SHIP Worksite Wellness Success Stories

Check out these articles in the Alliance for a Healthier MN. Look out what other counties are doing to improve employee health!

SHIP Worksite Wellness Success Stories

Free Health and Wellness Newsletters

Do you want to start a health and wellness newsletter for your organization? It can be a great idea, but also very time consuming. and labor intensive. So it it really worth it to take the time to create a newsletter on your own when there are a variety of FREE newsletters online? I'll let you make that call, but you can always check out these sites for free newsletters to distribute to your employees:

American Cancer Society

American Institute for Preventative Medical 

Hope Health
Mayo Clinic 

WebMD

Wellness Proposals 

Wellvation 

If you do decide to create your own company's health and wellness newsletter, make sure your sources are credible, and  there isn't too much information on it. Remember to keep it simple, and attractive to read.

10 Ways To Increase Participation

STRATEGY 1: GET IN TOUCH!

To stimulate participation, you need to find out what employees really want. What interests them? Distribute surveys, have focus groups, etc.

STRATEGY 2: WALK THE TALK

·          Modeling a healthy lifestyle does more for building and maintaining support for the programs than all other actions combined. People see and feel the added energy and enthusiasm you have gained and want to know how you got it.

STRATEGY 3: BECOME PART OF THE FOOD CHAIN

·          There is currently a very strong health and productivity movement that has good data to show that healthy employees are more productive. Integrate your program by showing how it solves important problems throughout the company.

FIRST STEP: Identify the food chain issues and look for those that might have a health or wellness connection.

SECOND STEP: After you have identified these issues, meet with the individuals responsible for their coordination and find out what has been done.

THIRD STEP: Put together a proposal that addresses how the wellness programs can be an important contributing solution partner and present it to the appropriate person or committee.

STRATEGY 4: STRIVE FOR PERFECTION

       People love programs which offer awesome customer support and cater to their individual needs. 

STRATEGY 5: BRING DOWN THE WALL

·         What are the barriers that stop people from participating in your programs? The only way to find out is to ask those who aren’t coming.

STRATEGY 6: SHOWCASE SUCCESS

·          Everyone likes a winner! Identify individuals who have successfully made lifestyle changes and are willing to share their stories with others. 

STRATEGY 7: CAPITALIZE ON TEACHABLE MOMENTS

·          Teachable moments are those special situations that allow you to draw attention to your wellness efforts. Not only do teachable moments provide you with free and abundant marketing people opportunities, they are also particularly useful in helping you to address the hard-to-reach people within your company.

STRATEGY 8: DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW-UP

·         A good follow-up process will insure that all these individuals have an opportunity to talk to a staff person or participant mentor before they make a decision to quit. 

STRATEGY 9: EXPAND YOUR MENU

·          What’s does your health promotion plan look like? What kind of strategies do you plan on doing? When was the last time you tried something new? One of the problems in a wellness program that’s working is that we tend to not want to rock the boat. Before long, the program is no longer working. 

STRATEGY 10: POSITION, POSITION, POSITION

·          This familiar principle in the retail sales market is “location, location, location.” It’s true for wellness programs as well. How has your program been positioned in the company? Is it purely a perk or is it being done because it seems like the right thing to do? Has your wellness program truly been integrated into the company as a partner in health and productivity issues? 

     Source: WELCOA

Why a Health Team?

A Health team is an important component to a successful wellness program. They not only serve as health promoters, but provide a means that employees can truly own the program.Think about how difficult it would be to launch new activities and changes around the worksite ALONE. The Health Team can act as a support system for each other, when there is resistance and negativity going on from other employees. 

Remember: when creating a health team it is important you have individuals from all departments and fitness levels. It's hard to get participation and buy-in from others when the health team consists of all management and health nuts! 

Other things to look for in health team members:

·         -Highly motivated about wellness

·         -Are good wellness role models
          -Are comfortable expressing opinions                

          -Are in positions of authority within the company

·         -Can represents a major group of employees in the company

No matter if your health team consists of 3 employees or 12 employees, always remembers that... 
 

 Together Everyone Accomplishes More!

Every Little Bit Counts!

Is it difficult getting physical activity in at work? With your day consuming of e-mails, phone calls and meetings who has time to take a chunk out of their day for exercise? 

Well I want you to think outside the box. You don't have to have an hour of free time to get on your workout clothes and go to the gym to get exercise. Think about all the different things you can do to get activity into your day that you won't even need to go to the gym for!

Instead of looking for the closest parking spot by the office, look for the farthest one. That way you can sneak some walking in. Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs (a 150 pound person can burn up to 10 calories a minute climbing stairs according to the Calorie Control Council (CCC). Get some dumbbells for your desk, and lift some weights when you're on the phone or watching webinars. Create a stand up desk so you can stand and move around instead of sitting in an office chair all day. 

Now those are only a couple of ideas, but my point is to have you open your eyes and realize that becoming more physically active doesn't mean getting a gym membership. There's plenty of free to low cost ways to get exercise throughout your day. Consider trying some of those suggestions, I bet your body will thank you!

Remember: Every little bit does really add up and make a difference! 

Proof that Worksite Wellness Really Does Work!

Check out this article about how the county government in Pontiac, Michigan implemented some health promotion at their worksite. It dramatically decreased their health care costs!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2010-12-31-wellness-plan_N.htm

No Money? No Problem!

