Does your employer promote healthy lifestyles?

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btoeps74
btoeps74 Posts: 167 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'd say over the last few years, the company that I work for has taken great strides to promote healthy living. 2010 they started doing wellness screenings and health coaching sessions. At first, it was met with a lot of skepticism and negativity with employees but I am glad we have it. Seeing in my bloodwork results that I have high cholesterol as well as some other things out of whack has been an eye opener. Having the 3 health coaching sessions a year is also a nice touch. On top of all that, we have free YMCA memberships. I was just wondering if this is common now a days.

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  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    Mine has Weight Watchers coming in every week and they tell us about Weight Watchers meetings while plying us with donuts and cupcakes at the monthly safety meetings. I'm a school bus driver so hardly a very health-conscious industry!
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    That's very nice your employer does that. Do they pay your medical insurance there?

    It's been proven that when the employer proactively helps its employees get healthy and encourages a healthy lifestyle, they lose less money when employees call out sick or go out on disability, etc...
  • T1mH
    T1mH Posts: 568 Member
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    My work says they do but they do all this ineffective stuff. They have health coaches but every time one calls you and tells you they are your coach the next time they call it's someone else. They are just reading from scripts when you ask questions they don't have any real knowledge or training. I wish my wok would pay for a health club membership, the Y would be great, it's so expensive.
  • btoeps74
    btoeps74 Posts: 167 Member
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    That's very nice your employer does that. Do they pay your medical insurance there?

    It's been proven that when the employer proactively helps its employees get healthy and encourages a healthy lifestyle, they lose less money when employees call out sick or go out on disability, etc...

    We have to pay a co-pay, but the insurance covers the rest.
  • mstjmack26
    mstjmack26 Posts: 121 Member
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    My job is big on living well. They pay for your membership at any gym . You get money as an incentive for doing your annual physical, plus points if all your labs are normal. those points are used towards your insurance deductible. They have a quit smoking program, weight watchers and a healthy direction program. I work for the Mayo clinic and I am Lab tech.
  • Sqeekyjojo
    Sqeekyjojo Posts: 704 Member
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    Nope. My last employer certainly doesn't.


    They built a new entrance area and leased the spaces out to Burger King, a sandwich place and a sweet shop. After a lot of complaints, they didn't renew the lease for Burger King, but rented it to Costa coffee and their cakes instead.


    And the best bit?

    My employer was a hospital. And the units all back onto Cardiac Care.



    The joys of bringing the Free Market into healthcare, I suppose.
  • kimmynw1
    kimmynw1 Posts: 97 Member
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    I work for a health insurance company and yes they do! We have health coaches (always the same one) and health incentives which can when we participate lower our premiums for our coverage. Also on site gym (a few cardio machines) and plenty of resources available to us to help with living a healthy life style. We also have the option of bariatric surgery BUT there is a program you must complete first called Turning Point. 4 nutrition sessions and 4 dr. appts also 4 counseling appts to address your weight and why I became so fat lol BUT you can do the program and NOT do the surgery. I am pretty excited to start the program and already let my case manager know I am going to do this without surgery! :glasses: All employers should jump on this bandwagon!
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
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    I work at a very large Jewish Community Center. There is a huge Fitness and Wellness department. All staffmembers get free membership and complete use of all the facilities. That includes the cardio and weight room, all fitness classes (Zumba, yoga, spin, pilates, BodyPump, PACE, etc etc etc), the dance studios, basketball courts, racketball courts....everything. We are more than encouraged to make use of anything we want. The Cafe has a Healthy Options menu with about 6 items under 500 calories. Every once in a while, there will be some sort of emplyee fitness challenge that gets up and running, but I've never done that.
  • TooLeftFeet
    TooLeftFeet Posts: 139 Member
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    My job offers three hours if paid exercise a week. We have to stay on base, but other than that, we can go to the gym, walk, weights, whatever. It's a nice perk!
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    My employer claims to, but they hold lunch hour exercises at the furthest point from 90% of the office workers, on the far side of a field across the street - it would take half your lunch hour to get there and back.

    My partner has a gym on their tech campus with a free class every lunch hour, they hold biggest loser contests, with extra free classes, company Olympics, including a 5k walk/ run in the middle of the work day, they bring a dunk body fat lab on campus every few months...oh, and I get a free membership at his gym! I really only have access during business hours, so I don't get that much use out of it, but I could figure out where the night and weekend security desk is to get extended access, if I really wanted to.
  • roadmapmaker
    roadmapmaker Posts: 120 Member
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    We have a great program at work. If you participate in 75% of the programs they put $'s in an account for future copays and deductables. What is nice is that it rolls over yearly and the max $'s is like 2500 or so. The programs are fun and they additonally give out prizes in drawings like I won $100 to whole foods grocery and another time got a years pass to the city pool and workout gym.

    Every fall they have a health screening. Most of the info is tracked online. Super nice! They even opened their own health clinic..sometimes it is only worth the $20 worth of advice thou..but flu shots are free and any reerals to specialist waive the deductable and copay. Its also availablle to stay in the program after retirement...9 months 24 days but who is counting.:drinker:
  • Pimpmonkey
    Pimpmonkey Posts: 566
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    We have become more health conscious as a whole but it's mostly about half of us. Our Snack and Drink machines provide healthy options as well. We were just able to afford our own machines and get to request what goes in them. They also fund our Employee Club, so that's cool too.
  • xFamousLastWordsx
    xFamousLastWordsx Posts: 301 Member
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    Definitely not, I work in a candy store :laugh:
    They send me home with free candy all the time.
  • yellowdog52
    yellowdog52 Posts: 14
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    We get a good discount for 24 Hour Fitness - no signup fees and $15 a month thereafter.

    If you participate in a yearly "biometric screening," the company knocks 10% off your health insurance premiums for the year. They have people on-hand to discuss the results of your screening and to make recommendations for improving your health.

    The company also participates in some American Heart Association program where you track your exercise online. Then, supposedly, HR does random drawings from the top 25% of exercisers to reward them with spa treatments or gift certificates. I've never heard of anyone getting rewarded, but maybe I just don't pay enough attention.

    There's a bicycle rack located in the underground executive parking lot, so when I ride to work during the summer, I can honestly tell my fellow employees that I park in the same lot as the CEO.

    However, on the other side of the coin, so to speak, we have free donuts, pastries, muffins, and bagels every Friday, and a mobile barista comes in twice a month to dispense free fancy coffee drinks.
  • Resa52
    Resa52 Posts: 182 Member
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    I worked at a credit union that offered a wellness program that included monthly activities (one month it was walk with a pedometer every day, one month it was a challenge based on servings of fruits and veggies, etc) and every quarter, you met with a health professional, had your vitals taken, and discussed at risk areas and how to fix them and made goals for that quarter. People who participated in the program got 15% off their health insurance (and all program costs were free) If you were ignoring all of your health recommendations (making zero effort) then you didn't get the percentage off.

    They also offered a gym in the corporate office and for those who didn't live nearby, they would pay $100 towards a gym membership if you averaged one visit a week, $200 if you averaged 2 visits, etc.

    I had a crappy boss, but I LOVED their wellness program. LOL
  • TurquoiseSky
    TurquoiseSky Posts: 42 Member
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    Free paid pilates classes held right in our lobby twice a week over lunch hour - awesomeness :)

    Also, fun wellness challenges annually, and healthy options (fruit) as well as cake at monthly birthday celebrations.
  • SarahBeth0625
    SarahBeth0625 Posts: 685 Member
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    "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

    No.

    People bring in freaking donuts and cake all the time. LMAO.

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