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December 22, 2014 at 10:07 AM
As we end the year, we realize how much we’ve learned about workforce wellness and accomplishing outcomes that materially benefit the organization.
We help employers reduce overweight conditions, diabetes and metabolic syndrome for their employees and associated family members. Normalized BMIs, improved A1Cs and triglyceride levels, reduced blood pressure and blood sugar readings, and, well, you get the progressive picture.
We attribute our momentum, and that of astute employers, to three central drivers. Focus, food and smart engagement. Wellness administrators all too often assume that their job is to come up with as many wellness topics as possible to engage the workforce.
Exercise, stress management, financial stability, smoking cessation and so on. A steady stream of initiatives akin to figuring out what plays best in Poughkeepsie are trotted out and changed up every so often — could be every six weeks, six months or a year. No matter the length, it’s the temporary nature, multiple topics, and interruption that contribute to results that are subpar.
We understand there are various wellness needs within most organizations. But we also know that overweight conditions are the most formidable drain on corporate resources, productivity and the bottom line. With over two-thirds of the population now packing on extra pounds, the idea that this is a problem hampering a small, high-risk segment is outdated. These facts alone beg for the spotlight to stay on weight management like superglue until the dismal trend is curtailed. But there’s more.
Focusing your efforts allows for investment in meaningful resources that build and, over time, infuse a culture’s DNA with a clear message and pathway. You get to be known and respected as the company that is strategically helping its employees create a healthier lifestyle by zeroing in on weight management.
Instead of a little bit of time dedicated to this and a little bit of money spent here, prioritizing the primary preventive health driver is astute, common-sense business. This is how most successful companies hit critical goals in other departments within their corporations.
The most effective way to accomplish sustainable weight loss is to help employees change up eating habits for the long term. Preventive health experts agree that if we don’t get food right, wellness and weight loss remain an uphill battle for most people. You might want to focus on walking clubs to accomplish weight management, but you’re not going to get the bang for your buck given that it takes about an hour to strut off the calories from one can of soda pop. Besides, everyone has to eat while exercise is still an option.
To galvanize the troops, it’s most effective to create a common language around nutrition and habit change that resonates within your broad-based population and associated family members. Reimbursing various diet programs for individual employees doesn’t foster momentum or a holistic strategy that can be capitalized upon across the organization. Deciding that everyone should be a vegan or go gluten-free isn’t going to move the preventive health needle in the right direction either.
