Rant: Counterproductive Employee Wellness Program

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CrabNebula
CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My company switched to a new wellness program provider. Whenever I complete goals or assignments in the program, I get $$$, so of course I am farming it for all it is worth.

To my complaint though, there is so much fatlogic nonsense in it. A few things that caught my eye was that it was flat out said that you shouldn't worry about the amount of calories in things as long as they are healthy and that artificial sweeteners are the devil himself. I mean, do you want obesity and diabetes, because that's what artificial sweeteners cause, dontchaknow? As someone who couldn't figure out why I wasn't loosing weight with the former and am keeping the weight off with the help of the latter, my eyes about rolled out of my head.

Of course, I am also not the target audience of this crap, someone who lost a significant amount of weight on their own, maintains a normal BMI, and who runs 8-10km a day, but I cringe to think of some weight loss newbie finding these gems and digging themselves an even deeper hole with them like I DID. /rant

Replies

  • Cylphin60
    Cylphin60 Posts: 863 Member
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    My company is loaded with obese employees who are receiving "support" through our "wellness" partners, and have been for a long time. Like you, I'm not the target audience, but yeah, I feel ya...
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    I avoid our wellness programs. They have health fairs every year where I'm asked to disclose all sorts of nonsense that my employer otherwise wouldn't know about me, or even my insurance company. No thanks.

    But, like Lemucat, I've done the BCBS health eval (through insurance) and found it reasonable.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
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    Same. They pick up on the overarching themes and try to make them applicable to a huge amount of people. They're designed to target people who really have no idea what to do or why they are obese/overweight and can't be bothered (or just don't have the capacity) to seek out quality information- extremely sedentary, extreme poor nutrition, lack of critical thinking or basic knowledge. They also tend to fail in the behavioral and psychological aspects of weight loss that can be really difficult to overcome, and push too many changes at once.

    There's a lot of crap information because it's likely they're going off of generalized guidelines, which might be really outdated or just based on a random, poorly-designed studies or are influenced by specific industries (we're still insisting that all of humanity eat low-fat dairy always and forever). And maybe they hired some BS company to create the plan, without using evidence-based science.

    They also fail to distinguish the differences between weight loss and good nutrition, and I think that's something that's really important to communicate. You can eat kale-filled grain bowls, roasted vegetables, and lean protein all day/every day and still have a weight problem. There's no doubting they're packed with vitamins and minerals and good stuff, but I have no problem eating a 1000 calorie salad in one meal. Ideally you eat some stuff with great nutritional profiles because your body functions well when you do, but also don't eat way more than your body needs. And we're constantly presented with way more than our bodies need. The population at large quite literally does not understand how much food they should be eating.

    I need to remind myself frequently that my way is not the "right" way and not everyone will be successful losing weight the way I did, but the overarching ideas in employee wellness programs aren't going to work for most people either.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    ;-)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    CrabNebula wrote: »
    To my complaint though, there is so much fatlogic nonsense in it. A few things that caught my eye was that it was flat out said that you shouldn't worry about the amount of calories in things as long as they are healthy and that artificial sweeteners are the devil himself. I mean, do you want obesity and diabetes, because that's what artificial sweeteners cause, dontchaknow? As someone who couldn't figure out why I wasn't loosing weight with the former and am keeping the weight off with the help of the latter, my eyes about rolled out of my head.

    Either it's worth the money to you, or it isn't. If it's actually harming you, don't participate. If it is, use the money to go buy low calorie foods with artificial sweeteners and sacrifice a goat.
  • chunky_pinup
    chunky_pinup Posts: 758 Member
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    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Oh, that is stabby. I'd be like you and get whatever money I could out of it, even if it's dopey, though. (Like drink X amount of water per day for a reward? I think tracking water is silly but always drink lots, so I'd do it for money. I'm bad that way.)

    We don't have a wellness program, but I've done our BCBS health evaluation thing and found it was actually reasonably sensible.

    I drink plenty of water a day. It's a convenient delivery system for caffeine.

    Try making your coffee with this....you'll come back here and thank me :)
    https://smile.amazon.com/Avitae-Caffeinated-Water-16-9-Pack/dp/B005XVZKGA/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1483729088&sr=8-3&keywords=caffeinated+water
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Oh, that is stabby. I'd be like you and get whatever money I could out of it, even if it's dopey, though. (Like drink X amount of water per day for a reward? I think tracking water is silly but always drink lots, so I'd do it for money. I'm bad that way.)

    We don't have a wellness program, but I've done our BCBS health evaluation thing and found it was actually reasonably sensible.

