The mounting costs of maintaining unhealthy employees, coupled with the expense and disruption associated with staff turnover, is leading many employers to implement a workplace health promotion strategy.Thanks to a growing body of evidence, today's workplace health programs are no longer viewed as just a good idea, but rather a crucial investment in an organization's long-term success .

Nearly all private and public sector employers are taking concerted action to contain their health care costs. Fortunately, this problem of budget restrictions and health care costs has the upside of forcing organizations to consider preventive ways to increase their employee health and satisfaction, which can ultimately secure greater productivity and profitability.

Leading organizations in North America are taking action to alleviate workplace illness at its very source. To this end, they have actively adopted Comprehensive Workplace Health Programs (CWHP).

CWHP's have introduced a new and balanced approach to employee health and wellness. Organizations are now proactively seeking to:

CWHP is an approach to protecting and enhancing the health and productivity of employees that builds upon the efforts of employers to create a supportive management culture and relies upon the efforts of employees to care for and take responsibility for their own well-being.

Dual responsibility of both employer and employee is an intrinsic component of CWHP. Leading Canadian organizations are implementing Workplace Health Promotion based on the National Quality Institute's (NQI) Canadian Healthy Workplace Criteria. NQI, based in Toronto, developed the criteria in partnership with Health Canada and in association with professionals from the health and safety sector. The criteria provides a logical framework for developing and sustaining a healthy workplace through four essential "drivers":

According to Dr. Grahamm S. Lowe, expert in workplace and labor market issues, "Some business leaders are already on the healthy workplace bandwagon and many more will soon find themselves there, if not by choice then by inexorable pressure of an aging workforce". Productivity, morale, absenteeism and disability are all factors affected by a lack of health and wellness promotion.

Promoting healthy workplaces requires a multi-disciplinary, team approach; therefore, adopting a CWHP helps organizations to effectively manage the co-operation among professionals in the areas of occupational health and safety, health promotion, HR and organization development.

Based on the Health Canada guidelines, our CWHP focuses on the following key factors that positively influence health in the workplace:

Fitness Assistance Programs

During the later half of the twentieth century health problems at the work site have increased dramatically. According to Mark J. Occhipinti, M.S., Ph.D.c.,
American Industry loses $32 billion dollars and 132 million work days every year because of employee's premature deaths that are associated with cardio-vascular disease (high blood pressure, heart stroke, diabetes, and obesity). Billion dollars more are lost due to lowered productivity, which is the result of sickness and disability.

In order to promote a healthy work place physicians and health care professionals have recommended increased core muscle strength as a means of preventing back injuries of sedentary workers for over 300 years. "Core muscle strength is a concrete way to improve balance, athletic performance, and potentially prevent a variety of injuries in people of all ages and fitness levels," said John D. Willson, MSPT, doctoral candidate and research assistant at the University of Delaware in Newark.

Since a healthy workplace is advantageous to every component of an organization, leading businesses are demanding more fitness assistance programs as ways to prevent sickness and disability. In direct response to these inexorable pressures, we offer the Mastermoves fitness system as an essential part of a CWHP.

Our Unique Fitness Program

Mastermoves is a comprehensive training program for core muscle development that combines elements of yoga, pilates, dance, martial arts and gymnastics. This exercise program can be done from the comfort of an employee's home, office, gym or even hotel room. The Mastermoves program includes the following four essential components:

These four areas are taught through hands-on-coaching, supplementary fitness training tools, ten week group education and entertaining sessions that utilize an innovative teaching strategy that includes Latin dance.

The goal of the Mastermoves program is to increase employee fitness levels, reduce stress and incorporate injury prevention by building each employee participant's core muscle strength.

Countless studies have demonstrated that the lack of core muscle strength is the number one cause of susceptibility to poor posture, which can easily lead to lower back pain and muscle injury. The reason core muscle strength is essential to overall physical health is that it is the fundamental support structure needed to move the body with effortless power and balance, which is required in all physical movement from walking to playing a pain-free game of golf.

Strong abdominal muscles will reward employees with good posture and will also make daily physical tasks and favorite sports such as tennis and skiing more precise and enjoyable. Thus, Mastermoves provides the tools to help move organizations toward a healthier and less stressful place to work.

The benefits to organizations implementing a wellness program such as Mastermoves includes:

Although physical wellness takes time for training, the rewards are well worth the small initial investment of time because a healthy workplace is a clear win/win for employee, and employer.

In response to the need to protect and enhance the health and productivity of employees, the vision of this proposal is to enhance EFAP services with a unique CWHP that addresses both workplace and worker health.

OK Initiatives, Inc.'s innovative and effective CWHP leads to outstanding improvement in the health, self-esteem, and productivity of employees. By helping employees to care for their own physical well-being, our CWHP strongly supports the view that all illness and injuries can and should be prevented when possible, controlled when necessary and treated where appropriate.