When you pick up an issue of BusinessWeek magazine you expect to see news about the latest twists and turns in the stock market, maybe even some good old fashioned corporate corruption. But the cover of the February 26th edition grabbed my attention when I realised it focussed squarely on workplace wellness (just one of my many obsessions).

Scotts Miracle-Gro of Marysville Ohio is, by this account, a great example of a company that has gotten workplace-wellness programs right. Get Healthy-Or Else describes the efforts made by this lawncare company to not only get its employees to eat and live well but also makes them accountable for their actions. During the middle of last year I asked if Wellness should determine health benefits and I was heartened to see many similarities between what I wished for and what is already being done at Scotts.

Getting employees involved

Just like household budgeting which works best when the kids are involved in the whole money-in money-out equation, Scotts’ wellness program began with CEO Jim Hagedorn’s honest and straight-forward approach with his employees.

Hagedorn wanted employees to know what he was up against. Using a PowerPoint presentation, he showed that his annual health-care bill had soared 42% since 1999, to $20 million, which amounted to 20% of the company’s net profits in 2003.

Getting employees policed

Enforcing workplace programs especially related to such personal matters as smoking and eating is always a tricky issue, but Hagedorn, a former F-16 pilot was not one to be discouraged. Hiring a third-party firm to prevent managers from discriminating against subordinates, he managed to institute a smoking ban with the understanding that “If people understand the facts and still choose to smoke, it’s suicidal,” he says. “And we can’t encourage suicidal behavior.”

A little extreme? Sure, but then so is the problem.

Getting employees the resources

Well, talk about fitness is cheap, but Hagedorn puts his money where his health is:

During one of Hagedorn’s straight-talk sessions, workers told him a company gym would make wellness easier to swallow. “Done,” Hagedorn said. But his vision went far beyond installing some StairMasters and throwing up health pointers on the Scotts intranet. Hagedorn built a soup-to-nuts medical and fitness center across the street from headquarters. Operated by Whole Health, the 24,000-square-foot facility cost $5 million and can meet pretty much any health-related need an employee might have, including a drive-thru for free prescription drugs.

When employers don’t stop at just making recommendations, but go that extra step to actually provide a convenient, usable service, everyone benefits.

Get employees accountable

Of course, you can provide the world of benefits to employees, but that benefit is only going to be as good as its usage. This is why:

Scotts employees are now urged to take exhaustive health-risk assessments. Those who balk pay $40 a month more in premiums. Using data-mining software, Whole Health analysts scour the physical, mental, and family health histories of nearly every employee and cross-reference that information with insurance-claims data. Health coaches identify which employees are at moderate to high risk. All of them are assigned a health coach who draws up an action plan. Those who don’t comply pay $67 a month on top of the $40. “We tried carrots,” says Benefits Chief Pam Kuryla. “Carrots didn’t work.”

As I have said many times before, insurance companies work like that - the safest, most responsible people pay the least. It’s time health insurance followed suit. Complacence that one’s individual habits don’t matter because someone else is paying for health insurance is the root of irresponsible eating behaviour. It’s time people (especially at the workplace) realise that their habits don’t affect just themselves but others too. “Why should you care whether other people are healthy or not?” - well you can stop wondering now.

Getting employees motivated (and rewarded!)
Often Hagedorn will walk around motivating people and making sure people are on the right track. And with rewards aplenty for good behaviour general wellness at Scotts is only going one way - up:

The nudging begets peer pressure. Gym rats earn special pins they display on ID badge lanyards; these have become a coveted status object. Competition for trips to Hawaii, free massages and facials, and other cash and prizes is fierce. One group of employees started having lunch together every day to keep each other from peeling out of the parking lot for a smoke. Doughnuts have disappeared. “The message is: If you’re not trying to do something to make yourself better, then you’re going to pay more,”.

Getting employees results

The best part of any program is seeing the results right before your eyes and employees of Scotts are luck to be able to do so:

So far, the company says, more than 70% of headquarters staff belongs to the fitness center. The smoking-cessation program has already had a 30% success rate. The wellness program, which costs $4 million a year to run, is a financial drain. But the company expects it to pay for itself in three to four years.

The Challenges From Tough Decisions

The guy on the cover? He is Scott Rodrigues who was fired on his 30th birthday because he didn’t stop smoking … and promptly filed a discriminatory lawsuit against the company. While Scotts Miracle-Gro agrees it’s a difficult decision it believes it can get the case dismissed.

Path-breaking policies are never easy to implement - but kudos to Jim Hagedorn for making the effort, sticking to his values and making a real difference to his employees. Do read the complete article which also links to a tips page on How to Launch a Wellness Program.

How does your company rate at motivating its employees to lead a healthier life? Do you have any tips for making it easier to implement similar policies at work? Do let other readers know by commenting!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, exercise, workplace wellness

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Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

“Don’t be tricked by low-fat labels” chastises an important article from MSNBC which explains the often ignored reality: low-fat is not really low-calories.

