We all do it. A donut from the break room here….a mid-morning snack there — it’s tough to continually fend off the treats that hinder our well-intentioned plans to live healthier!
Workplace wellness is a trending topic due to rising healthcare costs and increasingly less healthy employee populations. The cause-and-effect cycle of poor health and rising healthcare costs has caused employers to seek solutions that help pinpoint the overarching “problems” their employees face when it comes to their health.
Snacking Healthy Should Be Easy
Making changes in the workplace is one small way a company can help keep employees healthy and happy. The book, Nudge, by Richard H. Thaler, is centered on improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. The main message is simple, “Make the better option the easiest one.”
On a recent trip to Google, I found they put this idea into practice and have seen real results simply by changing the way people snack. Shocking, right?
At Google, the company places unhealthy snacking options, like M&Ms, in opaque containers and healthier options, like nuts and dried fruit, in clear containers. This simple change caused employees to eat more of the healthy options and lead to employees consuming millions of fewer calories each month.
Making the healthiest option the easiest option is a simple change that can have a significant impact on the health of the entire organization.
Our mission at ACAP Health is to help eradicate preventable diseases in the workplace and lower the associated healthcare costs for employers. We hope you will join us on February 11 as ACAP Health Chief Medical Officer, Tim Church, MD, PhD, MPH, and I talk about engaging your employees in wellness initiatives that really have a measurable impact. To take part, simply RSVP here!
Also, I’m available at any time to talk about the different options employers have when it comes to health and wellness. What does your company do? Are there any special tactics your employer uses to try and achieve a healthy workplace (for example: having fresh fruit or veggies available, adding a fitness room, starting a fun wellness program, etc.)? I’d really love to hear about it and how it works. Do employees take part? If they don’t, why? Let me know. I’m always interested to hear what companies are doing to engage their employees in a healthy lifestyle.
