or crunched for time. With something so
simple and basic, employees are able to expe-
rience how one little change can have a sig-
nificant impact on their overall health and
wellness. Once they have a positive experi-
ence, employees are more apt to take part in
the next challenge or awareness initiative.
Toto also advises organizational well-
ness programs focus on incorporating well-
ness in the workplace, specifically, and not
just at home. For many people, it can be an
overwhelming task to implement a before or
after work exercise routine, while balancing
their family’s busy schedule, or to implement
new cooking strategies in a home filled with
picky eaters.
However, taking advantage of the time
people are clocked in at work, and focusing
on improving their workplace behaviors is
a perfect opportunity to expose employees
to easy and practical health-wise tips and
strategies. For example, this past year, Dry
Creek JESD’s wellness team decided to sim-
ply offer a sampling of healthy snack options
in each staff lunch room.
The team paired up with a local fruit
vendor and provided each school site and
district office break rooms with a variety
of both easily recognizable fruit, such as
mandarin oranges and bananas, as well
as non-traditional fruit, including Asian
pears and pluots.
The goal was two-fold. The first was to
encourage employees to replace less healthy
snack favorites, like chips for example, for
a healthier grab and go option like fruit.
The secondary goal was to expose them
to healthy food sources they may not have
purchased and tried on their own. By liter-
ally bringing it into the workplace, all staff
members had an opportunity to participate.
Another simple way to bring wellness into
the workplace is by encouraging employees
to incorporate more walking into their day.
Dry Creek administrators were encouraged
to replace traditional meetings with walk-
ing meetings when possible. Each school
site also has a walking path identified, where
teachers and traditional staff alike can walk
as a stress reliever, stretch their muscles, or
just to get up and move.
So many people at work sit upward of
eight-hours a day. A New York Times ar-
ticle (https://goo.gl/ibGzvJ), focusing on
the movement research of Dr. James Levine
showed that simply walking around the of-
fice for two minutes three times an hour was
more beneficial in reversing the devastating
health effects of a sedentary lifestyle than
spending an hour at the gym after work.
Encourage employees to take a few min-
utes each hour for self-care. Implementing
something as simple as a quick walk can
have powerful and measurable effects on
a person's physical and mental state. The
cherry on top is employers will also reap the
rewards of having refocused, healthier, less
stressed employees.
Even though many of Dry Creek JESD’s
wellness program initiatives involve very
easy and practical ways to participate, Toto
said her team “knows that some people
need added encouragement and incentives
to say ‘yes.’”
In an effort to reach all employees, sup-
portive teams are built and her team checks
in on team leaders frequently, gauging how
things are going. If additional steps need to
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