Posted On: Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
While the Major Leaguers were holding out on contract negotiations — delaying the start of baseball’s spring training — the staff at CIGNA Corporation’s Wellness Center refused to let the annual spring ritual pass without proper ceremony. They recruited their own teams, played an eight-week season and topped off the fitness competition with a World Series game.
Using baseball as the theme, CIGNA’s exercise incentive program invited Wellness Center members to join an American or National League team of fellow employees. Points were scored when “players” attended a workout session, whether at the center or at home. Two teams competed weekly by tracking which team had the highest average exercise attendance. Individual players who completed 20 sessions over the nine weeks were awarded a special baseball cap. In the final week, the two teams with the best record played in the World Series.
“Recruiting employees to exercise on a regular basis is an ongoing challenge in today’s corporate environment, with lack of time and lack of motivation going hand-in-hand as the greatest obstacles,” she says. “Our program utilized a team concept and the latest technology to give ongoing encouragement to members in a fun, yet efficient way.”
The Spring Training program ran from Feb 13 through April 17, and was the most successful incentive program in the Wellness Center’s 15-year history, Bucaccio reports. “Of the 497 members who joined the program, 393 met the 20-session goal — a 79-percent success rate. Typical success rates in past exercise incentive programs were 60 to 65 percent,” Bucaccio says. At the same time, 100 previously inactive members jump-started their exercise programs by joining the competition.
Tags: competition, exercise, technology
Categories: Fitness