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Wellness In The Workplace
October 2009
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Carrots and Sticks
Carrots and Sticks . . . Tricks and Treats

As employers look more closely at wellness as a proactive solution to rising health care premiums and costs, they are in effect, placing greater focus on prevention.

And, at the same time, they are looking at ways to incent employees to take a more active role in their own long term health and wellness goals - and herein lies the fine line. It is a line walked between sticks and carrots - and sometimes - tricks and treats, to incent behavior change.

First, is it even your job to promote employee health and wellness? Actually, yes. And, how far should you go in imposing health-related requirements on your employees? As far as you need to go to achieve results. Just how involved should you be in your employees' health without becoming invasive and regulating private behavior? Now, that's the tricky part.

Most employees now understand why a wellness strategy is no longer an option. But, you need to decide what you want the program to accomplish. Then you need to promote participation. Just putting the program "out there" does little to enlist employee participation. That requires enthusiastic and motivated participants, support from management and ongoing encouragement. There are a few tricks involved in making this happen. Employees must believe the program is being done for them, not to them. They must believe it is truly a company-wide initiative - and policy. They must believe that they can be part of the health care solution, not part of the problem. And they must believe they can be successful.

And believe it, your employees do want to be well. It goes beyond carrots and sticks . . . and beyond tricks and treats.

A recent MetLife study of Employee Benefits Trends found that while financial penalties motivate some employees to participate in a wellness program, the most positive motivator of all was the employee's desire for good health. The survey of more than 1,900 U.S. employers found the following Reasons for Participation (Look closely at Reason Number One):

  • I want good health: 73 %
  • Financial incentives or rewards through my employer: 48 %
  • I want to minimize medical expenses: 38 %
  • Financial penalties imposed by my employer: 17 %

The essential challenge is to initially engage employees so that they are motivated to change behaviors in the interest of their own long term health and wellness. As they realize even small successes, the desire for good health will continue driving their motivation and behavior, leading to greater success. LoneStart calls it Achieve and Believe. The good news is that people want to be well and, when given what they believe is a genuine opportunity to succeed, will challenge themselves to improve their vital wellness behaviors. We saw this first-hand during the kick-off of one of our recent employee Team Esteem Wellness Challenges, when 91 percent of employees attending the "Start" Presentation signed on for the Challenge. (CLICK HERE to request more information about LoneStart Wellness.

By integrating workplace and workforce strategies for health into the corporate culture, you are encouraging your employees to take on a self-leadership role for their own health, and you are on the way to finding that the cost of waiting for employees to get sick far exceeds the cost of helping them get healthy. Now, that's a treat.
CommuniCare Logo


A Case Study: Expectations, Surprises and Results

When CommuniCare Health Centers in San Antonio Texas decided to implement the LoneStart Wellness Team Esteem Challenge with employees and staff, it was because the organization's management saw its employees struggling with weight and dealing with the illnesses associated with overweight. "We wanted to make a difference in their lives by finding a tool to help them achieve their weight loss and wellness goals," says Debbora Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, CommuniCare Health Centers.

"We liked the LoneStart program, but we weren't optimistic," says Thompson. "Honestly, our expectations for success were low in both the implementation process and expected results." She adds the organization wanted to offer a positive wellness strategy, but didn't really think employees would be interested in participating.

"We were very surprised to see the excitement generated - and encouraged by the results," says Thompson. Of its full-time employees, CommuniCare realized a participation rate of 52 percent. The organization's participants lost a total of 663 pounds, saw an average BMI reduction of 2.33 percent, and a range of 2.11 to 3.87 percent reduction. The wining team lost 7.29 BMI points (a BMI point, on average, is equal to 6 to 7 pounds). Thompson says the weekly LoneStart Participant e-bulletins and whole-hearted involvement of senior management and supervisors helped maintain excitement and enthusiasm during the challenge period. "And this is just the beginning," says Thompson. "Employees are already asking when we'll start the next challenge."

Thompson describes CommuniCare's reaction to program results saying, "We are extremely satisfied with the results, but are even more excited by the reaction of employees over their accomplishments. This program brought people together where before there had been little communication." She says the program worked for CommuniCare because the staff worked toward a common goal, challenging themselves and each other, and finding that "healthy" competition can be fun.

