For Immediate Release April 1, 2009
OTTAWA: Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that he has chosen Keep Canada Slim (KCS) for his personal weight loss program. Harper said he intends to set the pace for the country by losing 20 pounds.
“Obesity is the Number One health issue facing our country,” said Mr. Harper, “and I believe as leader of the country I should set a good example and lead the way to a healthier future for Canada. Together we can Keep Canada Slim.”
KCS President Lee Fairbanks said he will personally supervise the PM’s weight loss plan. “It is very common for minority party members to gain 20 pounds a year in office, especially a high office such as Prime Minister,” he explained. “This weight gain comes from the stress of being responsible for the country but not having any real control in decision-making. Stress is known to increase abdominal fat, especially in people over 40.”
Fairbanks said the second leading cause of weight gain for politicians comes from eating too many cocktail wieners at political events.
For more information about the KCS program go to www.keepcanadaslim.com.
“I have been charting Mr. Harper’s eating habits for the past month as we put together a personalized program for him, and he consumes three times the normal amount of cocktail wieners, when compared to his predecessors, Prime Ministers Martin and Chrétien.”
Fairbanks said Martin, know for fastidious eating habits, rarely consumed more than 2 cocktail wieners per day, except when campaigning, when he increased his intake to as many as 8. One of Chrétien’s favourite habits was to dip the wieners in poutine sauce.
“The poutine sauce made it very difficult to accurately calculate Mr. Chrétien’s overall fat and calorie intake, but he was able to offset this habit by the fact that he was such a fast talker. Mr. Chrétien burned on average 50% more calories per word than the average PM,” explained Fairbanks.
Fairbanks says Harper’s increasing weight is also a result of his political leaning as a Conservative.
“It’s well known that Conservatives gain more weight in office than Liberals. This started with Trudeau and continued with Chrétien and Martin,” explained Fairbanks. “Liberals by nature tend to jump from one side of an argument to another depending on polls, whereas Conservatives tend to take a stand and stick with it. This jumping around causes Liberals to keep their weight down.”
Fairbanks points to former PM Joe Clark as an example. “Before he became PM he was quite slim, but within months of his appointment he developed a double chin. This was because of his inability to change his position on wage and price controls. Trudeau on the other hand was a master at reversing his position, and remained slim all his life.”
Fairbanks said Mr. Harper’s personalized plan would include limiting cocktail wieners to 2 per day, and encouraging him to change his mind more often.
“People who change their mind more often tend to become emotional in defence of their never-ending new strategies. In Parliament this results in more standing to defend positions and make new statements, which burns off more calories.”
Keep Canada Slim has also started work on a new menu for the dining hall on Parliament Hill. This will focus on adding fibre to their meals.
“We have added psyllium fibre to the poutine,” said Fairbanks. “This should increase the quality and quantity of bowel movements, which should be n the nation’s best interest.”
Keep Canada Slim is a member of the Canadian Obesity Network an association of more than 1,000 of Canada’s leading obesity researchers.
Keep Canada Slim materials can be purchased by individuals through participating offices or on the website at www.keepcanadaslim.com. Consultations are offered through medical and wellness centres in Alliston, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Stoney Creek, London, Simcoe, Timmins, Winnipeg, Sundre, Alberta and Calgary. The program is also available at the Brantford St. Joseph’s Hospital Lifecare Centre.
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Wellness Workplace: A Brave New World
If there is a brave new world on the frontier of our corporate consciousness it must surely be the land of employee wellness programs. Owners and managers worldwide are recognizing the connection between employee health and productivity, and therefore bottom-line profits, and yet very few companies are confidently embracing wellness options.
Perhaps part of the reason for that is the difficulty in relating nationwide costs directly to an individual employee, or individual workplace. Numerous studies have linked various illnesses and conditions with reduced productivity - also known as presenteeism, which can be defined as being present at your job but with reduced productivity because of your condition - and absenteeism, which of course is simply being absent from work because you are unwell. But what does that mean in real dollars in your workplace?
Estimates are that un-wellness directly costs the US economy $260 billion per year. If we assume a workforce of 100 million people this would be $2600 per person per year. One can expect similar figures on a percentage basis in countries throughout the Western world. Multiply that by the number of full-time employees in your company and you have a reasonable estimate of the real costs to you. This does not include interdependent losses, such as those that occur for instance when a department manager is absent, and dependent staff are less productive than they would be if he/she was on the job.
The top 11 health risks related to productivity are poor diet, high body mass index, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, excessive stress, overdue preventative visits, lack of emotional fulfillment, high blood pressure, tobacco use, diabetes or high blood glucose, and alcohol use.
So while we may know in our hearts that our employees would be more productive if they were healthier, as HR professionals we have difficulty evaluating and proposing an investment in this area in terms of its bottom-line benefit, and then choosing appropriate programs.
Fortunately this question has not escaped notice by researchers and today we have many well-designed studies that have applied actual numbers to wellness issues in a variety of occupations and age groups. For example, in a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 2007 the overweight were 32% more likely, the obese 61% more likely and the morbidly obese 118% more likely to miss a day of work than those without weight issues. These figures do not include workplace costs due to disability and early retirement.
You can find some of these studies on our website at www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=corporate or by doing a Google search.
On the other hand it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look around your office and realize that people who are stressed and depressed, overweight and with low energy, or just plain sick with a cold or the flu and are still at work are less productive than they would be if they were healthy.
