Pop open the infographic on food insecurity and you'll find a distressing picture of how difficult it is to be healthy during tight times---something that's easy to forget when we're coaching employees to make healthier choices. This article from GOOD is just one of many that informed and inspired me in September.
CoHealth announced its first pilot opportunity during our September monthly tweet chat. We invited the community (and their employees) to test Daily Challenge, a soon-to-be-released consumer product from MeYou Health. This offer was the topic of September's most well-read post.
If you're wondering how social health games work and why they're effective, then be sure to sign up for the pilot and read the tweet chat's recap. Trapper Markelz, MeYou Health's head of product, talks us through the serious strategy behind social health games. When you sign up, you'll automatically be invited to our conversation with Trapper on Tuesday, October 25, from 2 pm to 3 pm ET. You'll have a chance to ask your questions about social health games and give feedback on Daily Challenge. Watch your email for details.
Zappos is known for doing things no other company would dream of. That makes their latest move very true to form. They've built an office parcourse. Indoors.
Hollie Delaney, director of human resources at Zappos.com, emailed me this video as proof positive that she'd pulled it off.
Hollie and I started talking about the beauty of an indoor parcourse after I posted about it on my blog. At that time, her idea was only an idea. Then, together with her benefits manager, she developed a few stops. There was a station with a thought book where employees could write down what they're thankful for, a hula hoop station for those willing to give it a whirl, and a laugh station occupied by an employee who's a stand-up comedian. Now there's a full-fledged course routinely used by Zappos employees to bust a move and relieve stress. Those watching get some benefit too. Hollie tells me the "chopping down a tree" station is right by her cubicle and never fails to crack her up.
Travel's light in October. I'm co-facilitating a three-hour social media workshop with Benjamin Miller, Psy.D., at the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association's 2011 Conference in Philadelphia. While there, I'm sneaking in to hear Jeffrey Brenner, M.D., speak about his work to lower medical costs. His innovative, individualized approach was captured in The Hot Spotters, a New Yorker article from Atul Gawande. Then on November 3, I'm co-presenting on health and wellness trends with Bruce Rush, director of total rewards at Taco Bell Corporation, at People Report's 2011 Best Practices Conference in Dallas, TX.
You can be well connected to me and others interested in workplace wellness by joining CoHealth and our monthly tweet chats and discussions on Twitter and LinkedIn. Our next chat continues our September discussion about social tools for improving workplace wellness. This community-led discussion will cover tools, techniques and tips for making wellness social. Join us on Twitter on Wednesday, October 19, between noon and 1 pm ET. Find all the details and recaps from this year's chats on the free-range communication blog.
