Posted On: Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Time is often the No. 1 excuse for why employees are unable to participate in fitness and wellness programs. So, the staff of Club One Professional Services,Campbell, Calif., which manages Applied Materials’ Wellness Department, decided to bring wellness to employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With Applied Materials’ workforce spread across the globe, the company’s intranet television channel (AMTV) is available to all departments at all company locations for viewing at any time. So, when Club One staff members saw a “need to reach more employees in a global workforce,” they decided to use the latest in video streaming technology to deliver information and education on health and fitness topics. According to Program Manager Julie Lamothe, they took existing educational videos, real-time educational classes and ‘brown bag’ lectures, and placed them on AMTV. Educational topics available on-demand include cooking classes, financial management (i.e., tax planning, investment options, buying and selling a home), stress management (i.e., surviving the corporate fast track, dealing with difficult people and relaxation techniques), and work life management (i.e., balancing work and family life, adjusting to shift work, fighting fatigue).
“In the past, wellness programs were only available to a limited number of employees at a specific time and location,” explains Lamothe. “Now with this new innovation, we are able to maximize the use of existing resources so that Applied Materials’ employees can conveniently access this information from their computer.” This, in turn, has increased employee participation beyond expected targets, and it has strategically aligned itself with Applied Material’s corporate goals to transition educational programs and technical training resources online. It has “helped to increase overall employee satisfaction regarding program equity at all sites, reduced the cost of training and increased program visibility,” says Lamothe. And, “it has removed barriers employees may have otherwise had to attending classroom sessions and participating in the wellness program as a whole.”
Tags: balance, program, techniques
Categories: Health