June is National Employee Wellness Month

There’s no better time than the present to get your organization’s supportive social community up and running. National Employee Wellness Month, started in 2009 by Virgin Health Miles, is being supported in 2011 by the STOP Obesity Alliance and the Institute for Health and Productivity Management, along with 80 other organizations. Goals include helping business leaders develop successful prevention and good health strategies and showcasing supportive social communities that have had an impact on improving health and lowering health care costs. For facts, insights and resources, visit nationalemployee
wellnessmonth.com.

 

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Employer focus
Connect the dots: the workplace as a supportive social community

Part three of the culture of health series

Forward thinking employers not only understand that intelligent health decisions create a healthier, more productive workforce, but they also see the workplace as a supportive social community to be leveraged to create and sustain a culture of health.

According to a 2010 Workforce Management survey of employers and employees, 85 percent of U.S. companies don’t believe the newly enacted healthcare legislation will make for a healthier America. Rather, they believe other measures must be put in place to curb costs. Both parties also agree the workplace plays a prominent role in encouraging healthier lifestyle behaviors. This common ground sets the stage for developing a thriving community of social support in the workplace to promote better health.

Working together works
Recognizing the importance of teamwork in influencing healthy behaviors is a positive step toward achieving a culture of health and a healthy employee community.

While employers grasp for one new method after another to get employees engaged in wellness programs, they often miss one of the most important elements: having employees work together with their colleagues to achieve health related goals. Group activities like retreats, sports and internal competitions have long been used to build camaraderie and enthusiasm in the workplace. Why not take the same approach to improve employee health? 

Setting and working toward goals together allows employees to share experiences and forge relationships that can translate into better results. Numerous studies have demonstrated that having a social support network contributes to psychological well-being and improves the ability to manage stress.

According to the Mayo Clinic, for example, a social support network can benefit employees when they have decided to make a change to improve their health. To a large extent, success depends on how well motivation can be maintained over time, and a key way to sustain enthusiasm is to get support from colleagues.

Beyond motivation, social support for an employee’s health change can also:

  • Create a sense of belonging
  • Increase one’s sense of self-worth
  • Foster a feeling of security

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. The absence of positive, health promoting relationships among colleagues can have a negative impact on motivation and long-term success. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that when someone close to a health-program participant becomes overweight, the chance of that person also becoming overweight increases 45 to 171 percent!   

Sharing the benefits
Employees aren’t the only ones to reap the benefits of social support. For employers, an increase in employee engagement is a top reward. A 2010 employer survey conducted by Towers-Watson confirms that creating a corporate culture supportive of good health conveys a message of caring about the overall well-being of employees. In turn, employees who feel valued are willing to put in extra effort toward organizational goals.  

Good health contributes both directly and indirectly to reduced health costs and increased productivity. Consider the potential positive impact on a company’s bottom line by improvements in the following areas:

  • Enhanced performance
  • Reduction in daily stress
  • Increased confidence and motivation
  • Decreased incidence of depression and anxiety
  • Improved self-efficacy and happiness
  • Positive food selection practices and healthy eating habits
  • Higher participation rates in all health related programs and activities

Connect the dots
The key to creating a culture of health by leveraging employees’ social connections is simple: create and develop opportunities for employees to connect. Here are ideas for getting started:

  • Promote team-oriented health promotion programs
  • Form activity groups around walking, yoga, training for a fun run
  • Utilize social networking media, such as Facebook, to promote your wellness program
  • Host wellness activities that encourage teamwork
  • Form wellness teams and provide learning opportunities for team leaders and wellness ambassadors
  • Get everyone behind a cause, such as a charity event like Relay for Life
  • Promote internal resources vigorously and regularly
  • Publicize success stories and activities
  • Sponsor weekly or monthly social support groups
  • Host family nights where employees and their families can have fun being healthy

We offer health and wellness services in conjunction with our group life insurance plans. For pricing and more information, contact your client relationship advisor or regional group sales manager. Watch future editions of Aware for articles on self-care and social support.

Health and wellness services are provided by Ceridian LifeWorks and are their sole responsibility. The services are not affiliated with Minnesota Life, Securian Life or its group contracts and may be discontinued at any time.

Sources:

15th Annual National Business Group on Health/Towers Watson, Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care, March 2010.
Health Enhancement Group, “Social Support:  Impact on Health and the Bottom Line,” 2011.
Mayo Clinic, “Getting Support When Making a Change,” Embody Health Newsletter, February 2011.
Mayo Clinic
National Employee Wellness Month
The New England Journal of Medicine, “The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network,” 2007.

Healthy competition

It began in 2003 with a simple idea to help improve employees’ health and fitness: challenge them to eat five cups of fruits and vegetables and walk 10,000 steps a day. The competition, launched by Wegmans Food Market Inc., pitted department against department and store against store, with results published weekly and prizes bestowed on winners.

Two years later, the program was so popular that Wegmans recruited six other Rochester, New York employers, along with the Rochester Business Alliance, to join the campaign.

In the past four years alone, 125,000 employees from more than 300 organizations have participated – walking 49 billion steps and consuming 20 million cups of fruits and vegetables.

"The magic of it was making it competitive and fun, but the collaboration and camaraderie are the key," says Paul Speranza, Wegmans’ vice chairman. "Say I work for Xerox and my neighbor works for Eastman Kodak, and we’re both doing the same program," he says. "We can talk about it over the backyard fence."

Source:  HR Magazine