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Everybody get moving
We’re all familiar with the health benefits of exercise — such as more energy, lower stress, and a stronger body. Bring these benefits into your workplace to sharpen employees’ minds, build better teamwork, and drive stronger business performance.
People who did not previously make exercise a priority have made exercise a habit. Center Unified School District has employees walking and running in 5K races, training for half marathons, and pushing themselves further than they ever dreamed they could.– Tami J. Beily, Center Unified School District
Take the first step toward a healthier work life
With the Walking for Workforce Health Toolkit you can help reduce the impact of inactivity on your bottom line. There’s no special equipment involved. And it’s easy on your budget. The full interactive toolkit is available for download below.
Identify opportunities for healthy changes
What to do
- Get leadership endorsement.
- Present a business case to your leadership team that focuses on the benefits of exercise and walking.
- Have your leadership demonstrate their commitment to your company’s walking program.
- Ask leaders to host leadership walks.
- Ask leadership to support and implement environmental changes like unlocking stairwells and allowing time for walking breaks.
- Gather baseline organizational data.
- Survey your employees on their interest in a walking program.
- Take a look at your facility to see if it’s set up to make walking easy for employees.
Tools and resources
- Build a case for workforce health shows how to engage leadership with facts and figures.
- Learn about the value of a walking meeting external link.
- Gauge readiness and measure results with our employee interest survey on walking.
- Create your own free surveys with SurveyMonkey external link or Google external link.
- For more ideas, see our employee health interest survey on workforce health.
- Assess the walkability of your workplace with this worksite walkability audit external link.
Introduce the program to your employees
What to do
- Form a wellness committee to manage your program.
- Identify walking ambassadors among leadership, in different departments, and on different campuses to serve as walking program advocates.
- Create your program.
- Decide on a program name.
- Based on your survey results, set goals to support your employees in walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week. For example:
- implement walking meetings
- start a lunchtime walking group
- create a walking challenge
- Set benchmarks to measure your success:
- walking group formation
- number of participants
- time spent walking per week
- Plan your promotional strategy.
- Plan fun activities like:
- program kickoff event
- Walk with a Friend Day
- Walk to Lunch Wednesday
- Take the Stairs Thursday
- Create a communications plan to spread the word.
- Create a calendar of events to solidify your plan.
- Prepare to track progress.
- Give employees tools to track their walking efforts.
Tools and resources
- Wellness Committee Toolkit
- Healthy Meetings Guide
- Get program inspiration with Every Body Walk! external link
- Use this goal-setting worksheet to set your program goals.
- Start walking clubs with help from the American Heart Association Walking Club external link or use this guide to establishing worksite walking clubs external link.
- Walking program promotional materials:
- Check out our monthly health topics.
- Align with national health observance days external link.
- Five tips to communicate workplace wellness external link
- Getting results-based wellness communications right external link
- Monthly walking log
- Daily walking journal external link
- Map My Walk mobile app external link
Roll out your walking program
What to do
- Kick off your program.
- Host a fun event to launch your program, create some buzz, and engage your employees. Some ideas to consider:
- video screenings
- worksite walkathon
- walking program sign-ups and pledges
- Get your employees motivated.
- Post promotional materials.
- Circulate educational material.
- Have leadership send encouraging messages.
- Schedule leadership walks with executive/management sponsors.
- Keep the momentum going.
- Profile walking program participation in your company communications — individuals, walking clubs, and success stories.
- Reward participants for meeting program milestones.
Tools and resources
- Participation pledge form external link
- Enroll in exercise classes external link offered at Kaiser Permanente medical facilities.*
- Walking program promotional materials
- Tips to boost calories burned walking external link
- Get Out and Walk infographic external link
- Tips on how to walk for your health external link
- Advice on how to get moving, keep moving external link
* Not all classes are available at all Kaiser Permanente medical facilities or in all regions. Check your nearest facility for class lists. Select classes are open only to Kaiser Permanente members, but others may be offered to nonmembers for a fee.
Measure your program’s success
What to do
- Evaluate your success.
- Survey participants and capture results.
- Share your results.
- Post program results in company break rooms.
- Send results via email and/or include in your company newsletter.
Tools and resources
- Have employees fill out the “end of program” portion of the employee interest survey on walking.
- Create your own post-program survey with SurveyMonkey external link or Google external link.
- For more ideas, see our employee interest survey on workforce health external link.
Get started with the Walking for Workforce Health Toolkit
Additional Resources
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Copyright informationServices covered under your health plan are provided and/or arranged by Kaiser Permanente health plans: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., in Northern and Southern California and Hawaii • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc., Nine Piedmont Center, 3495 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, 404-364-7000 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., 2101 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, 500 NE Multnomah St., Suite 100, Portland, OR 97232 • Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington or Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington Options, Inc., 320 Westlake Ave. N, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98109 • Self-insured plans are administered by Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company, One Kaiser Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612
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