The Blackboard
(June 2004)

 “Worksite Wellness:
Creating High-Performance Employees”
By Ron Jones, MS 

I got a great e-mail a few weeks ago from my mentor and friend Ron Valenti over at the Kern High School District.  Valenti is a major health and wellness player in our area. For a few years, Ron has been leading a group of health enthusiast at the KHSD called the “Achy Break” group.  Each morning break they get together for about ten minutes for some quick exercises ranging from strength to stretching.  I went over a couple of years ago for a morning workout and could really feel a pump after just ten minutes working with a towel!  It is great stuff!  A few months ago interest dropped off a bit.  Jennifer Henry from the American Cancer Society volunteered to come out and present their “Active for Life” 10-Week Health Program.  The KHSD health gang went from a handful to 85 participants in just a couple of weeks! They are now using a listing of various healthy activities that have “point values.”  For example, you can give yourself a point for every minute of exercise, every floor you walk instead of taking the elevator, for every pint of water you drink, for eating vegetables, etc.  The challenge of measurement was just the motivation the KHSD to rekindle their interest in the worksite wellness activities.  The “culture” is now changing at the KHSD from one of sedentary and reactive behavior to one of healthy proactive employees taking charge of their own health.  Ron Valenti has more people showing up for the morning Achy Break exercise sessions, and people in general are moving more and eating healthier not only at work—but also at home.  The program is self-monitored for point tabulation.  They have split the KHSD district office into two teams.  The teams are in friendly competition with each other to improve health.  For those of you that think it’s a waste of time and tax payer money for them to exercise and be involved in a wellness program—forget it.  There is significant research proving the positive financial and employee productivity returns from healthy employees and wellness programs.  What is a waste of money is people killing themselves from lack of physical activity and overeating.  Great job KHSD—keep up the healthy work.  A healthy workforce is a strong and productive workforce because they are “High-Performance” employees.

American Cancer Society "Active for Life" Program Information

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