Company Health and Wellness Programs: Walking Employee Wellness Programs

Walking Employee Wellness Programs are among of the most popular Employee Wellness Programs. They set  the bar for entry fairly low – most anyone can walk around the block or their building – and walking  Employee Wellness Programs also provides employees with a good way to break up the afternoon doldrums  and interact in a casual, more social environment with other employees. Just leaving your desk for a  few minutes every day for a walk can be a big stress reliever – and stress is the #2 leading cause of  absenteeism, according to Company Health and Wellness Program statistics.

As a first step to beginning your Employee Wellness Program, we recommend that you have a designer draw  up an attractive map of your organization campus or vicinity. Plan out and test a few short walks of  varying distances, and using a pedometer and watch, figure out how long each walk is in time and  distance. Have a little fun with your walking Company Health and Wellness Program by equating each walk  with a common office activity of the same duration, like a writing a one-page status report or filling  out a common form. Post the map in the office and make sure people know about walking Employee Wellness  Programs by using your office communication channels – newsletters, announcements, organization  meetings. Keep it fun by building weight-loss teams, setting up races or organizing healthy picnics and  athletic activities around the walking Employee Wellness Programs route.

Here are some other walking Employee Wellness Programs tips from Tom Weede, author of The Entrepreneur  Diet: The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss, and Healthy Living:

Make sure to link the walking Company Health and Wellness Program to work objectives. Employees  need to be reassured that these walks are part of their responsibility to be healthy and productive.  They’re not personal errands that need to be compensated for by longer days at the office.
Keep healthy snacks in the office.
Reinforce the walking Company Health and Wellness Program message by regularly mentioning it during  worker meetings
Set up a health-related benefit that walking Employee Wellness Programs participants can use for  health-related expenses.