Is Your Corporate Wellness Program Making You Sick And Fat?

Hey folks, it's Ben Greenfield here. And as you know, corporate wellness is a pretty big issue in terms of the millions of individuals spread across the country and across the world who are working in a corporate environment on a day to day basis and encountering a lot of barriers sometimes when it comes to staying healthy, staying fit, eating right. And I wanted to address that on today's show. On the line with me right now is someone who is in the trenches when it comes to corporate wellness and works as a corporate wellness coach. Her name is Sabrina Little. And Sabrina, thanks for coming on the call today.

Oh, you're welcome. I'm excited.

So kind of before we get into some practical things people can do to stay fit, some things that corporations can do to help their employees stay fit. What is it that you do as a corporate wellness coach? What's your day look like? You know, when you wake up in the morning? What's work for you?

Basically, I get up and, you know, do my workout and then I start calling my clients. So it's. I'm a telephonic wellness coach and I'm paired up with these people and they're people that I have talked to before. And I probably have anywhere from eight to 15 clients a day. And I get on the phone and call them up and we start talking about whatever they want to talk to about their wellness. And every person is different. Every call is completely different. You never really know what you're getting. But the coaching is individual to the person. It's all about them. And we talk about what they feel like is their biggest challenge or what they want to pursue. And that's what I do all day, you know, five days a week. And it's great because you make a difference every time you pick up the phone interrupt.

So do you kind of do that? Like, are you working independently or do corporations like call you and hire you or are you working for like a, like a company or something of that nature?

Okay, so I work for us corporate wellness. And our company pairs up with corporations usually that have over 100 employees. And the corporation signs on with our company for a wellness program. And then we, the coaches get matched with employees. So every employee has the chance to get to have their own personal wellness coach that they stick with for as long as their corporation sticks with the wellness program.

Okay, gotcha. Cool. That's a unique approach, I think it sounds like.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

So you're working with these folks telephonically, not telepathically. I know the big difference between those Two words, I gotta be careful. So when you're talking to these people, and I know there's a lot of these people listening in, employees who are in the workplace day to day basis or what are the barriers, the issues that face folks when it comes to staying fit in a corporate environment?

You know, it's interesting because people, everybody's different, but I feel like the thing that is common among people in the workplace is that they're just stressed and they feel like they have no time. They feel out of balance with the economy. Companies have downsized a lot. A lot of employees are doing jobs that used to be done by two or more people. So they're working a lot harder, they're having less energy for outside pursuits, or they're working more hours because they're working two jobs, so that's stressful. Or they're under financial stress even if they have a job. So it's all about stress for most people and that feeling of being. And you know, as we know, stress causes people to get sick, it causes people to gain weight and they just feel like they don't have a handle on their priorities. So interestingly enough, before people can really address like things like, you know, we think about eating and healthy and exercising, we really have to make sure that the person can get past that feeling of stress and feeling out of balance.

Okay, and how do they do that?

Usually we just talk through what they feel are their biggest issues with their time management or just with, you know, everybody's different, but at the same time everybody feels out of balance. So we just talk about individually what their specific barriers are. And as their coach, it's my job to kind of pull things out of them, point it back to them and say, okay, this is what you're telling me. This is what I think could help. What do you think of that? What do you think would be your next step?

Okay, gotcha. So it sounds like almost, you know, a lot of what you do is kind of, you know, like psychological and motivational as well.

In a way, that's really the big thing. It's not like I'm going to talk to them and say, okay, this is what you do to get healthy. You know, you're like, you eat fruits and veggies, lean proteins and whole grains, and you exercise. That's not really what the calls are about at all. It's really about looking into their lives and figuring out how they can be healthy or what's important to them right now, or what's the single best thing that they can do for themselves. So it really is looking at it individually.

Gotcha. Okay, cool. So let's talk about practical tips. You know, somebody sitting at their desk on a typical work day, how are they going to stay fit? How somebody who is basically, you know, not chained to a desk because nobody's chained to a desk, I hope not in America, I don't think. But you know, some, somebody who really does have to, you know, work a seven to eight hour day sitting at a computer, what are some practical ways that they can stay fit or limber or keep the blood flowing in a situation like that?

You know, honestly, I think as far as, I think it's more beneficial for someone to actually get up from their desk as opposed to remain sitting and trying to do exercises while sitting. I think that if an employee can just schedule regular breaks and get up from the desk and move, whether it's take a walk, do some stairs, or pound out 20 push ups, that's what will make a difference in their wellness and productivity. Because, you know, so many studies show that after activity, your brain works so much better that I believe it's way more beneficial to get up from the chair and do intentional activity or take an intentional break rather than try to work and, you know, do leg lifts at the same time. You know, I think everyone should work intentionally and then take a fitness break or a wellness break intentionally. You know, I was thinking about this. I'm like, if somebody did that like four minutes on the hour, every hour they get their 30 minutes a day in, you know, I mean, that easy. So I really think it's more about people scheduling time to walk away from the desk. And you know, as a corporation, that person is going to be more productive because they're going to clear their head, they're going to recharge and they're going to be thinking better and working better when they sit back down.

Yeah. And there's actually, you know, I'm sure you've probably seen the studies that show that even something as simple as sitting for four hours in a row without getting up carries along with it just as much mortality and increased risk of dying early as having heart disease. So yeah, I think, I think that's a good tip. Okay, so how can corporations enable their employees to do something like that? I mean, obviously you can, you can tell the employee or tell the person who's sitting there at their desk to get up, but how can a corporation enable that? Are there changes that can be made in the workplace to make someone more excited about doing something like that?

