Wellness Forum

Adopt and implement worksite wellness programs that promote physical activity

Develop walking programs and offer incentives to encourage walking throughout the workday.

Provide a work environment that supports and encourages walking in as many creative ways as possible.

Schedule work hours so that any employee who wishes to participate in a walking program may do so. The time for this activity shall be determined by an agreement between the employee and their immediate supervisor so as not to interfere with normal work requirements.

Start a Walking Program:

• Encourage employees to walk to a specific location and log individual miles for prizes.
• Start incentive-based programs to encourage walking (i.e., interoffice challenge between departments or worksite locations)
• Start a lunchtime walking club or offer flexible lunch periods/breaks to encourage individual, group or “buddy” walks.
• Participate in community walks (i.e., Heart, Cancer, March of Dimes). Ask the company to sponsor employee participants or to match employee contributions.
• Develop indoor and outdoor wellness trails that are accessible to employees of all abilities.
• Develop walking maps. Consider measuring the distance in halls and around the building for setting walking goals.
• Repair and maintain sidewalks and paths around the worksite.
• Encourage managers to hold walking meetings when meeting with a small number of employees.
• Offer incentives for distance parking and for employees who walk (or bicycle) to work.
• Designate “sneaker days” to promote walking or “Casual Friday”.

Walking Program Links:

• California 5-A-Day - A guide to establishing a worksite walking club
• American Diabetes Association's Club Ped - Free online walking program, tracks walking progress, offers incentives
• Walking Club Motivational Program - from Arkansas

Encourage employees to exercise thirty minutes per day, for a minimum of three days per week.

Encourage many movement breaks during the day that add up to thirty minutes.

Encourage Physical Activity Breaks:

• During the workday, encourage physical activity breaks such as stretching or walking.
• Offer three 10-minute movement breaks during long meetings and conferences. Move at one’s own pace that is comfortable, and does not cause pain, as long as it warms the muscles and gets the heart pumping.
• Offer incentives to encourage 30 minutes of physical activity daily. For example, those who exercise 30 minutes a day, 20 days/month can be entered in a raffle.

Encourage Stair Use:

• Provide clean, safe, and aesthetically appealing stairwells to encourage stair use by employees.
• Add colorful, motivational signs or murals at stairwells to encourage usage – have an employee contest to design and/or paint.
• Promote a stair climbing competition or an “Avoid the Elevator Campaign.”
• For links to promoting stair usage and more ideas:
  • StairWELL to Better Health
  • Guide to Improving Worksite Stairwells (CA 5-A-Day)