Bosses Push Staff to Eat Right, Exercise

Kathy Blaszczyk, left, sits with coworkers, from second left, John Carideo, Steve Araujo, Matthew Simmons after finishing lunch in the cafeteria of The Hartford insurance company's Simsbury campus on Friday, Nov., 3, 2006. While some companies are responding to higher healthcare costs by cutting employees' coverage and shifting more costs to the employees, others are doing everything they can to convince employees to adopt healthier habits. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham) (Fred Beckham - AP)

Besides cost cutting, another factor behind the programs is the amount of time employees spend at work.

If workers don't have access to fruits and vegetables on the job, they will need to consume between one and two servings every waking hour after work to meet the goal of eating 5 to 9 servings a day, according to the California Department of Human Services. To reach the recommended 10,000 steps a day, sedentary workers would have to spend most of their evenings in motion, the department said.

Even a little daily exercise can boost health, said Dr. Antronette (Toni) Yancey, associate professor at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Yancey collaborated with the Ministry of Health in Mexico, where everyone gathers at 11 a.m. each morning for 10 minutes of exercise to music. The result, after a year, was an average .45 pound weight loss _ an improvement from the one pound a year, on average, people gain as they age.

"Especially as it relates to physical activity, people have demonstrated that they're not going to make a lot of changes on their own," Dr. Yancey said. "If we're going to make a big dent _ lower healthcare costs, improve productivity and morale _ you have to make it easier to do than not do."

Yancey and others say that work gyms are used primarily by people who would exercise anyway. For everyone else, a little manipulation goes a long way. Her suggestions include incorporating exercise breaks in to the work day, restricting parking close to the building, limiting elevator access to people with disabilities, widening and brightening stairwells and hosting walking meetings. (People seldom refer to the notes they take during seated meetings, she says.)

Price manipulation worked for senior business analyst Kathy Blaszczyk at The Hartford, who started buying a flank steak salad with grilled corn when the price dropped from $6 to $4.70.

"I love it, but I never used to get it," she said. "I have in my head a $5 threshold."

Having the company's top leaders embrace the program also helps.

Dan T. Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, Inc. restaurants and a runner, has cajoled 265 company employees to run the January Walt Disney World marathon or half-marathon with him. Most of the runners joining him "have never done anything like that distance-wise," Cathy said of his group. "There's a lot of first timers."

Cathy said he's motivated by his religious belief that the body is a temple and a more practical thought.

"We live in a time when there really is a healthcare crisis," said Cathy. "Every segment of society needs to make a contribution."

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Ellen Simon is a national business beat reporter for The Associated Press, covering labor and workplace issues. Write to her at esimon(at)ap.org.