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, for every $1.00 a company invests in worksite wellness, they can receive approximately $3-6.00 in return. Sounds great if you the extra money to invest in health promotion right? Well if you don’t have that extra budget, don’t worry! There are still a lot of great changes you can make at your worksite that are FREE!

When you are tight on a budget, it’s important to focus on environmental changes to your worksite vs. programming.  Do your vending machines consist of all fatty, processed foods? Are your employees sitting in their desks all day? Do you provide nothing but donuts and pizza at your company meetings? Are your employees eating at their desks and not taking time for breaks?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have an opportunity to make some great environmental changes to your worksite.  

You really don’t need to invest a lot of money into worksite wellness. Just focus on eliminating the barriers and temptations (like those candy dishes!) and focus on creating an environment that supports and encourages healthy behaviors.

 

My challenge for you is to look at your worksite, and I mean REALLY look at it. What are some barriers or obstacles that are not allowing your employees to become healthier? What temptations are you providing?  Make a list of these barriers, and focus on changing one at a time. Even those small and simple changes can make a BIG difference!

Price Incentives for Healthier Food

The worksite is an important environment in which the majority of the adult population spends a significant portion of their day over a period of years. Intervention strategies that change worksite environmental factors related to food, such as the type of foods available and their prices, have been examined in previous nutrition interventions studies. In both school and worksite settings, pricing, alone or in combination with availability, had a strong, dose-response effect on sales of healthy snacks from the vending machines.  


Does your worksite offer snacks for employees? If so, have they ever thought about offering the healthier foods for a cheaper price than the unhealthier foods? Many times people say that an obstacle to eating healthy is the price. Healthier foods tend to be more expensive. One way to reduce that barrier is to lower the price of healthier options and increase the costs of unhealthier options. Check out how this worksite offers price incentives for their snacks. Notice that they also put the healthier foods at eye level, and the unhealthier foods at the bottom.

Source: JOEM Vol. 52, Number 1 Supplment, January 2010.

Why is Workplace Wellness Important?

If you have 100 employees...

-38 are overweight and another 23 are obese (1,2)

-17 smoke cigarettes daily (3)

-85 are not eating healthy diets (2)

-31 are not physically active enough to protect their health (1)

-32 have high cholesterol (4)

-21 have high blood pressure (4)

-6 have diabetes (4)

Creating a culture of health at your worksite can significantly help improve your employees morale, productivity and job satisfaction - while decreasing health care costs and work absences. Fit City Duluth and SHIP are here to make the healthy choice the easy choice for employees. Our efforts will be impacting over 2,440 employees!

Sources:

1. MN Physical Activity Survey

2. MN Healthy Eating Survey

3. MN Adult Tobacco Survey

4. MN BRFSS, 2007

The Businesses Have Been Selected!

Fit City Duluth and SHIP Coordinators have selected 17 businesses in the NE Region to help promote health. We're excited to get their employees healthier!

Aitkin - Riverwood HealthCare Center & Aicota Health Care Center 

Carlton(Cloquet) - Community Memorial Hospital 

Carlton (Moose Lake) - Mercy Hospital

Cook - Bluefin Bay Resort & Cook Co. North Shore Hospital & Care Center

Itasca - Itasca Community College

Koochiching - Rainly Lake Medical Center

Lake - Stanley LaBounty & Lake View Memorial Hospital

St. Louis (Duluth) - Northwood  Children's Services, Natural rural Health Resource Center & ARCC

St. Louis (Hibbing) - P&H MinePro Services, Jasper Engineering & Minnesota Twist Drill  

 

Our Tour Has Come To An End!

After traveling around Minnesota, presenting "Working Towards Wellness: Is It Right For Your Business?" our tour has come to an end! We had a lot of fun, some great attendance (Hibbing had the most) and with the help of Amy Wyant, we even added some spice to our presentations! (see photo below)

Thank you coordinators for all your hard work and helping us with the public events!

Now the selection process begins!! 

Christy Presenting

Amy Wyant's touch of color and beauty :) 

The SHIP Workplace Wellness Timeline

Dates	Action Item
November 30-December 10	County Workplace Wellness Public Events
December 15	Deadline for Businesses to complete Readiness Assessment
December 15-December 31	Selecting Businesses           -Workplace Wellness staff will look at all applicants and determine 2-3 businesses in each county to work with.
January 1-February 28	Comprehensive Workplace Assessments           - Workplace Policies and Practices Assessment (completed with senior management)         - Observational Site Assessment (Workplace Wellness staff)          - Employee Health and Behavior Survey (online) Results and Recommendations           - Workplace Wellness staff will present strategies and recommendations based on all the data collected.
February 1-April 15	Formation of Health Teams            -  An Internal Health Champion will be identified, and a collaboration of employees from all departments will be formed to create a health team. The health team and Workplace Wellness staff will determine how to carry out the action plan.
April 15-June 30	Implement and Evaluate Action Plan           - Evaluation will be done by Workplace Wellness  staff

Workplace Wellness Public Events

Well we just had our first Public Event in Lake County, and will have one in Duluth today! Here are the times and places for the events in the other counties...

December 6th - Cook County (12-1)

East Bay Suites - Stones Throw Meeting Room

December 7th - Koochiching County (12-1)

Koochiching County Health Department - Lower Level Conference Room 

December 8th - St. Louis-Hibbing (12-1)

Fairview Plaza 1200

December 9th - Grand Rapids (12-1)

YMCA Conference Room

December 14th - (12:30-1:30)

Carlton County Transportation Building 

December 9th - Aitkin (4-5)

City Hall