The average American spends 47 hours a week at work. Since most people spend more hours at work than they do anywhere else, improving employee health could be a key to solving our nation's health crisis.
Corporate wellness initiatives can help employees get healthy, take fewer sick days, increase productivity and lower healthcare costs. Creating healthy habits at work could reduce the impact of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more.
When I founded Integrative Nutrition, it made sense that taking good care of employees would benefit the company in the long run. As a nutrition school, we have to walk the talk, right? We have a chef that cooks organic breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks for the staff every day. When people eat well, they feel good and their thinking is sharper. And the best part is that our staff loves bonding together over lunch every day.
Google is known for going way beyond the basics in their health and wellness program. Employess receive a free healthy gourmet lunch and dinner, sauna, health fair, gym, massage therapy, fitness classes, roller hockey and outdoor volleyball court. Employee satisfaction at the Googleplex is why the tech giant came in at number four on Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For.
The Employee Wellness Program at Eileen Fisher is based on the belief that if we take care of ourselves, we'll have more energy and creativity to bring to our work. Eileen Fisher offers ongoing wellness activities at their corporate offices, meant to help employees feel more present in their lives. These activities include massage, yoga classes, personal training and reflexology. They also introduce employees to wellness practices they may want to explore on their own likePilates, Qigong, creative movement and nutritional education. They also encourages employees to grow through learning. Employees use their educational dollars to take a myriad of classes, including yoga-teacher training, mindfulness meditation, kickboxing, dance, pottery and horseback riding. Employees are reimbursed up to $1,000 per year for educational expenses.
I think Google and Eileen Fisher are onto something. Career, relationships, exercise, and a spiritual practice nourish us. When these are out of balance, we become unhealthy and unhappy. What small steps could you start taking to improve the health and wellness of your employees? You might consider:
• chair massages to ease the muscle tension of sitting at a desk
• plants and fresh flowers
• healthy meals and snacks
• workshops on healthy eating, smoking cessation, work-life balance and stress
• fitness reimbursement for gym memberships
• walking groups to encourage and support each other's efforts
• your own Biggest-Loser contest
Of course you won't be able to make all of these changes at once. Chose one or two that would make a big difference for your employees. See what happens - you may be surprised by the impact of some small changes.
A new model for health care that creates a work environment promoting health and wellness, will succced in helping Americans live happier, healthier lives.
Joshua Rosenthal is the founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the largest nutrition school in the world. Visit the site for a free "14 Days to a Healthier You" coaching program.
Follow Joshua Rosenthal on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NutritionSchool
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This is all excellent, but what about companies who don't have the money to reimburse gym memberships and have massage therapists on demand. It would be a dream come true to be able to go to work and have it be an oasis, but realistically I need to motivate myself to go to the gym and eat healthy.
What if employers had monthly workshops that taught people how to really eat healthy and live well. There are so many people who have no idea the damage they are doing to their bodies and if businesses just supported healthy living habits it would be a step in the right direction.
I think that if America starts small towards a big goal then we will get there and it will stick.
Undefinable Rhetoric
http://undefinablerhetoric.blogspot.com
As usual, you get to the heart of a health issue that's greatly overlooked. Spending 8 or more hours a day in a corporate environment with poor lighting, air quality and food options can turn even the cheeriest person into a grouch! Your article gives some easy, inexpensive ways for corporations to benefit their employees and themselves in the long run. I hope they follow your example!
Barbara Sinclair
www.barbarasinclair.com
Thanks again for another wonderful article with real, useful information. So many corporate and office environments are horribly unhealthy and people are truly trapped into unhealthy habits every day. Thank you for making your company and school a great example for others to model after. Here's to IIN!
Laurel Moll
www.laurelmoll.com
Thank you for sharing these inspiring stories from some very enlightened companies.
I will be forwarding this on to some business owners I know. Wonderful food for thought for the new year.
Holli Thompson, www.NutritionalStyle.com