Corporate Wellness Ideas

cmon288

I was asked for suggestions for our Company Wellness Program. I've began doing a little research and then I remembered I had a whole community on My Fitness Pal that could help. What kind of things do your company offer to promote wellness?

We currently offer discounted gym memberships, offer flue shots once a year, provide a free EAP program, hold Weight Loss Challenges ever other quarter and pay to help smokers stop smoking. We are thinking about extending the help for smokers to their family members as well.

Let me know what kind of things your company offers.

tlcarolinagirl

My company does Virgin Healthmiles..google it...It's a really cool program.

msnucerity

Outside of our benefits program (health, dental, maternity/paternity top-up) we get annual flu shots, EFAP (employee family assistance program) and we are in the process of moving locations- the new location will have a gym in it since we are moving away from downtown area of the city.

Also (more for morale) our social clubs puts on several functions: 2 summer BBQ's over the lunch hour, holiday pool night, holiday lunch, annual staff day where we get fed and listen to 1 or 2 speakers. Every holiday (Easter, St. Paddy's Day, etc) the social clubs gives out treats and usually has a coffee break event with goodies.

wolverine66

my company offers zumba, yoga and other types of classes.

they also do informational newsletters that have wellness tips that may correspond with any program they have going on at that time.

k8blujay2

Ours hosts monthly "lunch time" health seminars, quarterly walks and a yearly health fair.

Since ours is based on a points system we also get points for, yearly check ups, 8 weeks of diarys (food tracking, weight tracking, blood glucose tracking, and blood pressure tracking), going to our rec facilities, and working out at least 12 times a month.

Some of it is based on the honor system, but it works.

seltzermint555

I think it's bizarre for corporations to have contests like "biggest loser" type of thing. Very awkward and uncomfortable for many people.

The other stuff people are mentioning sounds good though!!

k8blujay2

^^^ That reminds me... we get points for our weight loss (or maintaining in our healthy range) as well... It's not a contest to lose though different departments can do so if they wish, but it's not sanctioned by our health and wellness folks. And they finally (after years of complaining) assigned more points to maintaining rather than losing...

bethfartman

My boss at a previous job got everyone on my team a massage during our 'busy season', that was pretty awesome and definitely helped reduce some stress. Probably not a doable thing at a big company, though.

missomgitsica

I think your company's doing well already; my company offers the same benefits. We also have a nutritional wellness program for nutritional counseling; I work for a cardiology office so we have a nutritionist on staff, but I'm sure your company could find a nutritionist in your area and work out some kind of deal with them.

dym123

Our corporate office offers health club discounts, holds Weight Watchers meetings on campus, weekly yoga class, on-campus massages, yearly health fair, on-site nutritionist that will help get your diet in order, a walking program and health and wellness emails and resources on our intranet site. In a couple of weeks we'll be trying out a grocery delivery service. Wow, my company's pretty great.

missomgitsica

My boss at a previous job got everyone on my team a massage during our 'busy season', that was pretty awesome and definitely helped reduce some stress. Probably not a doable thing at a big company, though.

My company does the same thing!

nancybuss

Ours is very similar to original poster.

Although we're a step further in the sense of we have to 'earn' X amount of "wellness points" in order to get a cheaper health care rate. With that we have a whole list of things. We've had a 6 week programs that track different things (all different programs) steps program. water challenge, track your sleep, try new fruits/veggies for starters.

I'm leading up an exercise program at my office (we have a lot of plants) and people can earn a 'point' if they participate for 6 weeks.

i think it worked better when there were set schedules for "this is the weeks we are doing this" versus now its "Pick a challenge and do it"... .the accountability of co-workers doing it is helpful. as we've all learned here.

NormInv

emonteroflores

It's only akward if you feel akward about it. The way it works is by percentages instead of saying a certain person lost a certain amount of pounds and it is completely voluntary.

Timshel_

What kind of things do your company offer to promote wellness?

We've done weight loss and fitness challenges.

We do walking groups where participants can earn stuff by logging hours with a walking group.

We offer incentives for tobacco free testing, which actually lowers your health care costs. Same with completing a yearly physical evaluation.

We suggest doing "walk-n-talk" meetings instead of meeting at a table and sitting.

tomomatic

I first got into logging my exercise as part of the President's challenge. After the challenge was over, I needed something else to keep me motivated so I joined MFP.

Here's the link: https://www.presidentschallenge.org/

For the President's challenge, form 2 or more groups in your company. Maybe it can be a cross-group challenge. Once you assign people to each group, have each person log in and enter their 20 minutes of physical activity per day. The group with the most points wins. Everybody can print a certificate on a color printer and say that they completed the "President's Challenge." It's all free.

If your company wants to, you can give awards out for different categories like "most active" or "most diverse exercises." Company branded water bottles, golf towels and pedometers might also make for great motivators.

seltzermint555

It's only akward if you feel akward about it. The way it works is by percentages instead of saying a certain person lost a certain amount of pounds and it is completely voluntary.

I worked in one place where they did this, when I was at my highest weight (120 lb over my current weight) and did NOT want to participate (it was done by percentages which would have been ok but they put lots of unflattering photos up) and everyone assumed I was participating...talk about awkward. Also, it resulted in lots of unwanted attention and comments for a coworker of mine who was battling a severe eating disorder.

Most of all, from a less personal perspective, it made the entire focus of that organization diets and dieting. Not the mission that we were there to fulfill serving our community!

But hey if it works for some people I guess it has its merits. I think maybe it would have worked better in a much, much larger setting than a small nonprofit with 30-35 employees on staff.

rm33064

My company offers 60-70 hour work weeks in a high stress, potentially hazardous environment. We don't even get sick days. Come to think of it, I doubt they care much about our wellness....

bethlaf

I am the HR Director , so was the one responsible for putting all these things in place

We do health feasts - good healthy options etc.- the guys have fallen in love with the gardein mushroom burgers.

Our technicians have a pay bonus structure for quitting smoking, and for losing weight (if they fall into obese category)
We sponsor them on sports teams as long as they are participants (not coaches-not bowling pool or poker )
i also do one on one with them if they want more help , We have purchased fit bits for the ones who have expressed a desire too, one tech we bought a bike for , but we are only a small company with 80 people in 4 states... so we know our guys pretty well..

Unknown

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lilawolf

We have a health screening with glucose, BP, cholesterol BMI (:grumble:) and a free flu shot. They also have a questionnaire about your diet and exercise habits followed by suggestions. Both of these, along with a tobacco free pledge, lowers the cost of health insurance.

I talked them into providing breakfast if people fasted like they were supposed to, but they turned down bringing in someone to measure body fat. They have a mobile hydrostatic testing bus (kinda like a blood mobile) that you can hire for a day for not too expensive, but they said no.

We also do an 8 week health challenge where you log exercise and steps. You get bonus points that you can buy merchandise with for completing the challenge. If you do a team, your steps add together to move you around a world map which is pretty cool. You can also challenge yourself or your team to do something else like pack a lunch every day etc.

Free massages sound great!

Timshel_

Oh, we also have Bountiful Baskets (http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/) delivered to campus for those who want it, as well as other health food fairs.

skrlec70

must be wellness week all over, ours just had an entire week of stuff, group walks everyday, after work 1630 there would be zumba or yoga, we have a corporate plan with goodlife, its pretty good, half of membership.
theres also the eap program