Corporate Wellness
Achieve Fitness Oklahoma is now offering on of the top corporate wellness programs in the US. This program is for businesses both large and small. We will be posting more details very soon. Please contact Gary at AchieveFitnessOK@yahoo.com for more information.
This is a great article by a friend and colleague, Lisa Orton:
This is a great article by a friend and colleague, Lisa Orton:
How Fitness Helps With Corporate Wellness
Businesses all over the country are engaging with the concept of corporate wellness as means of keeping their workforce happy and healthy. The idea is simple enough – healthier employees tend to be happier in their work and more productive. Corporate wellness programs, of course, need to be tailored to suit the needs of the business and often to individual employee as well. However, if you have the idea that a company that adopts a corporate wellness strategy is just getting its staff to work out for five minutes before a day’s work, think again. High quality corporate wellness schemes are much more varied and involve varied approaches including customizable nutritional programs, weight loss tips and bespoke exercise regimes. Given the right approach, staff can start to feel the benefits of corporate wellness surprisingly quickly with changes to fitness levels becoming apparent even after a few sessions. For the employer, the benefits can more marked and longer lasting than, at first, you might expect.
What Is In It For The Employer?
For corporations and organizations that adopt a wellness program, the advantages can become apparent rapidly. It is not just Oklahoma City based enterprises that promote healthy workplaces in order to mitigate for the cost of employer health insurance costs, but companies right across America. Commitment to a corporate wellness program can be a cost related strategy, but the real dividend is with fitter workers. According to the US Chamber of Commerce’s paper Healthy Workforce 2010 and Beyond, it is improved productivity that is the beneficial outcome for a healthier workforce. This, it should be said, is not simply a reduction in the number of sick days an average employee will take over the course of year. Healthier workers simply work more productively when they are at work. So called presenteeism, where employees turn up to work but perform in an impaired way due to illness, is often vastly reduced. Another important factor that employers should remember is that corporate wellness programs tend to offer specialist advice for all-round well-being including nutrition. After all, myths about weight loss and dieting, such as those discussed by Licensed Prescriptions, tend to spread around workplace environments and many have no basis in fact. Lastly, many programs are offered at low cost, or even free, at start up so employers can get an idea of the return with very little up front cost.
What Is In It For The Employee?
Staff that work for a company with a corporate wellness program tend to feel better about their work. Sure, sometimes a morning work-out video can feel like an interruption to the work ahead, but more often than not it promotes an active approach to later tasks. A motivated employee, who has warmed up with some physical activity, is more likely to prioritize their workload effectively, become more target oriented and more productive for longer periods during the day. The health benefits of a corporate wellness program mean that staff can expect, on average, to be less obese and more nutritionally aware. Although no one could claim that corporate wellness programs prevent illness, the health benefits of weight loss and cardio-vascular exercise mean that those who do take part are less likely to suffer from the health complications associated with a sedentary lifestyle. For employees who do not have an exercise regime outside of a corporate wellness program, there are mental health benefits to consider. For example mild, but regular exertion can help with conditions such as depression, anxiety and stress.
What To Look Out For
Not all corporate wellness program providers are the same, so if you are considering introducing one into your organization there are certain things to look out for. Depending on the nature of your business and employee make up you might not need all of these. Nevertheless, the following questions are good ones to ask for most regular businesses.
- Does the provider help with all round health advice, not just provide a work out program?
- Can the provider help the employer link their scheme to Employee Assistance Programs?
- Can the provider integrate their services within your organization’s corporate structure, for isntance over several sites?
- How does the provider evaluate improvements in employee health and the associated upturn in productivity?
- Can health screening programs be brought in at a later date to support the wellness program?
