PATHWAY TO HEALTH: A CASE STUDY

Pathway Communications, a 100+ person ISP and Managed Services firm in Toronto, engaged the Corporate Health Coach to run a pilot wellness program with 8 of their senior staff beginning in May 2011.

Challenge

These staff members were critical to the Pathway Business, and a number of them were at risk of diabetes, heart attack, and stroke, due to a sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese. They were all under high levels of stress that come with being in a fast-growing technology business.

Objectives

The objectives of the program were in two broad categories: impact on the individuals and impact on the business.

Individual Goals:

• Lose weight
• Reduce stress
• Reduce cholesterol
• Reduce triglycerides
• Reduce Blood pressure
• Improve Fitness
• Improve Energy levels
• Have Fun

Business Goals:

• Remove health risk to key employees
• Boost engagement
• Enhance Team

The Solution

We began by conducting a series of assessments on all participants.  We assessed their fitness levels, their eating habits, and their stress levels to get baseline measurements of where they were at individually and collectively. These measurements indicated that the Pathway team was out of shape, ate poorly, and was under higher than average levels of stress.

Then we began a 12 week program of thrice weekly workouts and meditations, along with weekly coaching and accountability around their eating, including a weekly weigh-in for each participant. The participants were all paired up with a buddy, to encourage mutual support and bonding.

The Results

Within 12 weeks, the results were the team lost a collective 107 pounds. Three members of the team lost at least 22 pounds each, and every one on the team was exercising regularly and had dramatically changed their eating habits and were now eating healthy. Their stress levels were down, and strong bonds and a sense of camaraderie had developed between all the participants. An unintended benefit of this was that interdepartmental rivalries diminished considerably as the participants got to know one another during this program.

A real “buzz” was created around the company, and not only were the participants themselves, engaged, energized, and excited, so was the rest of the company. The CEO polled his staff, and 6 of the 8 participants wanted to continue, and he had 13 new staff members ask if they could join the program.  The program now has 18 participants, and we expect to see a further 300+ pounds lost collectively by the end of the year, with an engaged, energized, and excited team reducing their stress and building strong bonds of team that enhance those internal relationships crucial to business success.

Results at a Glance:

1. 107 pounds lost in 12 weeks.
2. Average weight loss of 12 pounds per employee
3. 35% of employees lost 24 or more pounds
4. 100% of employees lost weight
5. Stress levels down 35%
6. Clean eating of team up 500%
7. 6 of 8 participants continuing
8. 12 new participants eagerly joining the program
9. Buzz created company wide and employees are engaged, energized, and excited
10. Sense of team and community is enhanced