Healthy employees, healthy company

At Discovery, workers get help meeting fitness goals

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Brian Lewis⁄The Gazette Discovery Communications employees follow instructor Elisabeth Schreiber (right) in a total body conditioning class Tuesday in the Silver Spring headquarters’ sensory garden. The class is being offered to employees as part of the company’s global fitness challenge.

And that break was encouraged, not frowned upon, by her employer.

Four years ago, Discovery joined the ranks of companies that offer employees challenges and incentives to stay in shape and eat healthfully, but this year there’s an added twist: The company has brought in Cabin John-based Wellness Corporate Solutions, a firm that provides wellness coaches and diet and exercise physicians, to work with employees on achieving individual health and fitness goals.

Wellness Corporate Solutions is working in Discovery’s 13 U.S. offices to help conduct a global fitness challenge that will result in two people in each of the offices winning a year-long fitness membership anywhere they want. The challenge is also linked to the President’s Challenge.

The challenge, which is in its third week and will run through July, helps people reach personal health and fitness goals, said Juliet Rodman, a registered dietician and fitness professional who is managing director of Wellness Corporate Solutions. At the beginning of the challenge, participants took a health risk assessment and talked about their goals with Rodman, and then set goals that were attainable, like losing 10 pounds.

Now, participants — there are more than 300 in Discovery’s main headquarters and more than 750 nationwide — are learning about nutrition and participating in fitness classes at work.

Nutrition seminars include sessions on topics like the challenge of a healthy diet in the corporate world, Rodman said. For instance, she said, many people don’t realize that by eating an extra 200 calories a day, they can gain up to 20 pounds a year. Other seminars discuss portion sizes and buying healthy foods at the grocery.

And though there isn’t a gym at the Silver Spring headquarters, Discovery has also been offering fitness classes onsite through Wellness Corporate Solutions, including yoga, the Sergeant’s Program, a running group and a total body conditioning class.

Elisabeth Schreiber led Tuesday’s total body conditioning class, leading Discovery employees in moves like hamstring curls, crunches and squats designed to tone muscles and raise heart rates.

Corb was one of about 25 people going through the workout sequence. She said she decided to take part in the company’s challenge because she’d had to stop exercising for a time due to health issues and gained some weight. Corb enjoyed the opportunity to squeeze in a workout during the day and resume her exercise routine.

‘‘It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. ‘‘They’ve been showing us how to do different moves, like different ways to do sit-ups.

Tami Power of Howard County, 42, also enjoyed the opportunity to do something for herself during her lunch hour and have someone help her ease into an exercise routine.

‘‘When your company sponsors it and sort of encourages you, it helps,” she said.

It’s not a problem for her to take the time during the workday, she said. She’s been encouraged to take the break to participate the same way she’s been encouraged to use her vacation days.

‘‘If we care for our employees, they are happier, healthier, more productive,” Rodman said.

Additionally, she said, healthy employees means lower insurance costs for the employer, which is important since insurance rates have been rising 15 to 20 percent a year.

‘‘If you invest in your employee, you’ll get a return on your investment,” she said, adding more companies could benefit from offering health and fitness programs for their employees. ‘‘People spend most of their time at work now.”

Discovery has benefited by offering a fitness challenge, said Carolyn Cook, Discovery’s program manager for work⁄life strategies. However, she said, employees have benefited just as much. The classes offered during the day through the program have forced some employees to step away from their desks and take a lunch break, allowed them to socialize and meet coworkers and boosted morale.

Often, Cook said, people can work to the point where they don’t take time to take care of themselves and their health.

‘‘We need to build in time for exercise and health in their life,” Cook said.