Yeah. You know, I really think it's all about the corporate culture we know of different companies and how they think. And employees really need to feel like the company really does believe that physical health and wellness makes for a happier and more productive employee. So companies really do need to implement a comprehensive wellness program for their employees that's clearly communicated and not just say it's a one time deal or go read this poster or go take a walk. The program needs to make a difference and the program needs to really focus on what is good for every employee. Is it getting up to go take a walk or is it allowing people to make healthy choices at lunch? What's the program going to entail? Basically, the corporation has to be clear that they need to say we care about you and we want every individual to just take steps to be their healthiest self. So I just, I don't think that it's like this one small change, like there's little steps. I think it has to be a big kind of corporate wide change and you know, coming up with a program that really shows that they want people to be healthier.

Gotcha.

Cars with why I think our coaching stands out.

What corporations are doing it right. Like who's a good model?

We have one company that's Children's Hospital of Colorado and they take advantage of the wellness coaching and they also take advantage of we can do coach presentations once a month. They've taken advantage of contests that they can do through our website. So they're somebody that has taken a lot of the pieces that we offer and actually use a lot of different pieces. So it really truly is a program. And they take our newsletters and they communicate to us about walking groups. So they really use us in a bunch of different ways to show their employees. Yeah, we're using this company because we really care about your wellness. And it's not just one thing, it's a lot of different things because we want it to work for everybody.

Okay, gotcha. So what about like the nutritional aspect of things again, when we look at this from just a really, really practical standpoint, you've got somebody on the phone, they're whatever, having a hard time eating healthy at work, maybe not eating at all, or eating the wrong type of foods. What are some practical tips for people?

You know, I think everybody's different. And as a wellness coach, it's hard to say what's right for certain people. For most people it's, you know, get them out of the fast food and get them to bring their own Food to lunch, get them to cook more. So that's probably some basic ideas, but everybody is kind of different. For some people, it's just altering their diet. Maybe they just really need to eat more fruits and more veggies. So I think it's hard for me to say what's one good tip? Because when I talk to people all day, I talk to people really about different eating tips all day. You know, as far as what can they do when they're at work? A lot of times I'd say don't go to the cafeteria. You know, if a company wanted to change something with, you know, along that line of healthy eating, I think the greatest thing a company could do would be like, you know, ban high calorie, fatty, high sodium foods from the cafeteria, don't you think?

To ban what?

Ban high calorie, fatty, high sodium foods from the cafeteria. Like, if a company could do that, that'd be awesome. But yeah, I think with every person, a lot of times it just has to come down to bring your food from home and think fruits, veggies, lean proteins, whole grains.

Okay, so as far as, you know, when it comes down to corporations making changes like that in the workplace, is that something that is able to be done? Reinventing a cafeteria or something of that nature? I mean, you're seeing changes like that being made, or are you seeing more changes coming from the employee side of things?

I'm not sure what you mean. What do you mean by coming from.

I mean, you know, to make an effective corporate wellness program, are we talking about inducing changes more in the way that the employees think and act, or in the structure of the workplace itself, the cafeteria, the gym, stuff like that? I mean, is it a situation where if you build it, they will come, or do you have to kind of inspire the employee first or is it a mix?

I really do think it's a mix. I think a company that truly has wellness on their mind will try to have the environment there, the physical environment. They will have a fitness center that would be ideal. They would have a cafeteria offering great, healthy food. But the bottom line is a wellness program that would really work for a company is something that comes to the employee. You don't rely on the employee to go to the fitness center. You don't rely on the employee to make the healthy choice. I think you come up with a program that is really interactive and one that is very individual so that the employees really feel like they are getting a benefit out of a program and that they can use it, but that it's also, the program is kind of coming to them.

Mm. So, you know, I think that's a good point to make because, you know, I've gone into corporations before, especially when I, when I ran a personal training business here locally and I'd train CEOs and we'd go to these posh gyms and they'd just be empty in the corporate environment. And, you know, I think that that's a, it's a really, really good point to think about is that, you know, it doesn't matter how, how much you, whatever, built your corporate workplace up in the mountains, surrounded by trails or, you know, built in a metro area, but put an awesome gym and a great cafeteria. And I, I still think that, you know, the attitude of the employees is really important, which is why I kind of like what, what, you know, that, that you do things like talk on the phone with people and that you're not just like going in and, you know, building a massive gym, but instead. Yeah. Getting inside people's heads and, and motivating them to, to make the change. So that's really cool. I like that model. So to kind of wrap things up here, you know, we talked about, I guess we basically covered what you think the ideal corporate wellness program would look like. I wanted to kind of ask you that question. You know, if you had unlimited resources, what would it look like? But did we skip anything in terms of what you actually think an ideal corporate wellness program would look like? I mean, if you had to kind of summarize.

Yeah, I mean, I basically think it should be definitely a program that changes the corporate culture for the better so the employees know that wellness is a priority. Shouldn't be a one shot deal. Should be something, you know, shouldn't just be like, oh, we're starting wellness today and you're going to come to this presentation today. It should be something that's ongoing so that participation happens throughout the year and stays strong if not getting stronger. It needs to be interactive. So that goes back to. The employee doesn't have to go to the gym or just go to a website. The employee actually interacts with the program like the wellness coaching. And the program really needs to address individuals, the individual employees, not just a group, not these generic options. Oh, an employee can do this if they want to choose to, but it really should address each individual employee. And I think a successful program really does send out surveys or gets monitored on a regular basis too, to make sure that there's employee satisfaction with the program.

Okay, cool. So the company you work for, just to make sure I give them credit, is us Corporate wellness.

Correct.

Okay, cool. I'll put a link to that in the show notes. And I think that about wraps it up. So, Sabrina, thanks for coming on the call today.

Okay, Ben, thank you very much.