Walking Employee Wellness Plans
Walking Employee Wellness Plans are some of the most popular Employee Wellness Programs. They set the bar for entry fairly low – most anyone can walk around the block or their building – and walking Employee Wellness Plans also offers workers with a good way to break up the afternoon doldrums and interact in a casual, more social environment with other workers. Just leaving your desk for a few minutes every day for a some fress air can be a big stress reliever – and stress is the second leading cause of absenteeism, according to Employer Health and Wellness Program statistics.
As a first step to starting your Employee Wellness Program, we recommend that you have a designer draw up an attractive map of your business campus or vicinity. Plan out and test a few short walks of varying distances, and using a pedometer and watch, figure out how long each walk is in time and distance. Have a little fun with your walking Employer Health and Wellness Program by equating each walk with a common office activity of the same duration, like a writing a one-page status report or filling out a common form. Post the map at the worksite and make sure people know about walking Employee Wellness Plans by using your office communication channels – newsletters, announcements, business meetings. Keep it fun by building weight-loss teams, setting up races or organizing healthy picnics and athletic activities around the walking Employee Wellness Plans route.
Here are some other walking Employee Wellness Plans tips from Tom Weede, author of The Entrepreneur Diet: The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss, and Healthy Living:
Make sure to link the walking Employer Health and Wellness Program to work objectives. Employees need to be reassured that these walks are part of their responsibility to be healthy and productive. They’re not personal errands that need to be compensated for by longer days at the office.
Keep healthy snacks at the worksite.
Reinforce the walking Employer Health and Wellness Program message by regularly mentioning it during employee meetings
Set up a health-related benefit that walking Employee Wellness Plans participants can use for health-related expenses.