PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSORS

Application

Published May 2008

American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health

Chris Boyce

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and its sister organization, Shaping America's Health, have an organizational mission to help people live healthier, and they want that sentiment to extend to their employees.

"We wanted to help our employees improve their health styles — the healthy decisions that people make about fitness and nutrition," said Emerson Goodwin, director of communication, marketing and public affairs for Shaping America's Health. "We started off with a healthy snack program, and the feedback was very positive. Then, we looked for a way to address physical activity with a program that would get our employees moving and keep them moving."

The Right Tools for the Job

Studies have shown physically inactive employees cost employers thousands of dollars per year in medical costs and lost productivity, and that amount increases substantially if the employee is obese. Regular physical activity is key to improving employee health, reducing health care costs, increasing productivity and decreasing absenteeism and turnover.

With that in mind, in May 2007, ADA and Shaping America's Health began offering their employees the Virgin HealthMiles program, a health rewards program that helps members improve their health by living more active lives.

"When we learned of the HealthMiles program, we thought, here is a way that each employee can keep track of their activity levels and have an incentive to do even more than they did the day before," Goodwin said. "From our perspective, HealthMiles is a great alignment with our mission to empower individuals to take ownership of their health."

Through the program, ADA and Shaping America's Health employees earn miles for being active, tracking results and improving key body metrics such as blood pressure, body fat and weight. These miles translate to HealthCash that can be redeemed for gift cards at more than 50 national retailers.

"One of ADA's wellness goals is to know your numbers, and we loved that our employees could do this through HealthMiles," said Tonya Stephens, managing director of employment and employee relations at ADA. "Plus, it gives us a way to reward people for being healthy and doing healthy things."

Shaping America's Health and ADA employees can gather metrics or know their numbers through the HealthZone kiosk located in their corporate headquarters. The HealthZone features a scale, body fat indicator, blood pressure cuff and touch screen, and allows employees to easily measure and track their biometric data.

"I live a pretty active lifestyle and was intrigued by the HealthZone, particularly the body fat calculator, since my goal is to lower body fat and build muscle mass," said Sean Petrie, an ADA employee. "I also like being able to track my blood pressure since it is typically a little high. I'm hoping to use the HealthZone to see how my eating and exercise will affect it."

To track activity level, each ADA and Shaping America's Health employee on the program receives a GoZone, a pedometer with a "brain" that enables members to track steps and earn miles.