Imagine working in this context: banking company headquartered in the North East of the US, shortly after a few layoffs, culture is more defensive than friendly.
A few years ago, I worked with such a company. I was called in by their wellness committee to increase engagement. I listened to the long list of challenges the wellness team had to share: low budget, low enthusiasm, low support from management and so, yes, low participation.
A member of that committee shared with me that, of those who do take advantage of the wellness programming, most do it “under cover”. For example, participants leave their coats at their desks even in the dead of winter so their co-workers don’t realize they left for a workout – or even for lunch. Participants would also mark meetings in their agendas with a workout buddy not to safeguard the time slot, but so their peers or bosses who could access their calendar wouldn’t notice they were using the corporate gym facility.
The reason for such jumping through hoops was that those who took breaks or used the corporate gym facility were seen as slackers who had nothing better to do. When the economy is still shaky and the threat of layoffs is not completely out of the question, no one wants to be in that position.
In a culture like this, even if you had the best wellness offer on the planet led by Bob Greene himself (Oprah’s personal trainer), wellness initiatives will fail.
Health Promotion Starts with a Wellness Culture
So let’s get back to the drawing board, and start by building a corporate culture that is supportive of wellness. Here are four free ideas you can implement today to get things going:
- Find some high performing opinion leaders (and hopefully some of them are hierarchical leaders too) who have the guts to sweat unashamedly during a work break, like this group of SAS executives (SAS being the software giant, not Smarts and Stamina). Arrange for them to simultaneously start making their workouts more visible, and be more vocal about how it helps them enjoy a more productive the rest of the day. Maybe you can even give them a sign to display at their desk that says “Brain recharging in process – see you after my workout.” Since these people have already earned the respect of their colleagues thanks to their high performance, no one will dare calling them slackers. In fact, the opposite is likely to happen: “If Dave does it, I’d better do it too!”
- Ask HR to recommend that everyone schedule a formal lunch break in their agendas, even if only for 20 minutes. Their memo can explain that time to recharge, or strategic renewal, is a clear factor influencing afternoon creativity and productivity. They could even send around Tony Schwartz’s popular article from the NY Times, Relax! You’ll Be More Productive. Working through lunch is one of the bad habits highlighted a recent Stress at Work article. Your HR staff is probably well aware of all the negative consequences of excessive work-related stress, well captured in this Huffington Post infographic. There’s a good chance they will be on board with your request, a good first step in establishing that wellness is encouraged, supported, and even expected in your workplace culture.
- Start a competition for the best ideas for injecting more movement into the work day, as we describe in the Exercise on Company Time chapter in the Smarts and Stamina book. We talked about standing up when you answer the phone and walking to distant bathrooms rather than using the closest one. What else might your people think up?
We’ve said it before: Balance is not the excuse of the weak; it’s the secret of the strong. Want to pick our brains about how to bring culture change about, considering the specific challenges at your place of work? Contact us, we’ll be happy to hear from you.