Apply and learn more by following this link  and following the Job Title, Manager – Benefits & Wellness

Try some of these NEAT ideas or make up your own!

Use desk peddlers. These compact peddlers (https://www.henryfordhealthproducts.com/product.cfm?product_ID=9114 )allow you to pedal while you work or during a break. It is an excellent way to log minutes. You can even bring it to meetings!

During your lunch break, go 50-50. Spend half your time eating your lunch and the other half walking. Impact someone else’s health by asking a co-worker to join you.

Do short bouts of activity with your co-workers. For example, in our office if anyone says “I’m tired,” we all do 5 minutes of arm circles or 10 pushups. That’ll get your attention!

Give up the elevator. (At least a few times every day). Or walk as many flights as you can and then take the elevator the rest of the way. Every step counts.

Stand up at your desk for part or all of each day.

Have walking meetings. Instead of meeting in your office, head outside (or for the hallways if weather is bad).

Park at the farthest corner of your work parking lot. I found the difference between the furthest spot and my usual spot was approximately 600 steps into the building (measured by a pedometer). That gives me about an extra 1.5 miles per week!

What else can you do to move at work? We want to know! Email us at WellnessEvents@hfhs.org

Posted by Megan Carnaghi, Program Assistant, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Henry Ford Health System.  Megan can be reached at MCARNAG2@hfhs.org.

There are several worksite strategies that Michigan businesses can implement without having to invest a great deal of money or time:

• Assess your worksite using the Designing Healthy Environments at Work assessment tool (www.mihealthtools.org/work), and develop an action plan based on the assessment feedback report.
• Use the resources available on the Michigan Health & Wellness 4 x 4 website (http://www.michigan.gov/healthymichigan), including the development of worksite environments that encourage and support healthy eating, physical activity and the adoption of the 4 x 4 Plan. Additional worksite resources are available on the Michigan Department of Community Health’s website at www.michigan.gov/cvh under “Healthy Businesses.”
• Access the Our Partner Resource page for employers to download tools to promote the 4 x 4’s “MI Healthier Tomorrow” campaign at work.
• Support breastfeeding in the workplace by establishing policies and providing appropriate space and break time for breastfeeding.
• Promote a workplace healthy food policy that supports nutritious foods in the company cafeteria, vending machines and work functions. Some examples include developing recommendations for healthy food and beverages offered at employers’ meetings and parties, offering competitively-priced food and beverages that are aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and working with suppliers to include specified percentages of healthy food in recommended portion sizes in vending machines and cafeterias.
• Provide opportunities for employees to be physically active during the work day, such as promoting stair usage, providing shower facilities, and offering alternative work schedules so employees can increase physical activity during the work day.

The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is helping the governor implement the plan by offering many easy-to-use, no-cost resources for worksites. If you have additional questions please contact Christi Demitz at demitzc@michigan.gov or 517/335-8771.

One hospital client, Dekalb Health, found considerable results in many of these areas.  This 500 employee group implemented a comprehensive wellness program for its predominately female workforce in response to an increasing trend in employee claim activity and expense.

A foundation for the program was an annual HRA and onsite screening, to provide baseline measurements and direction for programming efforts.  An outcomes-based incentive component was incorporated that allowed employees to earn financial credits to apply toward their monthly premiums based on their health status and biometric data.  Targeted behavior change and support were provided through onsite educational and fitness programs.

The client has exceeded a 90% employee participation rate in HRAs since 2005.  There has been a measurable, sustained reduction in blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, blood glucose, and body mass index measurements.  Additionally, medical claims cost have been reduced by 8.8%, in spite of a 16% increase in the number of covered employees.

One of the keys to participation success is making sure you are engaging employees and not just from a financial standpoint.  The fundamental problem with most wellness programs is that they frequently only reach those individuals that would participate anyway – the healthy and relatively active 10 percent of employees who are already making smarter lifestyle choices.  Whether you are improving an existing program or considering implementing a new one, the goal should be to overcome that inherent handicap and design a wellness and coaching program that reaches the more than 50 percent of the population that typically do not care about health or wellness.

To achieve better engagement with employees recognize the importance of understanding the needs of your employees from both a demographic and lifestyle perspective.  A ‘Lifestyle Management’ survey survey can yield important insights, and conducting focus group sessions through a third party can be an effective grassroots method to better understand employee needs, issues and concerns.  This is also a great way to reinforce the message that management has a genuine interest in the employee’s health and welfare.

Based on having assessed your population’s overall ‘Well Readiness’, implement program elements based on that information.  Crafting the right messaging, branding and incentives is critically important.  Build momentum through success stories and ‘teachable moments’.  Lastly, do not forget to track and measure your improvements.  Hold yourself accountable, and determine what has and has not worked by comparing results against initial goals.  Thoughtful analysis can help reveal important information such as how program participation correlates with health outcomes, what are incentive costs, and how does program participation affect the health plan or disease management programs and choices?

Ultimately, one-size does not fit all; you need to determine what kind of program fits your company and meets the needs of your employees.  The bottom line is that consistent, grassroots efforts build and manage effective wellness programs are vitally important; making an effort and taking the time to truly understand what employees want need can make the difference between a successful wellness program and a failure.

About
Mary Jo LeFevre is a Client Executive for Hylant Group.  Hylant, a four consecutive year winner of Best Places to Work in Insurance (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012), was founded in 1935 and is a full-service insurance brokerage with 14 offices in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Florida.  As a member of the Worldwide Broker Network, Hylant offers complete risk management services, employee benefits consultation, loss control, healthcare management and insurance solutions for businesses and individuals.  Hylant is one of the largest privately held brokerage firms in the United States and serves a wide variety of clients locally, nationally, and internationally. For more information, contact Mary Jo LeFevre at Maryjo.LeFevre@Hylant.com or visit hylant.com.

The 2013-2014 Strategic Plan has three key initiatives.  The first is to evolve the MWC into a state wide organization with representative membership and participation.  We have formed a workgroup charged with developing a 3-Year Financial Sustainability Plan.  Our third strategic goal is to develop an initiative aligned with the Govenor’s Michigan Health and Wellness 4×4 Plan.  A work group has been convened, has submitted a funding proposal to the Govenor’s office, and is already at work on developing an initiative aligned with MWC’s Vision and Mission that will undertake one of the Governor’s challenges.