    "Stabby" is the perfect description for that nonsense.
  • Bookworm1860
    Bookworm1860 Posts: 54 Member
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    The first one we got had a "canned" nutrition program which was so one size fits all that I knew it was useless for me. I opted for the personal "health coach" route and after listening to my habits and problems just told me they couldn't help me. We ditched that program. The next advertised nutritional counseling. I though 'great! I can stop spending $$$$$ on a nutritionist' Uhm. No. It was an online prerecorded "class" telling me to think lean instead of lardy; to toss the snacks hidden in my desk (none), the food stashed in my car (water), and to eat less calorie dense food. All while the actual qualified nutritionist who had my medical history and food diary was telling me to eat more and eat more dense food. As someone who has struggled with weight since childhood while eating a fraction of what everyone around me ate being told I was fat because I eat too much was beyond just useless, it was agitating and insulting. As the medical community recognizes that medicine is not one size fits all and tries to move to personalized medicine all of these wellness programs hang on to one size fits all and insists that we are all identical. :p

    Our penalty for not participating hit $600 this year and I just can't ignore that much of a hit so I'm back at it but trying to hit the points goal without doing any (non)educational programs or ever talking to "coaches".
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    My old workplace's wellness program really pushed taking the stairs instead of the lift. 3 weeks later, the OHS team put out a bulletin forbidding people from using the stairs unless there was an emergency :/
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Some of the quizzes given on my workplace's wellness app (they pay us $75 if we do so much over the year on top of actually giving our numbers) made me shake my head so hard
  • astronaught
    astronaught Posts: 103 Member
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    My company has a pretty good wellness program, but we still had a few woo peddlers at our wellness fair. I just had to shake my head at the reiki and chiropractors.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    My firm just changed to WellRight and while the majority of information is sound, there is still a great deal of "clean" eating, pop culture information.

    For the most part I see this as a good thing. We now have a system that rewards individual effort to maintain health or improve their lives. There is a direct feedback which results in a selection of gift cards for the participants and also results in an insurance premium decrease.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
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    Went to the work health fair at the previous job. When asked by the bubbly "health coach" what my goals were, apparently deadlifting twice my body weight was enough to make her head swim.

    Not a single workplace "health program" I've seen deals with resistance training in anything more than a 'ten-pound dumb bell for lots of reps' fashion. Strength trainers need not apply.
  • whiskey5jda2008
    whiskey5jda2008 Posts: 115 Member
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    I work for a major healthcare provider. Wellness??? What is that? Personally I used to have a dietitian that I could see and was accountable to. She would guide me in what i should eat and how much of each i should eat. The one thing she told me that really stuck was 25% grains 25% meats/proteins and 50% veggies for what I consumed. I try to keep to that now.
  • vikinglander
    vikinglander Posts: 1,547 Member
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    I have been working for an IT services integrator for 17 years. Meanwhile, to earn some extra cash, I took a part-time job at a local Whole Foods, in the body care and supplement aisle. It also got me 20% off my groceries. Between 2010 and 2012 I was eating a Paleo WOE and lost about 60 pounds.

    My IT job's HR department, which is really just a benefits administrator and a secretary, neither of whom have ANY formal HR education or training, decided to put together a wellness program for us. I was asked to join a committee to help design the program. Great!

    Not so much...I had three main ideas: 1) healthy options in the vending machines in the cafeteria, 2) a better soundtrack on the overhead speaker system...(they were playing a local commercial radio station over the PA system! Ever try to do critical, analytical thinking with Sleepy's commercials, top 40 moron music, and idiotic DJs playing over your head??), and 3) a lounge area with comfortable seating and low light to use for stress relief.

    They chose to add a 'gym' with an elliptical, a treadmill and a weight bench, which of course practically no one uses except the one or two people who pushed for it. They did change the vending machine provider to a 'healthy option', but the choices are all the usual crap of low fat everything, Doritos and Smart popcorn and 'trail mix' and Nature's Valley bars. I tried to get them to add some serious protein bars and raw options, but no luck. The drink machine is even worse...Gatorade, Powerade, Snapple...made from the best high fructose corn syrup on earth!

    Eventually they did change the sound system from radio to Pandora, so the DJ BS and the commercials are gone, thank gods! but the channels they chose play all the same top 40 stuff from the "80s, 90s, and beyond!". Can't win! So I insulate myself inside my headphones and listen to ambient, new age and fusion jazz all day.

    As far as the lounge? If anyone can find a comfortable chair in the building, please let me know...

    So I eat my lunch and take a walk and workout at home. I'm happy.
  • haviegirl
    haviegirl Posts: 230 Member
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    At the last place I worked, my group shared our floor with the "Wellness Dimension" people (or some such name). I've never seen a group of less fit individuals. We used to marvel that obesity and being a smoker must have been part of their hiring criteria. How they lived with the cognitive dissonance, I'll never understand.

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