Pedometers can boost activity of employees
They cost about $10 and can be easily clipped to a waistband to count the number of steps walked each day. Could a simple, inexpensive pedometer be the key to ramping up an employee's physical activity?
Use of a pedometer can have a significant impact on weight loss and blood pressure, says a study which found that individuals who wore pedometers increased physical activity by 27%over 2,000 steps a day.1 The researchers reviewed 26 studies that looked at the use of pedometers as a tool to motivate physical activity, involving a total of 2,767 people.
"Much to my surprise, these little devices were shown to increase physical activity by about one mile of walking per day," said the study's lead author, Dena Bravata, MD, MS, health services researcher in Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford (CA) University School of Medicine. "This goes a long way toward helping people meet the national guidelines for daily physical activity."
Unfortunately, many workplace interventions tend to attract people who are already physically active. "It's often the same groups of people who sign up every three months, and use this rather than going to the gym," says Bravata.
For this reason, if you want to increase the activity for your total workforce, you probably need a different strategy than just inviting employees to participate, says Bravata. She recommends the following to reach out to sedentary employees:
- Use team-based interventions.
- When you see employees on an individual basis, ask them about their physical activity, and if it is not meeting national guidelines, provide a pedometer.
- Set employees up with walking partners.
- Send e-mails to remind employees of programs such as walking clubs meeting at a certain time.
- Offer a free shuttle to the mall for walks on rainy days.
- Tie pedometers into a program to encourage people to take the stairs or park their car a little further away.
- Set clear goals. When participants used pedometers but didn't have a goal for the number of steps to achieve, there was no increase in physical activity. "Clearly, having a goal for the number of steps is keyotherwise, you will see the number of steps but have no idea if it is adequate," Bravata says. "Wearing the pedometer might really help to reinforce that."
Workers shift to low-risk
At Navistar, a Warrenville, IL-based manufacturer and marketer of medium and heavy trucks and mid-range diesel engines, a 13-week team competition, Trucking Across North America encourages employees to be more active. Teams of five to 10 employees symbolically work their way across 4,800 miles of the U.S. landscape from Georgia to Ohio to Oregon to Mexico.
Miles are earned for cardiovascular, recreational, strength training and wellness activities and tracked via pedometer. Every exercise mile equals 10 road miles, with a maximum of 10 exercise miles per day and 50 exercise miles per week. By participating in wellness and volunteer activities either onsite or in the community, participants can earn 1,200 bonus miles representing the trip back to Georgia from Mexico.
Pedometer-specific handouts entitled Step Conversion Chart to Miles, Pedometer Instructions, Pedometer Placement, How to Add a Mile, 10,000 Steps a Day and Setting Your Stride Length are distributed weekly to educate and motivate participants to help them successfully transform their lifestyle.
As a result of the program, in 2007, 62% of participants shifted from a sedentary, high-risk status to low-risk status as a result of the program. "Still even with that in mind, it can be tough to maintain one's enthusiasm and motivation during the more than three-month long program," says Dawn Weddle, Navistar's manager of wellness and behavioral health.
To help, Navistar offers incentives to keep participants committed to their goal. Each employee achieving 600 exercise miles or more receives a Mileage Master's Certificate and each team receives destination prizes as they reach key cities along the route.
Navistar executives support the effort with a "Best the Best" challenge, encouraging teams to pull ahead of the progress made by the Executive Wellness Council Team. To promote competition company-wide each year, a traveling trophy was specifically designed to recognize the highest scoring team. "Finally, e-mails and hard copy communications with inspirational messages, exercise tips, weekly scores, bonus-mile activities, FAQs and testimonials are distributed during the competition to keep engagement high," says Weddle.
The program started in 1994 at one location with seven teams, and by 2007 participation grew to 397 teams at 32 locations, representing 20% of the eligible employee population. "During the last 15 years it has assisted thousands of Navistar employees to get on the road to good health," she says.
Reference
1. Bravata DM, Smith-Spangler C, Sundaram V, et al. Using Pedometers to Increase Physical Activity and Improve Health A Systematic Review JAMA. 2007;298(19):2296- 2304.
Sources
For more information, contact:
- Dena Bravata, MD, MS, Center for Primary Care & Outcomes Research, Stanford (CA) University. Phone: (650) 723-1118. E-mail: [email protected].
- Dawn Weddle, Manager, Wellness and Behavioral Health, Navistar, 4201 Winfield Road, Warrenville, IL 60555. Phone: (630) 753-3127. E-mail: [email protected]
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