Employer jumping on the healthy bandwagon...

AwesomeMoJo
AwesomeMoJo Posts: 1,145 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
The company I work for is starting this Get Healthy program (with a little competition too). Thee have hired a nutritionist/Regsitered Nurse to come in and give talks once a month about certain topics. She will be taking everyones' weight, measuring our body fat % and BMI. Those who want to participate have put in $10 each towards a Grand Prize at the end of 24 weeks. The one who loses the most PERCENTAGE of body fat will win the prize money.

Howeverm the cool thing is that they have brought in healthy snacks and bottled water at a VERY nominal price for us. We have a path that goes around a pond in the back of the building and people have started walking at lunch time. The moderator gave us all a jorunal to keep track of our food and every month the Nurtitionist will go over our diet and see if and where improvements should be made in our diets.

The contest has been broek down into 3 8-week sessions and at the end of each session there will be prizes for things as well. I think this is great incentive for an employer to do to get healthier employees and happier ones as well. Every month the Nurse will also weight us, measure the body fat etc....

Is anyone else's employer doing anything like this??? I think this is a great thing to do....

Replies

  • ahmommy
    ahmommy Posts: 316 Member
    My office just started an initiative called, "Choose to Move." It's a challenge to walk (or run, hike, whatever) 100 miles by October 21. There are some ground rules, like I think for the challenge it needs to be time dedicated to walking/running, not just everyday walking around. But if that means you get up from your desk and do a lap around the office every now and then, that counts. Everyone participating gets a pedometer to track it. They've also sent out emails asking if there's interest in forming a weight watchers group in the office.

    Last year they did a voluntary health assessment. They hired nurses to come in and do a height/weight screening, as well as a blood test. If you met certain health parameters, you got a discount on your health insurance premiums.

    The office park we're located in has a gym on site and membership is only $99 a year. They also have bikes that you can rent and ride during lunch.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    pretty awesome to see companies doing this.
    I wish they'd do it here. I'd say 80% of the people I work with are overweight.
  • abbylg1983
    abbylg1983 Posts: 177 Member
    Wow, I am super jealous. I think it's great when companies sponsor stuff like that. Mine never would though, even though most of the women in my office are on diets.
  • momtokgo
    momtokgo Posts: 446 Member
    I think that great!

    I have never heard of a company in our town doing anything like that. My husbands company never will, they work such long hard hours that they wouldn't have time if they wanted too. The joys of an oil patch town I guess.
  • Cameo530
    Cameo530 Posts: 155 Member
    That's terrific. It's nice that it seems like they really care about their employees' health and quality of life.
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
    my old employer had a healthy workers day each year and this was held at different employee bases over a full month. (County Council so large employer similar to a state but smaller)
    We had sessions on healthy eating and exercise and also had the chance to try some alternative therapies in our lunch break including indian head massage (my fav) reki and other de-stressing things plus could have things like blood pressure checked and blood glucose levels. In addition there were other offers including a cheap bone scan for staff over 50 (usually only done on NHS when I need/concern is identified)
    Shame it was only for a day!
  • talaysia3
    talaysia3 Posts: 84 Member
    My job has been doing things similar to this for a few years now. About 2 years ago they started it with the biggest loser. Everyone weighed in on day 1, and then six months later weighed in again...the person who lost the most body fat percentage won...I think the prize was $500..I wasn't the winner...lol..

    Later they started a program to get every one moving with the American Heart Association...all you had to do was walk. We walked around the parking lot in groups and they supplied us with bottled water and healthy fruits and snacks to get us started. People were walking on their lunches and breaks, even holding meetings while walking. This is still going on.

    They have created a trail now that you can complete your walk with a bit of a nature scene.

    They have gone smoke free...No more smoking on the premises.

    We have had Weight Watchers at work come in and help us lose weight that we were able to participate for a small fee. The company paid the majority of our memberships.

    Last year we had a couch 2 5k program. They teamed up with a local gym to provide some help for those of us that wanted to participate so that we had a starting point and would be prepared. This was free to employees and spouses or significant others.

    We are now offered 2 free months of Zumba classes at a local gym.

    Also getting ready to start the couch 2 5k training program again and the 5k race will be in October.

    They have incorporated more healthy meals and snacks in our vending machines.

    I must say that my job has/is doing alot to help with the wellness of their employees :)
  • Jenni129
    Jenni129 Posts: 692 Member
    My company did "A New Weigh" to move, to eat, to live. It was a 12-week program that started after New Years. They started another program after that that I'm not involved in, but I heard about MFP through my co-workers and been trying to stick with this. My employer is trying to cut back on insurance costs, even trying to help people quit smoking, whatever it takes to get everyone healthy, and I think it's great! Our cafeteria has healthy food, too.
  • snookles81
    snookles81 Posts: 3 Member
    My company brought in Weight Watchers for 3 months and paid for everyone that wanted to join.

    After they started this, they decided to make it into a competition. Each of the partners pledged $2.50 for every pound lost in the total group with a limit of 400 pounds. With 8 partners, it ended up being a total jackpot of up to $8,000 being split among the top 3 winners of largest percentage body weight lost.

    We had about 14 people total and lost in total about 200 pounds.

    As an added bonus, my company then saw who was serious about losing the weight and who was actually following the WW process and paid for each of those people for another 3 months.

    More than all of this though was them changing what was in the vending machine to healthier choices. And for the staff lunch (and dinners) that they paid for to no longer be the pizza variety but more individual salads or baked chicken with vegetables.

    Definitely is a blessing when the celebrations are no longer cookies and cakes but fruits and frozen yogurt.
  • ekz13
    ekz13 Posts: 725 Member
    Great, it’s good to see so many companies finally coming on board… My company has been doing this since 1947 and they have a great incentive program. Basically the motivation factor that they give you is top notch to succeed… it’s a pass or find another job… Uncle sam is strict… :laugh:
  • akiss4u2tam
    akiss4u2tam Posts: 50
    I work for the school district and once a year they do a "Biggest Loser" type challenge. You win prizes and cash . You can work it off as a team as well as individually. My school went a step further and did the competition among our school teachers. Last year I won the challenge ;o) This year I don't know if we are doing it again. What I'd like to have happen is to get some Zumba classes going on at our school. Good luck with your challenge!
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    my employer did this a couple of years ago. They built 3 workout gyms on site that are fully equipped and even have classes (yoga, pilates, etc.), hired some nutritionists (we already have doctors) and several trainers, and started a program to incentivize the employees to get healthy by giving a $300 bonus for anyone that gets into the program and more if they meet their annual health goals. They worked with the vending company and the catering company (that runs our cafeterias) to offer some "healthy" foods as well.

    I think its great that the company did all of this, however, most of the people that appreciate it are already in decent health. It has not been all that well received by the people that really need it. The incentive was a HUGE mistake because people just joined for the cash then never went back.

    Me personally - I prefer to work out on my own! But the company provided stuff could be a great benefit for some people.

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