For the love of all things sugary, check your HR impulses at the Starbucks drive-thru and do not participate in National Health & Fitness Day on May 21st.
The National Association for Health & Fitness believes that a traditional exercise & calorie-reduction program will enhance the overall health and productivity of your organization.
I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but your fat employees are not responsible for making your company less competitive in the global market place.
These wellness programs are a waste of time and money. You can’t hand out a pedometer & an apple and expect your employees to feel great about their lives, their bodies, or their jobs.
Okay, let’s pretend that you want your employees to feel less stress in their lives, improve their self-esteem, and have increased stamina. How about this super-scientific set of solutions?
- Don’t work them 80 hours/week,
- give them a voice in the leadership of your organization,
- and encourage them to have a life outside of their offices.
Take that money you would normally spend on crappy employee swag items — the pedometers, the t-shirts, the stress balls — and increase your training budget. Give your employees another personal day, increase the employer 401(k) match, or give everyone a 3.5% annual merit increase instead of 3%. Whatevs. You get the drift.
It’s not rocket science, folks. Invest your company’s profits in your workforce, and not in crappy dollar-store merchandise and gimmicky celebrations, and you’ll have a healthy and productive relationship with your employees.
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Side note: I’ll know an employer really appreciates my work when I’m given a coupon for a free Baskin Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake instead of a freakin’ pedometer.
Thank you for this. My previous employers have had health programs that have not involved a weight loss component, and there wasn’t a whiff of “fat people consume all the health care and resources and are responsible for global warming,” so the programs were generally positive and well-received, I think. But then again, they were also good employers to start with, so probably one goes hand in hand with the other. I see workplaces with these “Biggest Loser” style competitions and I just want to throw something.
Alright, so now I’m ashamed. We did a readership poll with my publication, Small Business Monthly and asked readers to submit how they are promoting health and wellness in the workplace. Lots of “biggest loser” style contests.
Yeah…while the results may not surprise you they may give you one of those mouth-vomit or verp things (oooh…speaking of that…there’s an idea. Do you think that it would be at all insensitive or unwise to have a bullemia day? Is that over the top? I’m just trying to think outside the box here…I’m assuming that most of your readers speak sarcasmo).
Awesome post, Laurie. Offering a holistic wellness that includes the mind and satisfies employee ambition is equally important to cellulite reduction. It is also more effective from an organization’s standpoint.
Interesting post, although there may be something to learn from the eastern philosophy of life where mental and physical are balanced. And a balanced person will be more productive. I like the idea of taking half hour session for yoga or some sort of leisure release. This doesn’t have to be a gimmicky sponsored event or celebration. At the rate our country is adapting unhealthy lifestyles, anything that can be done to curve this epidemic would be well worth it.
Lori,
Do you feel a company should offer free weight watcher programs at work for employees to attend after work or on their lunch hours?
Ed
A company should mind it’s own GD business, Ed.
Sorry. Did I say that out loud?
I meant: the brain is part of the body. When a company’s wellness program focuses on the body and the brain as separate “thingies” they invariably piss people (like me) off. Wellness is a whole body-including-brain-thing. You want to offer weight watchers? Cool. Then also offer martial arts, yoga, meditation, mindful living, smoking cessation, organic cooking, gardening for fun, etc. Don’t target your “fat” employees as “the problem”. Cause they aren’t.
@Cowgirl Oh don’t even get me started about the biggest loser. The only loser are the poor saps at work who feel compelled to participate.
@Jeremy Nah, Jeremy, no worries. Bulimia competitions are cool. I’d also like to have a competition where you fire ugly people. Wait, are ugly people part of a protected class? (I guess it depends how ugly, right?)
@Erik I’m all about balance. I’m not about company-mandated balance, though.
@Ed I think that idea sucks. Diets fail. Weight Watchers fails. Spend your company’s money on improving health coverage. Include more preventative screening benefits. Weight Watchers is a cult, one step down from Scientology.
Wenchie, the voice of reason, we are in love. I want to work for a company that offers free pancake lunches, too. Frankly, I don’t get enough breakfast food for lunch. I think the company should subsidize the lack of maple syrup in my life. More maple syrup = more Laurie productivity!
Laurie, thumbs up on weight watchers @ work (or really anywhere, but that’s neither here nor there) being made of fail.
I know that the OBESITY CRISIS BOOGA BOOGA folks like to tell us about how fat people are unproductive and cost companies money, but I think dieting people are A MILLION TIMES less productive than fat people.
Generally speaking, people who are on diets will not shut up about what they are or are not eating, it drives me insane and I think all diets should be banned at work. Unlike reading blogs, which totally don’t take up any time or decrease my own productivity.
Lexy, I’m with you. My good friend Kate Harding is a big advocate of healthy at any size. I’m an advocate of ‘shut the f* up about what you’re eating and get back to work‘ at any size.
I don’t want to hear about points or portion control, yo.
There’s only one health-related perk that I feel should be mandatory: a nap room.
My husband’s employer provides a nap room. I seethe with jealousy.
Wait? You can nap someplace other than your car at work???
The company should be responsible for the weight of the employees because they hired them in the 1st place.