Health and Fitness Goals
As Global Employee Health and Fitness Month draws to a close, you may be wondering how you can support your employees and keep up the health and fitness momentum. In addition to your holistic wellness program, health and fitness challenges, and organizational encouragement, employee education is key. Employees need to understand how to build and maintain the healthy habits you’ve been focusing on this month.
Whether it is lunch-and-learns, webinars, handouts, etc., educating your employees on “The Four Pillars” and additional well-being topics can help them achieve their health and fitness goals.
“The Four Pillars”
Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential and thought-provoking observers of happiness and human nature. She is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, has an award winning podcast, and is the creator of the app, “Better,” all of which are focused on the topics of happiness and health. She also created and popularized “The Four Pillars.”
“The Four Pillars” include Foundation, Monitoring, Accountability, and Scheduling, which are essential to creating and maintaining any healthy habit.
Foundation: A healthy foundation refers to healthy habits that help strengthen feelings of self-control, such as sleep, activity level, nutrition, and personal space. Habits that affect the foundation should be focused on first. It is also important to note that each of these areas are connected. If employees feel overwhelmed, encourage them to focus on just one area and they will see improvements in all them.
Monitoring: Monitoring one’s habits and progress has tremendous power. For example, apps like MyFitnessPal and wearables like the Fitbit help build healthy habits by providing a way to easily monitor daily activities. If you don’t already, consider providing access to and utilizing this kind of technology in your company wellness program.
Scheduling: Scheduling is another powerful tool to help employees build healthy habits. Marking tasks off a To-Do List makes you feel more accomplished and productive, which encourages you to continue the cycle. There are a number of ways you can encourage employees to schedule in time for their healthy habits by providing company employees planners, offering flexible work schedules, providing access to onsite or virtual workout classes, leading by example and scheduling time for your own healthy habits, etc.!
Accountability: It is important to understand that accountability works different for everyone and different personality types respond differently to expectations. Encourage employees to find what works for them, whether it is an accountability buddy, talking over their goals with friends, family members or peers, joining a support group, etc.
For more information on “The Four Pillars”, click here. To learn about additional resources, both on-site and virtual, that will also help your employees achieve their health and fitness goals, contact us!
