Q1 2020 Texas CEO Magazine

2. It’s not just about fitness.
Probably the most common mistake I see when I’m brought in
to evaluate an employee wellness program—especially at larger
companies—is the mindset that “employee wellness” equals
“fitness.” Many leaders are narrowly focused on the construction
of a fitness center or the purchase of workout equipment.
I myself am a big advocate of fitness, but there’s much more
to a holistic employee wellness program. In fact, fitness is just
one of three pillars, the other two being nutrition and stress
reduction. These other two carry just as much weight as fitness
when it comes to delivering the outcomes we care about.
We’ve known since the time of Hippocrates that we should let
food be our medicine, and more than ever, stress is reaching
epidemic levels in terms of the impact on employee health. A
great wellness program recognizes each of the three pillars.
Fortunately, implementing the stress and nutrition components
usually gives you a much bigger bang for your buck—costing
significantly less than purchasing fitness equipment and building
exercise facilities. In fact, if a board came to me today and asked
where they can get the most value from a wellness program, I’d
point them immediately toward stress-reduction programs.
3. Partner with the community.
As I mentioned, you don’t have to lay out a ton of money to put
together a great employee wellness program. If you lead a smaller
company and don’t have budget for wellness staff or facilities,
there’s still plenty you can do, especially by drawing upon the
resources already in your company and your community.
First, find a person (or small group of people) in the
company who is already wellness-minded. See if they are
interested in spearheading your wellness program. Once
you find your internal point person, relieve them of some
of their regular duties to make room for this initiative.
The next step is to help your point person seek out health
resources in the local community they can plug your organization
into. You would probably be surprised by how many organizations
are willing to do health screenings and educational programming
at your company for a nominal fee, whether it’s the American
Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, or even local
hospitals and health systems. Any time these organizations
can get their name in front of a decent-sized group of people,
they will usually be eager to do so. That’s something you and
your wellness point person can take advantage of as you put
together a low-cost program. It’s a win-win for both parties.
4. Measure success.
When I was at Westinghouse in the 1980s, we had the advantage
of working in a highly regimented plant environment where we
could measure productivity in a fairly objective way. As employees
produced parts for fighter planes, they logged their progress
in a computer system, so I could see a wealth of productivity
data for each person. I could see that Joe Smith, for example,
completed X number of boards from August until January with
THREE COMPONENTS
OF EMPLOYEE WELLNESS
• ACCESS TO EXERCISE FACILITIES
AND EQUIPMENT
• GYM MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM
• ON-SITE CLASSES (YOGA, ETC.)
• COMPANY-SPONSORED SPORTS
LEAGUE PARTICIPATION
• STANDING DESKS
FITNESS
• ON-SITE SCREENINGS
(BLOOD PRESSURE, BLOOD LIPIDS, ETC.)
NUTRITION
• LUNCHTIME SPEAKING SERIES
FROM NUTRITION EXPERTS
• HEALTHY SNACKS AVAILABLE IN
OFFICE
• CHOOSE HEALTHY OPTIONS FOR
COMPANY-SPONSORED LUNCHES
• HEALTHY-RECIPE-SHARING
PROGRAM
STRESS REDUCTION
• TEACHING RELAXATION
TECHNIQUES (MEDITATION, MUSCLE
RELAXATION, ETC.)
• COURSES IN STRESS MANAGEMENT,
TIME MANAGEMENT, AND MONEY
MANAGEMENT
• INCREASED WORK-FROM-HOME
OPTIONS
• MANAGERS TRAINED IN THE
IMPORTANCE OF WORK-LIFE
BALANCE
82 Texas CEO Magazine Q1 2020