Plans are in the works at CommuniCare to repeat the LoneStart Wellness Challenge, and offer additional programs to produce healthy outcomes in other health-related areas. "We continue to promote wellness, and our staff is talking more about health related issues and how to address those issues as we look to achieve our long-term health and wellness goals," says Thompson. "We are feeling good about truly creating a Culture of Wellness within CommuniCare Health Centers."

And, now, the CommuniCare staff is working to spread what LoneStart calls "Viral Wellness," by taking the program into their homes and adopting it within their own families.
Rick G.
Meet Rick Gonzalez, CFO with CommuniCare Health Centers

Rick Gonzalez is helping make wellness viral.

Rick Gonzalez is Chief Financial Officer with CommuniCare Health Centers. He says he recognized that he was overweight, didn't want his children to follow in his footsteps, and was at first motivated to take part in the LoneStart Team Esteem Challenge because he felt if he made wellness and weight loss a priority, so would his family. And, he knew he could not let himself fail. "The whole company was watching," says Gonzalez. "Yet, once the pounds started coming off, staying on track became a pretty easy challenge." And, because of the team structure, he says he knew he wasn't "going it alone."

In his position with CommuniCare, Gonzalez says he is involved in numerous off-site meetings and lunches. "The hardest part of the challenge was finding even a semi-healthy plate at restaurants," he says. "But by being mindful of nutritional choices and watching portion sizes, even that challenge can be met in a more healthy way."

With a 3.87 drop in BMI and 31 pounds lighter, Gonzalez says he still has a long way to go, but already feels "lighter, and much better." His advice: "Make sure you do eat, but watch what you eat. If you're hungry all the time, you won't succeed. And, find a physical activity you enjoy and then make the time to stay with it. If you don't enjoy it, again, you won't succeed."

As for his original motivation to take part in the LoneStart Team Esteem Challenge, Gonzalez says his expectations have been met - and that his children too, are making "healthy" progress.

About CommuniCare Health Centers: CommuniCare health Centers (CCHC) has served San Antonio for 37 years, providing medical, dental and behavioral health services to uninsured and underserved residents in Bexar and Hays Counties. CCHC delivered more than 138,000 visits in 2008.
candy
Boo! . . . or Boo Hoo?

Your employees and co-workers may love or hate you for sharing this - but please do.

It's almost here, the start of the nibbling season. Here's what's really scary about Halloween. We've chosen a sample of favorite Halloween candy, and it's not unreasonable to expect that one person could (would?) eat this much in one day (or one night) if it's sitting there in the "treat bowl" on the receptionist's desk, or if you happen to be raiding your child's treat bag (not that you would do such a thing).

  • 20 pieces of candy corn
  • 2 Hershey's Kisses
  • 2 Brach's caramels
  • 1 mini Tootsie Roll
  • 1 Fun-size candy bar (Milky Way, Butterfinger, Snickers)
  • 1 mini bite-size candy bar (Milky Way, Butterfinger, Snickers)
  • 1 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
  • 1 Fun Size M&M packet
  • Total calories: 515

Think of the above as little fat bombs, with almost no nutritional value and a ton of calories. To burn off those 515 calories you will need to walk (briskly) 5.15 miles or 10,260 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps. And, Halloween candy isn't just a "one-night stand." The tempting bowls are probably already out, tempting you to have "just one more" as you pass by. Then, after Halloween, your evil co-workers will bring in their leftover candy - those small, colorful, innocent-looking treats.

Scared yet? It only takes nine small fun-size candy bars to put on a quarter-pound of weight. And, here's some real food for thought: If you consumed only an extra 250 calories per day every day, that's 26 extra pounds to burn off every year just to stay even.

It's true that just a few pieces of Halloween candy won't derail your long-term weight loss efforts, but it's the "just one more" temptation that over time will pack on the pounds.

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If your organization is ready to take responsibility for promoting healthy lifestyles and a healthy work environment, LoneStart is an effective, low-cost and easy-to-administer employee wellness program, which functions equally well as a stand-alone initiative or as a high-impact jump-start to existing or proposed employee wellness strategies.

Contact us today to find out how the LoneStart Wellness Initiative will change your workplace.

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A Challenge. An Opportunity. A Solution.
The LoneStart Wellness Initiative
phone: 512.894.3440