How to Be a Workplace Wellness Heroine

This post is about how to make your workplace healthier (and happier!) by Jennie Salisbury was originally featured on FBG in August 2013 for Guest Bloggers’ Week. Seeing that it’s also perfect for Work It Week, we’re sharing it again! 

My name is Jenni, and I moved to Colorado almost eight years ago. Before I arrived, I was told I should have a bike, a dog and an SUV. During my time here, I’ve had all three. I travel, cook, read and act like a shameless tourist when I’m not at work. I get my fitness through cycling, skiing and Zumba. When I’m at work, I’m a manager in the “fun and games department,” making sure that our employees have the best experiences possible. Some people might call that HR. Traveler for Good and Traveler in the Kitchen are my two homes in the blogosphere.

For the past five years I’ve coordinated our workplace healthy living challenge. Big office or small, big budget or none at all — you can be your workplace wellness heroine! You have nothing to lose by encouraging your co-workers to live a healthy lifestyle.

Do you have enthusiasm for exercise, nutrition, or overall health and happiness? Do you want your awesome co-workers to feel the same? Like the majority of FBG readers, you probably spend more time at work than you do almost anywhere else. Your company/store/office/corner of cubicle land probably would love a workplace wellness activity — whether it’s a one-time event or a year-long calendar of events, they are probably just reluctant to plan it.

Here are some ways that you can be your workplace wellness superhero — minus the cape and tights (unless you want them … in which case, rock them with style)!

First Things First: Get Buy-in from the Big Boss

If you are the big boss, skip over this section and keep on going, if you are not (yet) the big boss, you will want to get his/her buy-in on a workplace wellness campaign. Hopefully you don’t need to sell your boss on having healthy, happy and fit employees. Use any combination of these words in your conversation/proposal: health, insurance costs, morale, engagement, fun, employer of choice, top workplace, corporate social responsibility, caring and retention.

There are a zillion ways to promote a healthy culture in your company — these are the four concepts that I have used: Drop It, Cause It, Move It and Support It.

Drop It (Like a Squat….or a Couple Pounds of Fat) 

Setting up a workplace weight-loss challenge is easy. Think The Biggest Loser, just in the real world. No professional coaches or weeks at the ranch, just you and your co-workers sweating and eating right.

1. Determine a start and end date. You want enough time so that people can see real results, but not so long that people lose momentum or get bored. Twelve weeks is a good amount of time. If you’re going to be the primary cheerleader (aka coordinator), pick a time frame you can live with. You can tie it in to New Year’s Resolutions, Slimming into Summer or Getting Hot for Halloween.
2. Set up rules, just make sure not to have too many. When can people weigh in? What can they wear? (Silly, until you have someone trying to get down to their boxers in your office to weigh in…)
3. Have a neutral party in your office/company handle the weigh-in and keep the information. Whatever scale you provide will be different than Sally’s scale at home or Don’s at the gym (they will get over it). As long as you use the same scale every time, all will be well.
4. Share employee success stories. After each weigh-in (suggestion: every two to three weeks), recognize your top three, five or 10 employees with the highest percentage of weight-loss.
5. Prize it up! Get approval in advance for the prizes and promote the heck out of them. A gym membership? A ski pass? Grocery store gift cards? Cash money? Make it something everyone would love to have.

Cause It (Feels So Good to Help Others)

I could never have predicted when I moved to Colorado that I would get heavily involved with our company team for the annual Colorado Bike MS — a 150-mile, two-day fundraising ride. I didn’t even have a bike, but this summer I will be riding for the fifth time. The past few years our team has grown by leaps and bounds, and we raise a lot of money for our cause (the fundraising minimum is $400 per cyclist).

Is there a cause that you or your friends at work care deeply about? A co-worker with diabetes? A friend with cancer? A parent with Alzheimer’s? Find a walk, run, ride, mud volleyball tournament, or camel race that raises money for that cause, form a team and start training. Ask your company to sponsor you in some way — making a donation, paying the registration fee, providing T-shirts or allowing you to do the event on paid time. It’s a win all around.

(I Like to Move It) Move It

To encourage your co-workers to get active, even if they don’t want/need to lose weight, consider a fitness challenge. This puts the responsibility on the individual (instead of you), to log their fitness to reach the established goal. Other than the creativity to get the program off the ground, there isn’t much of a financial outlay.

• Pedometers: Encourage a certain amount of steps per day
• Move Across Your State: Colorado is 380 miles wide. Give credit for the miles that your employees walk, run, cycle or ski across your state.
• Walk a Marathon: Target 26.2 miles in a set time frame.
• Stair climbing: Do you work in a tall office building? Get off your chairs and on the stairs!
• Utilize an online reporting tool like www.presidentschallenge.org, form a team and set a goal: Everyone who meets the goal is eligible to win a prize!

Support It  (the Warm Fuzzies of Fitness)

Whatever kind of wellness campaign you decide to do at your workplace, you need to keep the momentum going. The more people, both inside and outside of your organization that can help, the more fun it is. These support activities can go on year round — even when the weight-loss competition or team event is over. Show the health and wellness love by:

• Highlighting healthy choices in your employee cafeteria or encouraging brown bag lunches versus going out to eat.
• Switching out the candy dish with a fruit bowl.
• Forming a Facebook group to share links, recipes, fitspiration and upcoming events.
• Lunch and Learn: Ask a local health non-profit to come in and speak.
• Recruiting a passionate co-worker. John loves to run: Would he be willing to talk to co-workers who want to set up a running routine for the first time? Cynthia loves to cook: Would she be willing to test out some healthy recipes for the team?
• Partner with a local gym or health club. If you have a company discount, make sure everyone knows about it. Ask a local club to provide you with free visitor passes to share with your employees.
• Promote local runs, walks and rides on your intranet or bulletin boards.
• Encourage an employee walking or running group.

Have you ever participated in a workplace wellness campaign? Have other creative ideas on how an FBG can promote a fun and healthy workplace? —Jenni Salisbury