May 21 is National Employee Health and Fitness Day this year. Despite all of our fitness awareness, health and fitness seem to be "out" right now. There's an obesity "epidemic." People are stressed out. Cancer and heart disease kill millions annually. At the same time, amounts paid out in injury claims, lost time and wages, and workers' compensation are increasing rapidly. It's truly a modern plague.

Why Is Employee Fitness Your Problem?

Why should safety managers be interested? Well for one thing, a healthy body is a whole lot less susceptible to injury and disease. You want to avoid having workers off work constantly due to back pain, or having to take on a lighter load due to ailments ranging from heart attack to heartburn. If you want workers who are relaxed and able to take the unexpected in stride rather than freaking out, then you want everyone to be as healthy as possible when they walk through the door.

Take, for example, the Ipsos-Reid poll that found that depression, anxiety and mental health issues were partially responsible for 60 percent of reported preventable absences. So was stress. Study after study proves the old adage: "Healthy mind in a healthy body." And de-stressing your employees could be as simple as getting them to walk around the block on coffee breaks.

There's some good news, too, from a bottom-line perspective. The Coca-Cola corporation instituted an employee health and wellness program, and discovered that they saved $500 per employee - with only 60 percent of them participating! Prudential Insurance saved more than $250 per employee in benefits costs for employees who participated in their program. Other companies, big and small, report lower absenteeism, better morale, improved productivity and even better interpersonal workplace relationships.

Getting Employees Healthy

If you want to avoid having workers off work constantly with ailments ranging from heart attack to heartburn, and want workers who are relaxed and able to take the unexpected in stride, then you want your employees to be as healthy as possible when they walk through the door.

So you're ready to get started. What now? How do we get employees to get healthy?

Set Your Goals

Your first priority is to determine what you want from your employee wellness program. Reduced sick days? Fewer reportable injuries? Decide what you want and write it down.

Divide your goals into categories such as "Cultural Change," "Employee Health Goals" and "Administrative Measures." This will help you to make the program more manageable, and help you to hand it off once it's up and running.

You might want to survey employees and managers to see if there's any enthusiasm out there and what the expectations are. And be open to suggestion; the results might surprise you. If people see their workplace taking an active role in their health, they can get pretty motivated.

Set Your Sights

You need to reach your workforce, but the program will be more effective if you can target your group. Are you going to ask everyone to participate? Management too? Or should you just keep it to the people on the assembly line?

One good way to establish targets might be to look through injury reports. If there are three sprains reported from the assembly line but 15 from the boardroom, that's something you may want to consider.

Set It Up

First: Go to your bosses and make sure to get their buy-in. It'll help a lot, too, if they're willing to commit to the program voluntarily themselves. In any case, you need management support, and the easiest way to get that is by pointing out that this is a long-term investment with major benefits for a relatively tiny - but firm-commitment.

Second: Talk to your stakeholders, including Labor representatives or union stewards, health and safety reps, community groups like the Diabetes Association or Cancer Society, and your HR and benefits administrators. Look, too, for existing groups. Maybe your workplace has a running club or a Dragon Boat team-bring them on board.

Third: You'll probably need a committee. Composition is up to you, but don't skip it. Workers will buy in more easily if they believe their interests are represented. Use your committee to help set your goals and communicate them.

Conclusion

Next week, we'll look at how to put your employee health and wellness plan into action.

NATIONAL EMPLOYEE HEALTH & FITNESS DAY


4 Ways to Get Involved

By Cailey Bennett

I know this is short notice, but tomorrow, May 21st, is National Employee Health & Fitness Day (NEHFD).

Founded in 1989, NEHFD is one of the largest occupational health and safety event of its kind in North America. More than 200,000 employees from all over the US, Canada and Puerto Rico participated in the first celebration, and the day has grown over the past two decades.

NEHFD is a great way to reinforce a focus on workplace health and fitness. How can your establishment get involved?

It's not too late to plan a simple, informative and fun event for everyone. Besides, even if you can't get something organized for tomorrow, any day is a good day to spread awareness about workplace health and fitness.

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