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And I especially love this quote from the article!
Quote:
Seven years ago, shift leader Howard Tegtmeier was in the non-medal category. The 49-year-old smoked, drank, was overweight and took 12 pills a day to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
"I just made the decision it was time to change my life, and the wellness program showed me ways to do that," Tegtmeier says.
Tegtmeier says he no longer smokes or drinks. His weight is down from 230 to 180, thanks to diet and exercise. His cholesterol and blood pressure are also down, and he says he no longer needs medication.
Unfortunately, many companies view "wellness" the same way they view "safety" - a questionable investment. It takes time, money and manpower to start up programs like this. Often it's easier to can the "slacker" and hire some college kid who'll work for one-quarter of the pay.
It might be turning around, but it's a very, very slow turn...
Well my thoughts are that, yes this is a very unusual and unique company. And that is why there's a news article on them. I think that many California companies are more proactive about their employees' health. I did work for a titanium racing bike company in MA that offered flextime, had afternoon employee bike rides, gave each employee a bike frame and a $3K yearly recreational allowance.
And also what I got out of this article was that it's never too late to turn ones health around and to be able to throw away the pills. And instead of waiting for companies to be like Lincoln Industries, we should all be doing this sort of health awareness and maintenance on our own. Of course it's great if our employers would help us out with incentives, but we shouldn't really need them. To keep in continuing good health is being logical and using our commonsense. We should be able to do it on our own and for ourselves and our loved ones.
I agree the bottom line value of corporations, large and small, would be greatly enhanced if they took a proactive approach to employee health. Families are in need of that as well. The primary need at this time is massive efforts to educate people on the subject. The problem is, how does that happen? When you see that there are 40 or more countries that have longer life expectancies than the US, when doctors are getting to the point of putting children under 10 on statin drugs, when diabetes is exploding, you have to know we have significant problems. Individuals and corporate America need to take aggressive steps. The attitude that is more and more prevalent, that disease, doctors and drugs are our inevitable fate, has to change. The ability to get and stay healthy is available. We can reduce the need for doctor visits, reduce the need for sick days, reduce the need for drugs and reduce the need for hospitalizations. If only as much time and money were spent on showing us how as is spent on training us to believe that drugs are our only option, the trend could be reversed. For example, TV, mags even newspapers are filled with drug ads. Who do you think they are trying to reach. They are not trying to reach the doctors, they are quite successfully selling YOU on the idea that DRUGS are our salvation. This attitude has to change. Corporations, except Pharmaceuticals, and indivuduals, except even some Doctors, have very real financial interest in changing this direction.
The company I work for has a wellnes program. They put out fruit and vegetables in the break rooms. There is also a small fitness center on the premises with some dumbells, pull up bar, rebounder, and exercise balls. A variety of fitness oriented classes are offered weekly including yoga. If certain requirements are met, there is a re-imbursement for working out at other fitness centers in town. I don't have any numbers to back it up, but I think it pays off for the company. At the very least, it does boost morale! A happy worker is a more productive worker.
The company I work for has a wellnes program. They put out fruit and vegetables in the break rooms. There is also a small fitness center on the premises with some dumbells, pull up bar, rebounder, and exercise balls. A variety of fitness oriented classes are offered weekly including yoga. If certain requirements are met, there is a re-imbursement for working out at other fitness centers in town. I don't have any numbers to back it up, but I think it pays off for the company. At the very least, it does boost morale! A happy worker is a more productive worker.
Hey there! Does your company have a cafeteria? One thing big companies could do is provide lunch to their workers and hire Gourmet Vegan or at least Macrobiotic chefs and serve only healthful balanced lunchs to their employees. That way at least one meal that employees got would be healthful.
No cafeteria, but they do provide snack machines with the usual junk food options and no truly healthy options. They recently took a poll of the employees, asking us if we'd like to have healthy options in the snack machine. They employees were in favor of healthy options, but for some reason that wasn't clear to me, the vending machine company was unable to provide them. Employees were then asked to vote on wether to remove the machines completely or keep the status quo. The status quo won out. All of the overweight people still have junk food to keep them overweight. No company is perfect!
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Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Does your company have a cafeteria? One thing big companies could do is provide lunch to their workers and hire Gourmet Vegan or at least Macrobiotic chefs and serve only healthful balanced lunchs to their employees. That way at least one meal that employees got would be healthful.
