a number of practical, easy-to-implement tips to help both employers and employees create healthier workplaces. As part of June’s National Employee Wellness Month, we’d like to share some examples of companies that have successfully motivated employees to participate in wellness programs and achieve meaningful results, along with some additional tips for creating healthier workplaces.

Memphis-based First Horizon National Corporation, a leading financial services company recognized as one of the nation’s best employers by AARP and Working Mother magazines, offers an activity-based program to its 5,500 employees across dispersed locations. The program’s measurement and accountability enables the company to incentivize employees with up to 500 per year for reaching key activity and health milestones. The company also hosts a national walk day, sponsors employees’ participation in philanthropic events such as Race for the Cure, and offers motivational guest speaker and nutrition programs to teach employees how good nutrition complements physical activity as part of the wellness equation. First Horizon’s program now boasts a 42 percent participation rate, significantly higher than single-digit industry standards. New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System encourages employees who have enjoyed wellness successes to share their stories with colleagues. Ochsner’s Beatriz Maldonado created a presentation, 146 Pounds Lost and Counting: Lessons from My Weight Loss Journey for Ochsners “Hello Health” seminar series. Nearly 600 employees attended her speech in person or by teleconference.

Additional Tips to Create Healthier Workplaces

• Ask employees to submit wellness stories; recognize employees who have persevered and succeeded in improving their health *Hold “healthy brown bag lunches” with guest speakers on fitness, nutrition and healthy living
• Organize lunchtime walking groups
• Institute a “walk and talk” program where small meetings are held while walking
• Hang maps detailing paths around the office conducive for walking during lunch breaks; add distances (and calories burned from those distances), or share sites like www.mapmywalk.com so employees can easily track how far they’re walking
• Allow employees to wear sneakers/running shoes during work for the month (encourage management to do the same)
• Promote National Employee Wellness month in paycheck inserts; ask employees to place those inserts in their work areas to remind them to get active
• Encourage employees to pack healthy snacks from home as an alternative to vending machines
• Bring in scales, blood pressure monitors and other measurement tools for employees to benchmark their health and progress
• Create a “farthest spot” daily award for the employee who parks farthest from the building
• Create a 1-week challenge asking employees to take the stairs vs. the elevator
• Hang signs by the elevator reminding employees it’s National Employee Wellness Month; encourage them to take the stairs instead

Visit www.nationalemployeewellnessmonth.com for more easy to implement program ideas, read case studies about corporate and individual wellness innovators, download whitepapers about wellness-related issues, and more.

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