SNM Week 6- DI 2.4- Employee Wellness Program or Contest

Transcription

1 SNM Week 6- DI 2.4- Employee Wellness Program or Contest I chose to do an employee wellness program focused on physical activity in a couple of schools in the district. There were no resources available in my district to provide for an incentive; so, I did not think that a contest was a good approach. I wanted to do a physical activity focus because I have heard a lot of the managers and employees talking about starting exercise and diet programs at the beginning of this year. I think that a month or two after New Year s people start having difficulty keeping up with the fitness goals that they have set and collaborating with coworkers can make it easier to stay on track. My preceptor thought that it would be a good idea to test the program in a couple of schools and evaluate how employees responded before implementing it district-wide since there are so many schools in the district. Evaluation consisted of tracking the number of employees who were interested in the program. This was measured objectively by finding the percent of the employees in each kitchen who had signed up on the log a week after learning about the program. Long-term evaluation of the program should involve tracking participation each month to find out how many employees are staying involved. My goal in designing the materials for the wellness promotion program was to provide education about physical fitness, as well as a tool that individual employees and kitchen staffs that want to share their physical activity with each other can utilize. I used the My Plate physical activity recommendations and referred to information provided by the Calorie Control Council. There is a lot of information online about physical activity. My goal was to summarize the important points that would matter to the recipients. For tracking physical activity, I created one log for individual use that includes a column to describe physical activity each day and a column to track weight each week. For the log to be posted on a kitchen bulletin board and shared among coworkers, I just included a place for employees to list their names and minutes of physical activity logged for each week. At the two schools my suggested by my preceptor, I met with the kitchen staff during their lunch and briefly explained the program. Most employees seemed interested and several mentioned exercise programs they had recently begun. I also ed templates of the following handouts to both of the managers so that they can continue the program if their employees find it to be useful. A week after I introduced the program, I visited both kitchens to track the number of employees who had begun to track their physical activity. I chose to evaluate this program objectively by finding the percent of employees who would commit to taking part in the program. Evaluating the success of the program itself would require a longer period of time, over which I would review the physical activity tracking logs and interview employees about the effectiveness of the program; I would want to perform this type of evaluation over at least two months to determine whether or not employees continued to use their logs. In order to find the percentage of employees who had committed to participation in the program, I contacted the managers from the two schools one week after introducing the program. At Union Cross Elementary School, 50% of the employees (3 of 6) had signed up to participate. At Glenn High School, the manager explained that people were interested in exercising but did not want to commit to logging their exercise on a weekly basis (0%). I think that including some type of incentive with the program would increase participation. In addition, if I had provided another tool, such as a pedometer, maybe employees might have been more interested. Because I was attempting to implement an employee wellness program without any type of reward/incentive, I was not very surprised that not everyone chose to participate. Those who were already motivated to improve their physical fitness were interested in the program because it provided a

2 tool for them to continue working towards a pre-determined goal. Those who are not currently interested would most likely require an incentive or some more exciting component of the program (receiving a pedometer, for instance). In the future, I would try to add another component to the program to make it more appealing to employees. If resources were still not available to provide an incentive, I might try to recruit a volunteer physical fitness expert to provide a free informational session and explain the importance of keeping an exercise log when trying to meet physical fitness goals. Another idea would be to ask the cafeteria manager if there was any type reward she could suggest that would not be costprohibitive. Resources: Bowden, D.E. et al. Do Wellness Programs Really Work? Benefits & Compensation Digest. International Foundation of Employee Benefit Programs. September Calories Count: Get Moving Calculator Calorie Control Council Available from: Choose My Plate.gov: Physical Activity USDA. Available from: Weekly Physical Activity Trac king Log

3 It s so easy to start a physical activity program, especially at the beginning of the year right after New Year s! The hardest part is actually keeping track of what you are doing and staying motivated. Keeping a weekly physical activity log can help you stay on track with your plan- whether you are trying to lose weight, maintain your weight, or just stay healthy and improve your level of physical fitness. Use this log to track what type of physical activity you do each day. Tracking your time in minutes will make it easier to see if you reach 75 or 150 minutes a week (depending on the intensity of your exercise). Don t feel intimidated by starting an exercise program. You don t have to be able to run or lift heavy weights. Even taking a brisk walk after dinner most nights will help you achieve your fitness goals. At the end of each week, total your minutes of physical activity and weigh yourself. Record these on your log so that you can see your progress for each week. You do not need to weigh every day and you can choose which day of the week you want to weigh. If you do not need to lose weight, it is still a great idea to weigh once a week to make sure that you are staying at a healthy weight. Your kitchen can choose to post a weekly log on the bulletin board so that you can share your physical activity progress with each other. It is easier to stay motivated with an exercise program if you do it with a group of coworkers. At the end of each week, write your total minutes of weekly exercise. Recognize the person with the most minutes at the end of the month. You can also get ideas for different types of physical activity from your coworkers. Most importantly, have fun with the program by adding more physical activity to your week and discussing your progress with coworkers! Physical Activity Recommendations You should aim for 150 minutes, or 2 hours and 30 minutes, of moderate, aerobic physical activity each week. When you exercise vigorously, you only need 75 minutes a

4 week. If you are trying to lose weight, you will probably need even more activity. Here are some examples of moderate and vigorous types of physical activity. Moderate Physical Activity: Take a brisk walk (at about 3 ½ miles per hour) Take a bike ride in your neighborhood (less than 10 miles per hour) Water aerobics Gardening Vigorous Physical Activity: Walking at a fast pace (4 ¼ miles per hour) Jog/run at a faster pace (5 miles per hour- a 10-minute mile- or faster) Bike at a pace faster than 10 miles per hour Take an aerobics class Swim laps Resistance Exercise: It is important to include resistance exercise as well as aerobic. This includes activities like lifting weights, calisthenics, & bodyweight exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, & sit-ups). Calories You Could Burn: These examples would apply to a 150-pound person exercising for 30 minutes. If you weigh less, you will burn fewer calories. If you weigh more, you will burn more calories. Aerobics Walking at 3 ½ mph Walking/Jogging at 4 ½ mph Light Gardening Biking at less than 10 mph Light weight training calories, depending on intensity 140 calories 230 calories 165 calories 140 calories 110 calories Template for Weekly Tracking Log: Weekly Tracking Description of Physical Activity (PA) Time Weight Week 1

5 Sunday Tuesday Week 2: Sunday Tuesday Week 3: Sunday

6 Tuesday Week 4: Sunday Tuesday Template for Group Weekly Tracking Log: Weekly Tracking Week 1 Time (in minutes)

7 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4