Workplace Health & Wellness

Getting more active is only one half of the equation when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. For GCC 2012, we're pleased to introduce a whole new approach to nutrition. Watch the video below to find out more.

Developed by our team of nutrition experts, GCC Nutrition is all about making small and simple changes that add up to huge health benefits, much alike our scientifically proven approach to physical activity.

Weight tracking, goal setting, nutritional assessments, personalised video messaging and engaging nutritional tips form the foundation of a research-driven approach towards sustainable healthy eating.

We also have comprehensive weekly meal plans available for all 16 weeks of the Challenge. Created by our GCC nutritionists, these meal plans are specific designed to help GCC participants in three key areas: weight management, blood pressure management, and cholesterol management.

You can download the weekly meal plans and corresponding shopping lists below.

People often relate physical activity with structured and strenuous exercise that involves things like a gym routine or a regular 10 km run. These forms of exercise are great, but we know that they take time and planning, and some of us struggle to make the commitment. However, as you can see below, just by consciously moving more, you can add huge amounts of activity into your day without adding any extra time pressure. It’s an important realisation because if fitting structured exercise into your schedule is hard or often disrupted by other commitments, you won't stick with it.

Don't underestimate the power of incidental exercise

Since the first GCC, over 8 years ago, we have learnt a lot about physical activity. And what we are about to tell you may surprise you. 'Working Mums' accumulate higher step counts than ‘Athletes’. Why? Not only do ‘Working Mums’ take more steps over a week, but they also burn more calories per week than ‘Athletes’. How? They consistently have step counts above 10,000 every day. They walk to the shops, run errands during their lunch breaks, take the stairs and simply stay active all day to get everything done – all daily activities that sit in the bottom half of the pyramid. The ‘Athletes’ who go on 2 or 3 x 10km runs per week, have step counts above 12,000 on the days that they partake in structured exercise (their run – which sits in the top half of the pyramid), but only manage to take 3 or 4,000 steps every other day of the week.

If you use the Activity Pyramid as a guide each week, you'll be amazed at just how many steps you accumulate, and just how quickly these everyday activities become second nature.

Dr Eric Teasdale is the Chief Medical Officer – Global Health and Wellbeing for AstraZeneca – a global biopharmaceutical company with over 61,000 employees in over 100 countries worldwide. Would you like to know how they go about implementing their successful global health and wellbeing strategy? Watch and see.

To see the effect the GCC has had on other organisations and employees, see our testimonials.

When you get staff engagement right it doesn't only change the workplace, it changes lives. Check out Robert's story and see the impact his organisation's Health and Wellbeing program had on him.

You can see more stories like Robert's on our Testimonials page.

The Foundation for Chronic Disease Prevention has just released some compelling research on the comparative health effects, both physical and mental, of taking less than 5,000 steps a day and taking more than 10,000 steps a day.

Embed this infographic on your site by copying the following code:

<a href="http://www.gettheworldmoving.com/blog/steps-to-a-healthy-life"><img src="http://static.gettheworldmoving.com/media/sys/downloads/steps-to-a-healthy-life.jpg" alt="Where are you on the steps to a healthy life?" width="600"  border="0" /></a><br />Via: <a href="http://www.gettheworldmoving.com">Global Corporate Challenge</a>

In the GCC 2011 we asked participants to score their health out of 10 points. 1 being extremely poor, all way through to 10 being excellent. This Health Score was asked before starting the 111 day challenge and then again at the completion of the challenge.

Prior to the GCC

• 90% of participants said they wanted to improve their health & wellbeing prior to the start of the GCC.
• 70% said that they did not exercise enough before the challenge.

What were the reasons for not exercising enough?

Finding time, Long working hours and Family Commitments are all time restraints, meaning that 76% of all reasons for not exercising enough are due to being time poor, for whatever reason.

Health Score - Pre GCC

Out of 10, GCC participants rated their health at 6.8 out of 10 on average before starting the challenge.

Health score pre GCC

After completing the GCC

After 111 days, 152 billion steps, and 6 billion calories burnt - we asked participants again to rate their health.

• 89% said the GCC improved their overall health and wellbeing.

Health Score - Post GCC

After the average Pre GCC health score of 6.8, once completing the GCC participants rated their health score at 7.59 - a 12% improve in health.

Health score pre GCC

Health score post GCC

Key highlights:

• On average, GCC participants rated their health 12% better once completing the GCC
• 'Poor' health score (1-4) reduced 5.3% once completing the GCC
• 'Good' health score (8-10) increased 23.6% once completing the GCC
• 90% of participants said they wanted to improve their health and wellbeing, 89% said that the GCC improved their overall health and wellbeing

These results show that throughout the GCC participants used incremental exercise over the 111 days of the challenge to improve their health, despite the time pressures and other exercise barriers mentioned above.

If you would like any further information on the results of the record breaking Global Corporate Challenge® 2011, please [get in touch](/contact). We're happy to show you what amazing benefits employees and employers gained from taking part in the GCC 2011.

The Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group’s study of 9.1 million participants in 199 countries over 28 years confirms many of the fears regarding the obesity epidemic. June's Occupational Medicine details some of the key findings in recent studies on the obesity epidemic, including those associated with workplace health and wellbeing:

The increasing prevalence of obesity

• Globally, mean Body Mass Index (BMI) has increased since 1980
• Across the three decades, age-standardised obesity rates doubled
• An estimated 1.46 billion people were overweight by 2008 (BMI equal to or over 25kg/m2)

The world’s overweight nations

• The greatest rates of weight increase among men were from the UK, the USA and Australia
• The greatest rates of weight increase among women were from the USA, New Zealand and Australia

Mortality

Obesity increases the prevalence and severity Cardiovascular risk factors, including:

• Type II diabetes
• Elevated non-HDL cholesterol
• Reduced HDL cholesterol
• Both systolic and diastolic hypertension
• Certain types of cancers, including colon, oesophagus, liver, gall, pancreas and more

Financial concerns

• Obesity related health care costs are proposed to be higher than those attributed to smoking, drinking and poverty in the USA
• As employee BMI increases, so does the associated health care costs.
  Males with BMI classification ‘overweight’ +$148.
  Males with BMI of class III obesity [BMI 40+] +$1269
  Females with BMI classification ‘overweight’ +$529.
  Females with BMI of class III obesity +$2395
• Total healthcare costs are going to rise steadily with the global rise of obesity

The financial concerns extend beyond the US healthcare system as some analyses suggest that the cost of obesity-related presenteeism is greater than the direct medical care required by obese employees.

Adverse work health effects

Obesity contributes to:

- Increased absenteeism (more days out of work)
• Increased presenteeism (reduced productivity while at work)
• More sick days, longer sick leave
• Increased compensation claims

One compensation study has shown that those with class III obesity make twice as many medical claims and see roughly a 10 fold increase in loss of workdays versus those with recommended BMI.

These findings remind us that the obesity epidemic continues to rise at a significant pace. It is necessary that we not only address obesity in the workplace through wellness interventions, but preventative methods and the correct working conditions are also required. Some bodies of studies suggest that overweight and obesity are related to job stress, shift work and long work hours.

Organisations and occupational professionals face a growing issue – those at most risk of obesity and its effects are statistically the least like to undertake an organisation’s interventions. Many suggest that creativity, fun and excitement lay the path to address the obesity epidemic from within the workplace.

Source: Borak, J. 2011, 'Obesity and the workplace', Occupational Medicine, Vol 61 Issue 4