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Lee E. Meadows, PhD.
Professor of Management –
Authored: Silent Conspiracy &
Silent Suspicion
Encouraging employees to be fit pays dividends
At a recent roundtable discussion, a group of middle and
upper level managers were asked a series of questions about the state of
employee conduct in the 21st century work environment. Naturally
there were the usual gripes about 'company loyalty', 'the eroding work ethic',
'the litigious mindset', 'the downside of business casual' and a list of
issues. However, since we take an action approach to resolving issues, I asked
the group, 'What is the one issue you'd love to fix right because the obvious
long term effect is obvious to you now?' Without hesitation, one manager chimed
in and said, "I'd like to see our employees really take an interest in
becoming physically healthier."
His comment triggered a hailstorm of experiences,
observations and genuine frustration from the group about the loss
productivity, missed deadlines and blown customer relationships that are
directly attributed to employees being unable to perform their duties because
they were physically unhealthy, and by definition unavailable and/or unable to
work. They were real clear in making the distinction between a physical
disability and physically unhealthy. As one manager pointed out, "I mean
those individuals who are unhealthy as a result of preventable illnesses."
Now, it is very obvious that there is a concerted effort
being made to respond to some of the research documenting our unhealthy
lifestyles. If I had a nickel for every fad diet that hasn't made a dime's
worth of difference since the 1980's, I'd own a chain of alternative health
spas somewhere in the Sun Belt. Health agencies, academicians, practitioners
and the national media have consistently alerted us to the growing obesity
issue, stress has been institutionalized as a work related illness and instant
behavioral steadiness is no farther than the corner drug store.
Somewhere in those health trends and counter trends, there
was a lost focus on staying healthy for the sake of staying healthy. Since
working adults spend the majority of their adult lives in their place of work,
it makes since for that to be the place where our physically unhealthy choices
would manifest. You should hear the number of complaints by employees watching
their colleagues reap the benefits of the unstated, but agreed upon extra time
allotted for the outside 'cigarette break'. How about the observations of the
early evening maintenance staff members who've noticed the increasing number of
take out boxes and disposable food containers lining the walls of the waste
baskets of your cubed work area.
I should have invested money in the vending machine business
before it became the most sought after alternative to bringing a lunch to work.
The issue may be a little more complicated than to 'Just Say No' to that second
bag of cheese fritters, but the impact in the workplace can't help but have a
long term impact on society and the health care system. So, we explored some
creative and actionable ways to slowly counter act our unhealthy workplace
choices.
- Schedule a 'Standing' lunch
with a group of colleagues: This is more than just a
scheduled item, but an actual standing-up-as-opposed-to-sitting-down
lunch. Most of us spend the majority of our work time sitting hog tied to
the cube, so rather than sit there and inhale your lunch in between phone
conferences, go stand by a window or meet someplace that forces you to
stand up. None of us in the room where medical doctors but practical
reasoning would suggest that the unrestricted flow of blood from top to
bottom would be worth the stand up time.
- Walk a mile for those Shoes: Rather
than rewarding yourself for just showing up to work, attach an incentive
to the act of staying healthy at work. Walking a mile takes a shorter
amount of time than we care to admit. What if a personal reward purchase
of, say Shoes, was used as incentive to get you to walk a little more and
sit a little less, there's no doubt you'd notice a big difference in how
you physically feel.
- Take advantage of the
'Wellness' benefit: It is very common for organizations to have
fitness/wellness centers on site and like tuition reimbursement; they are
underutilized as an earned benefit of employment. So, rather than burn off
that energy running to the parking ramp at the end of the work day to try
and beat the commuter traffic, stay an extra forty-five minutes and reap
the full benefit of a corporate sponsored activity.
- Informal team exercise
activities: Several years ago, I had the good fortune of
playing basketball three times a week, during the lunch hour, with a group
of 40 and flabless rejects from the intramural basketball league. The
rules were simple, we didn't keep score, if somebody fell, the game
stopped and we played for an hour. Whoever showed up to play, got to play.
It was the best workout I had in years.
Having recently attended the funeral of a college buddy, I'
left to wonder if I should have been a little more forceful over the years in
suggesting that he give up the unhealthy habit that directly lead to his death.
During his last few months when we reminisced about being at Michigan State and
how our lives were interwoven because of that experience, I asked him 'how
could I have been a better friend to him?' He replied, "Maybe you could
have challenged me a little more about the bad habit that put me in this
condition." I said, "Would you have listened?" He said, "P
Those of you who feel stuck in a dead end career will ask
the question, "Why should I focus on becoming healthier just so I can go
to work?" How about becoming healthier just so you can live?