Often the fat-free version is not much lower in calories than the regular version. For example, each low-fat Oreo cookie has 50 calories. The regular version has just over three calories more. [..] Where low-fat granola is indeed lower in fat, it is only about 12 percent lower in calories. It does not take a lot of mindless munching to scarf down an extra 12 percent of granola, especially while thinking you are doing your body good.

The key issue here is that a low-fat label sometimes gives us the excuse we need to eat more of the food thinking it’s doing us good when in reality there might not be a lot of difference in the total calories consumed. Yes, it has been and will always be all about the calories: It’s the total calories that count.

The article concludes with: “Few low-fat snacks are nearly as tasty as their regular version. So rather than overeating something you don’t even really like, enjoy the regular version — but only half as much of it.” Sage advice - and the taste thing is something I alluded to sometime back when I evaluated the suddenly popular 100-calories packs!

Here are the week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. Don’t be tricked by low-fat labels: Using only two words “low fat”, I bet I could get you to overeat a snack you don’t even really like.
2. Madison, Wis., is No. 1 for walking: Prevention magazine named Madison - 1,300 miles north of sunny Miami - as the most walkable of the country’s 100 most populated cities.
3. Man bedridden by obesity leaves home: A man who once weighed well over a half ton left his house for the first time in five years Wednesday
4. Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Boost Brain: Omega-3 fatty acids — found in foods including walnuts, flax, and fatty fish such as salmon and sardines — may boost brain areas that govern mood.
5. The Benefits of Yogurt: Have you noticed that the yogurt section of most grocery stores has practically taken over the dairy aisle?
6. Obese mothers-to-be ‘burden NHS’: Obese mothers-to-be need significantly more NHS care than pregnant women of a healthy weight, a study says.
7. Baby Boomers in Bad Shape: Baby boomers appear to be heading for retirement in worse shape than their elders born in the years before World War II.
8. Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They’re Healthy: For Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, it’s a marketing opportunity. In coming months, both companies will introduce new carbonated drinks that are fortified with vitamins and minerals.
9. Trans Fat Fight Claims Butter as a Victim: Some researchers believe that the trans fat that occurs naturally in butter, meat, milk and cheese might actually be healthy.
10. Congress Weighs School Junk Food Laws: Congress could move this year to restrict junk food sales in public schools as lawmakers search for ways to make a dent in the nation’s obesity problem.
11. Obese Couples Risk Lower Fertility: A couple trying to conceive may face an extra challenge when both the man and the woman are overweight or obese, new research suggests.
12. ‘Personal’ health websites sought: People searching online for health advice often reject sites giving high quality information in favour of those with a human touch, a study suggests.
13. Atkins diet tops other popular weight-loss plans, study finds: The low-carb, high-fat Atkins diet gets higher marks in one of the biggest, longest head-to-head studies of popular weight-loss plans, beating the Zone, the Ornish diet and even U.S. guidelines.
14. Sally Squires - District May Add Data to the Menu: If you’re wondering how you can eat out without overloading on calories, a bill slated to be introduced in the D.C. Council today could soon help.
15. Eating Out Choices: If last week’s news that some restaurant fare can have more than a day’s worth of calories and fat has left you with indigestion about what to order, find some relief in today’s Lean Plate Club.
16. Fiery Pepper Fatal for Fat Cells?: Capsaicin, the fiery compound in hot red peppers, may make fledging fat cells self-destruct, Taiwanese scientists report.
17. How Accurate Is Body Mass Index, or BMI?: BMI does not take into account age, gender, or muscle mass. Nor does it distinguish between lean body mass and fat mass.
18. Fitness that functions like you do: The idea is simply to help an individual function better outside of the gym.
19. How Eating Less Might Make You Live Longer: A calorie-restricted diet provides all the nutrients necessary for a healthy life but minimizes the energy (calories) supplied in the diet.
20. Obesity surgery triples among U.S. teens: The number of U.S. children having obesity surgery has tripled in recent years, surging at a pace that could mean more than 1,000 such operations this year, new research suggests.
21. Study: Orange tomatoes healthier than red: Researchers said they’ve found that lighter-skinned tangerine tomatoes contain lycopene that is more easily absorbed than the kind in red varieties.
22. Latin American hearts suffer from obesity, stress - CNN.com: Abdominal obesity is a bigger heart attack risk factor in Latin America than elsewhere, partly because of surging consumption of junk foods loaded with sugar and fat, researchers reported Monday.
23. Childhood obesity can trigger early puberty: Childhood obesity in the United States appears to be causing girls to reach puberty at an earlier age, for reasons that are not clear, a study said on Monday.
24. Timing is everything: When to hit the gym: Personal trainers and experts on exercise say the effectiveness of your gym time depends partly on your body rhythms as well as what exactly you’re trying to get out of it

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Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us

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