Encouraging Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Wherever People are Working
ONSITE INTERVENTIONS
WORK-FROM-HOME (WFH) INTERVENTIONS
Increase availability of healthy foods and beverages and decrease availability of unhealthy foods and beverages in cafeterias, vending machines and other areas. Encourage selection of healthier foods and beverages through positioning them more promi- nently in cafeterias, vending machines and other areas. Positioning ideas: At eye level or just below eye level, in well-lit areas, next to cash registers, at the front of hot/cold food sections.
Provide employees with resources specific to eating healthy while WFH.
Offer virtual healthy cooking demonstrations . Utilize digital tools that provide healthy eating and nutrition recommendations. ( Excerpted from NEBGH's guide Workplace Weight Management in the New Normal, Sept. 2020 https://online.flippingbook.com/view/380866/) Provide coupons for specific foods or free or subsidized subscriptions for healthy meal deliv- ery services such as Green Chef, Home Chef, HelloFresh, Blue Apron, Daily Harvest, Freshly, Purple Carrot, Sun Basket, etc. Provide gift cards or discounts for healthy restaurants.
Encourage selection of healthier foods and beverages through reduced, subsidized or free pricing in cafeterias, vending machines and other areas.
Use promotional tactics such as pricing specials, offering samples and using attractive names for healthier options. Make healthy food and beverage options more convenient using tactics like express lines for healthy grab & go items, morning pre-orders for healthier lunch items and postings and promotions for healthy food places nearby.
Promote healthy themed days like Meatless Mondays or Fresh Fruit Fridays.
Promote access to healthy meal delivery services or even provide periodic deliveries. Online articles provide pros and cons for these services. Post lists of healthy restaurants and food places in areas where employees live.
Reduce default portion sizes and plate sizes for food and beverages.
Send out tips for measuring and controlling portion sizes.
Provide calorie and nutritional labeling at onsite food and beverage purchase areas. Labels can be plain text or include easy-to-interpret signals about the health of an item, e.g., traffic lights with green for healthiest, yellow for moderately healthy and red for least healthy. Educate food service professionals to ensure they understand, follow and promote healthier choices.
Offer mobile apps that have barcode scanners to scan food for nutritional content.
Send out healthy food recipes; ask employees to share their own favorites.
Offer only healthier options when catering events and meetings.
Send out tips and ideas for healthy snacking. Encourage employees to “bring” and show a healthy Zoom lunch.
Set up kitchen areas so employees can bring healthy lunches to work.
Send out easy-to-prepare lunch ideas for home.
Provide access to clean drinking water.
Remind employees about the importance of drinking water frequently throughout the day.
Provide access to fruits and vegetables through onsite farmers markets, employee gardens and farm-to-institution programs.
Provide lists of farmers markets in different communities. List of farmers markets in the U.S. Support and promote community and home gardens.
Create environmental prompts like signage that encourages healthy food and beverage choices.
Send emails , newsletters , videos and communications that promote healthy eating and showcase the benefit of doing so. Provide employees with resources specific to exercising while WFH. Utilize digital tools that promote physical activity. Offer live or taped virtual fitness classes . Offer generic fitness perks that employees can use as they see fit — reimbursement for at- home gym equipment, running shoes, bikes, fitness trackers, etc. Offer mobile applications for managing stress such as Happify; Sanvello; Calm; Headspace; Stop, Breathe & Think; etc. Offer free or discounted height-adjustable desks or other equipment that can be sent to employees’ homes.
Provide onsite exercise options such as gyms, indoor/outdoor walking trails, workout classes, group fitness activities, sports and physically active games, as well as other amenities. Centrally locate with convenient hours and low financial barriers.
Provide onsite destressing spaces for mindful meditation, resting and games.
Provide active furniture such as standing desks, treadmill desks, bicycle desks and un- der-desk cycles. Offer support for physically active commuting including walking or cycling — lockers and showers, secure places to store bikes, subsidies for leaving cars at home.
Schedule “active WFH commutes” and team breaks .
Make stairwells inviting , e.g., well-lit, visually appealing with art or photography displays.
Coordinate employee-wide step challenges .
Incorporate movement into work days with walking meetings and stretch breaks.
Provide guidance on incorporating movement into workdays with pacing phone calls, Zoom stretch breaks, desk exercises, stair climbing, etc. Facilitate virtual fitness events, clubs, weight management challenges and cooking demon- strations. Publicize employees’ wellness achievements. Send emails , newsletters , videos and communications that promote physical activity and showcase the benefit of it.
Facilitate social connections via fitness events, team-building exercises, games, walking/ running/sports clubs, cooking and exercise groups, lunch and learns.
Create environmental prompts like signage that encourages the use of stairs instead of elevators, encourages people who drive to work to park farther away, etc.
21
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker