Hosting a company weight loss competition

Employee health is one of the hot topics these days especially with all of the insurance issues that people are having.Medical and health care is getting very expensive and there doesn't seem to be an immediate solution on the horizon.But many employers are taking matters into their own hands and are helping their employees get into better health through health competitions.

Employers are sponsoring many different kinds of health promotion activities to keep their staff health and to promote health.Employers have a lot of reasons to promote health for their employees.Healthy employees are much more likely to be productive while at work which can add to the bottom line for the business.Healthy employees also cost the business less in terms of employee absenteeism and reduced effectiveness at work.One way that employers can help employees get motivated to be healthier is to host a weight loss competition.

A weight loss or general health competition can be a great way to give people incentive to be healthier in general.There is some significant planning that needs to take place beforehand to make a project like this successful.It's essential that proper planning and attention to sensitive matters be considered when planning a weight loss competition.First of all, it is essential that the competition be completely optional and that no one be coerced into participating in the program.Health can be a very sensitive topic and people who are not in good health may be very sensitive to the topic.It's very important that sensitivity be considered and that help be offered to anyone who wants to participate but doesn't feel comfortable for any reason.

When the project has been planned, you then need to organize in to teams or explain how the competition will actually work.For larger companies, you can divide up into teams or couples for the competition and for smaller companies, it may be necessary to compete as individuals.Team competitions typically work better as people have a partner or other team members who are also counting on their commitment.This provides even more motivation to succeed in the program and the support of team members is very helpful when the challenge gets difficult.Careful consideration should be made when forming the teams.

When the program is beginning, it is important that people know and keep track of the progress that they are making through the program.If you are hosting a weight loss competition everyone needs to provide their weight at the beginning and end of the competition.It may not be appropriate to have them weigh in publicly but rather to use the honor system.It's also a good idea to have regular weight ins as the program proceeds so that people know what kind of progress they are making and how much they still need to achieve.For many people, they are not comfortable discussing actual weight but can handle percentages of weight.This also makes the competition more objective and easier to judge fairly.

It may be necessary to have some kind of alternative to a weight loss program if there is low buy in to a weight loss program.There are many variations that can be done instead that will still allow for employees to be more conscious about health in general.You could consider having a survey before the program begins to gauge how healthy people feel they are and then have the same survey after the program is to judge progress.No matter what kind of program you will be hosting, it will require careful thought and good planning to make it a success.When you are offering rewards to the winners, you should also make it clear what the qualifying criteria is and what will be awarded.