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Need more evidence that company culture is key to making workplace wellness programs great? One important tactic: Get employees out of their seats.
Ellen Chang writes in Main St. that “sitting in a cubicle for eight or more hours a day is detrimental to the health of employees. Companies are attempting to break the mold and are now pushing employees to be less sedentary.”
Adds Cathy Kenworthy, Interactive Health CEO: “Sitting is the new smoking.” Chang cites “an independent study of the programs designed by Interactive Health for other companies during the past 20 years showed that employees do respond with 26% of smokers who quit smoking, 64% of participants with elevated glucose who reduced their glucose levels and 82% of participants with elevated blood pressure improve their blood pressure.”
Adds Kenworthy: “As an employer, making it easy to make small changes and develop new habits can be enormously impactful. We have had a putting challenge on the office building putting green, asked people to take the stairs to get there, doing as many jumping jacks as the Chicago Bears scored points in their game the day before and even dance competitions.”
Chang points to KI, a Green Bay, Wis. furniture manufacturer, as an example of what one company is doing to help keep employees active: “Employers need to stop putting all the responsibility on workers and instead design the workplace in a way that actually promotes movement and activity, which is called active design.”
Importantly, Jonathan Webb, KI's vice president of business markets, calls for “a cultural shift toward more wellness.” And that leadership starts at the top.
Writes Chang: “KI encourages employees to exercise during the work day at their onsite facility. Even the CEO and senior staff use it regularly during the day.”
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