Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Randy Zarecki,
Fitness Together Personal
Training Studios:
612.378.8898
ftmsp.blogspot.com
www.ftmsp.com
TIME MAGAZINE ran a story a couple of months ago on mandatory fitness programs being implemented at various organizations around the world.
According to the article, 84 percent of Americans said they’d get healthier “if the boss insisted.” So, at a few leading companies, the boss is now insisting: Verizon, Microsoft and Dow Chemical, among others, are offering cash bonuses for losing weight.
The Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) lab at Mayo Clinic developed a computer station atop a treadmill a few years ago to get office workers more active within otherwise sedentary office roles. Office furniture maker Steelcase is manufacturing and marketing it commercially. Salo LLC has a few of them onsite in Minneapolis.
These efforts are in response to an increasingly troubling obesity epidemic that isn’t going to be easy to fix. I personally favor a tax on high-fat content foods, and passionately contend that fitness-related discrimination has long been practiced in hiring and promoting.
The Centers for Disease Control says that almost 60 percent of all adult Americans are either overweight, with body mass index above 25, or obese, with body mass index above 30. With health care costs increasing 15 percent annually, something has to give.
Cash-based incentives for losing weight and office-worker gerbil wheels could be great options for some organizations. I’m here to offer a few more options on how small businesses can get their organizations more fit.
Not unexpectedly, corporate fitness is actually more culture than programming. As with all corporate cultures, it all starts from the top. If your leadership buys in and behaves accordingly, culture is created and nourished.
As a 25-year fitness trainer, I realize my advocacy on this topic shows my bias. But the data is overwhelming in favor of exercise programs. In short, everyone is more productive and more valuable to an organization when they exercise regularly.
Fit people walk more quickly to meetings, can take a flight of stairs to avoid elevator congestion, and spend less time in the restroom. I can even cite research by Robert Cialdini that shows they’re also more likable and make better salespeople.
One of the more frequent excuses we get from clients is that they “don’t have time” to regularly exercise three or four days per week. I believe you cannot afford not to exercise.
So, since the first step is getting the boss moving in the right direction, here are my top five tips for business owners and executives:
Schedule exercise into your calendar, and don’t move it unless there’s a death in the family. Make your exercise appointment the most immutable appointment of the day.
Be accountable to someone. It helps if you have a personal trainer waiting on (and charging) you for the appointment whether you show up or not, but it is also helpful to have a training buddy or partner. You’re much more likely to show up when you know someone is waiting for you.
Establish, write down and publish a very specific health lifestyle goal for the next 3 months. These are things such as exercise for 90 minutes 3 times per week, or walk for 60 minutes 6 days per week, or make every scheduled exercise appointment.
Establish, write down and publish a very specific fitness goal not related to appearance for the next 6 weeks. While the body will certainly undergo composition changes with regular exercise, the initial 6 weeks should focus entirely on strength or endurance measurements: doubling your pushups, or completing 40 sit-ups within one minute, or completing a mile run in under 8 minutes. Don’t worry about the body weight or body fat at all just yet.
Update your corporate values, behaviors and ethics document to include a statement regarding fitness. Here’s an example: Regular exercise is a fundamental and necessary element of heath and happiness, and improves professional productivity.
Here are 10 more things that corporate leadership can do to encourage a better health and fitness culture within their organizations:
Encourage and allow a 10-minute walking break every two hours. Not only will this burn a few calories, but it will also energize and refresh the body and mind.
Stock fresh fruit in your break room and lobby.
Discourage staff from bringing in cookies and candies. They’ll just clog your heart or stick to your rear anyway.
Grant allowances for exercise. Companies won’t hesitate much when a parent dashes off to rescue a child from day care at the end of the day. Neither should they question employees who dash off to keep their exercise appointments.
Install a shower and changing room at your office to encourage bike commuters, and midday runners and walkers.
Make sure bike commuters have a safe, indoor place to store their equipment (bikes, helmets, gear).
Offer cash compensation to employees who commute by bike and save you parking expenses.
Stage regular, monthly health and fitness seminars with key expertise on getting more fit and healthy.
Sponsor a “get fit” month twice annually, complete with awards and recognition for people who most effectively change their lives in positive ways.
Do it now! Having helped thousands of individuals improve their health and fitness over the decades, I can honestly tell you that the hardest part is just getting started.