So let's start with the given that healthier workers are more productive and see if we can design a workplace wellness program that makes sense both financially and physically. This could perhaps start with a budget. If unwellness is costing your company $2600 per person per year, perhaps an initial investment of 20% or $520 per person per year would be a reasonable starting point.
Given that wellness is a personal responsibility, and that not all employees require the same program I would recommend that you include a user pay portion if possible. For instance a matching 50% program would turn $520 into $1040. This user pay concept ensures buy-in by the participants and this buy-in ultimately determines the success of any program. It also helps target corporate funds toward areas of wellness that would be best received and therefore most appropriate as a starting point.
According to the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA), there are seven steps to a successful employee wellness program. They are as follows: 1. Capturing Senior Level Support; 2. Creating Cohesive Wellness Teams; 3. Collecting Data to Drive Health Efforts; 4. Crafting an Operating Plan; 5. Choosing Appropriate Interventions; 6. Creating a Supportive Environment; 7. Consistently Evaluating Outcomes.
The important thing if you are to lead your company to the brave new world is to get started. The size of your employee force will determine the complexity of your challenge. Don't try to impact every health risk at once. Start with one program and achieve a level of success before moving on to a second concern. Given that most HR people are not wellness experts, at some point you will need to reach out to professionals who can help you in these areas. Fortunately there are just as many wellness professionals looking to fill your needs as there are HR people with needs to fill.
Let's bridge that gap and get our people, our companies, our communities and ultimately our countries moving forward to a healthier more productive future.
Lee Fairbanks is the President of Keep Canada Slim Inc., in Hamilton, Ontario and can be contacted at www.keepcanadaslim.com, by emailing bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com or by phone at 905-628-0279. Keep Canada Slim offers custom-designed corporate wellness programs for companies of all sizes.
Perhaps part of the reason for that is the difficulty in relating nationwide costs directly to an individual employee, or individual workplace. Numerous studies have linked various illnesses and conditions with reduced productivity - also known as presenteeism, which can be defined as being present at your job but with reduced productivity because of your condition - and absenteeism, which of course is simply being absent from work because you are unwell. But what does that mean in real dollars in your workplace?
Estimates are that un-wellness directly costs the US economy $260 billion per year. If we assume a workforce of 100 million people this would be $2600 per person per year. One can expect similar figures on a percentage basis in countries throughout the Western world. Multiply that by the number of full-time employees in your company and you have a reasonable estimate of the real costs to you. This does not include interdependent losses, such as those that occur for instance when a department manager is absent, and dependent staff are less productive than they would be if he/she was on the job.
The top 11 health risks related to productivity are poor diet, high body mass index, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, excessive stress, overdue preventative visits, lack of emotional fulfillment, high blood pressure, tobacco use, diabetes or high blood glucose, and alcohol use.
So while we may know in our hearts that our employees would be more productive if they were healthier, as HR professionals we have difficulty evaluating and proposing an investment in this area in terms of its bottom-line benefit, and then choosing appropriate programs.
Fortunately this question has not escaped notice by researchers and today we have many well-designed studies that have applied actual numbers to wellness issues in a variety of occupations and age groups. For example, in a study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 2007 the overweight were 32% more likely, the obese 61% more likely and the morbidly obese 118% more likely to miss a day of work than those without weight issues. These figures do not include workplace costs due to disability and early retirement.
You can find some of these studies on our website at www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=corporate or by doing a Google search.
On the other hand it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look around your office and realize that people who are stressed and depressed, overweight and with low energy, or just plain sick with a cold or the flu and are still at work are less productive than they would be if they were healthy.
So let's start with the given that healthier workers are more productive and see if we can design a workplace wellness program that makes sense both financially and physically. This could perhaps start with a budget. If unwellness is costing your company $2600 per person per year, perhaps an initial investment of 20% or $520 per person per year would be a reasonable starting point.
Given that wellness is a personal responsibility, and that not all employees require the same program I would recommend that you include a user pay portion if possible. For instance a matching 50% program would turn $520 into $1040. This user pay concept ensures buy-in by the participants and this buy-in ultimately determines the success of any program. It also helps target corporate funds toward areas of wellness that would be best received and therefore most appropriate as a starting point.
According to the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA), there are seven steps to a successful employee wellness program. They are as follows: 1. Capturing Senior Level Support; 2. Creating Cohesive Wellness Teams; 3. Collecting Data to Drive Health Efforts; 4. Crafting an Operating Plan; 5. Choosing Appropriate Interventions; 6. Creating a Supportive Environment; 7. Consistently Evaluating Outcomes.
The important thing if you are to lead your company to the brave new world is to get started. The size of your employee force will determine the complexity of your challenge. Don't try to impact every health risk at once. Start with one program and achieve a level of success before moving on to a second concern. Given that most HR people are not wellness experts, at some point you will need to reach out to professionals who can help you in these areas. Fortunately there are just as many wellness professionals looking to fill your needs as there are HR people with needs to fill.
Let's bridge that gap and get our people, our companies, our communities and ultimately our countries moving forward to a healthier more productive future.
Lee Fairbanks is the President of Keep Canada Slim Inc., in Hamilton, Ontario and can be contacted at www.keepcanadaslim.com, by emailing bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com or by phone at 905-628-0279. Keep Canada Slim offers custom-designed corporate wellness programs for companies of all sizes.
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