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Healthy Lifestyle Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to support a culture of workplace health and provide you with a foundation for your organization’s employee well-being program. Whether you’re looking to help your employees make healthy choices around the holidays or ensure they’re thriving year-round, this no-cost program can help you encourage lasting lifestyle changes. Reduce stress, build healthier habits that continue at home, and potentially lower the cost of care by taking advantage of our healthy lifestyle resources.

Step 1

Get practical tips and tools to help you empower your employees to take control of their nutrition, fitness, and mindset.​
Go to resources

Step 2

Download this communications plan to help you implement the toolkit at your business.​
Download the guide

Why a healthy lifestyle matters

Our health is influenced by a variety of factors, including dietary choices, our response to stress, and access to affordable housing and healthy food.

Weight is just one indicator of health — and people who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for a variety of serious health conditions, including heart disease and stroke, cancer, sleep apnea, musculoskeletal pain, mental health disorders, and diabetes.1 But other behavioral patterns, like physical inactivity and heavy alcohol consumption, can also influence diabetes and heart disease risk.2

Workers with diabetes miss an average of 6 more workdays per year than workers without diabetes.6

More than 1 in 3 adults have prediabetes, and about 1 in 7 adults have diabetes, making it one of the most common workforce health issues facing businesses.3,4

Those who are sedentary for at least 10 hours a day have a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease.5

The annual cost of obesity

The health risks associated with body mass index (BMI) vary according to body shape, ethnic group, and age. And BMI doesn’t directly assess body fat, or account for muscle or bone density. But it can be used in combination with other health risk factors for overweight and obesity.7

Health care costs for obese workers are 67% higher than for employees without obesity.10

Employers incur

$4,257per year in additional direct medical costs for each employee who is overweight or obese.8

Each 1-point decrease in BMI annually saves

$367for employees with hypertension

$752in health care expenses for employees with diabetes9

It doesn’t matter where healthy habits start

Any encouragement you give your employees can have a positive impact on their lifestyle choices at home. Try thinking up creative ways to fit in a few minutes of movement or empower healthier decisions where possible.

Consider turning that check-in with your direct report into a 15-minute walk. Or adding 5 minutes of stretching or meditation to your virtual team meeting. You can also promote smarter snacking choices and incentivize healthy holiday habits.

Resources to guide your well-being program

This toolkit contains a variety of resources to help you launch an employee well-being program and communicate with your team about health-related activities. Before jumping in, here are a few options to help you gauge where your employees may want to begin their journey, and templates to make it easier to get started.

Worksite health survey: How healthy is your workplace?

Fill out before and after launching your employee wellness program.

Download . external link

Employee health interest survey

Distribute to your employees to find out which health issues matter most to them.

Download . external link

Starting a workforce wellness program

Download our toolkit for information on program benefits, getting leadership support, and more.

Download . external link

Resources only for employees enrolled in a Kaiser Permanente plan*

Total Health Assessment . external link

Invite your employees to answer this series of questions, and we’ll provide guidance on small behavior changes they can meet to reach their health goals.

Wellness Coaching by Phone . external link

Work with a wellness coach and set goals around quitting tobacco, managing your weight, getting active, reducing stress, or eating healthy.

Health Class Directory . external link

Sign up for classes or programs designed to help you achieve your health-related goals, like weight or management or diabetes classes. Options vary by region.

Fitness Deals . external link

Take advantage of reduced rates on studios, gyms, fitness gear, and online classes.

Measuring your team’s success

Once you’ve engaged your employees in a well-being program, ask them to re-take their health assessment. Or create your own survey to measure your efforts. Celebrate your successes and use what you’ve learned to build a sustainable culture of wellbeing — and support the health of your employees and business.

Current Kaiser Permanente customers: Reach out to your account manager or Workforce Health partner if you’d like additional guidance.

Activation Guide

Use these templates to communicate with your employees as you launch your workforce well-being program and continue to support healthy lifestyle choices at work and home.

Download the activation guide