When it comes to implementing a corporate wellness program, there are major differences in the quality of services.

Although there are many good providers in the market, there are also many providers with minimal experience and inadequate qualifications. At FitSense we feel quite strongly about this. We will only use qualified professionals in the delivery of our services, and there is no doubt that this is something that sets us aside from many of our competitors. It is always difficult to get experienced and qualified staff, but this hassle is well worth it when it comes to the quality of service we deliver to our clients.

The majority of our staff are AAESS accredited exercise physiologists. While we are educated in a range of areas, we still prefer to use specialists in the delivery of specialist services. One example of this is the provision of nutritional information. All of our nutritional seminars are delivered by qualified dieticians and we also consult these dieticians when constructing the nutritional aspects of our health and fitness assessments.

So what does this mean to program participants and client organisations? It means that FitSense can guarantee the provision of scientifically backed information provided in a practical manner that is relevant to each participant.

Feedback from smokers have long been that when they try to quit they quickly put on weight. This is definitely something that discourages people from quitting in the first place.

Some of the reasons that people put on weight when they give up smoking are:

• nicotine conatined in cigarettes is an appetite suppressant;
• smoking can increase the body’s metabolism;
• smoking affects how you taste and smell food;
• some people put food into their mouths rather than a cigarette.

However, even if you do put on a bit of weight after quitting, you are still far better off quitting as smoking has such a large impact on your overall health.

And if you are really trying to make a lifestyle change, you can look at your nutrition and your level of physical activity and thus minimise any weight gain. A couple of key recommendation if you are concerned about weight gain after quitting are:

• focus on low fat foods and try to avoid snack between meals;
• try chewing gum;
• avoid fad diets.

So quitting and maintaining your figure is possible. And the long term results will pay off.

If you’re looking for a corporate wellness provider then you will understand there are a lot of choices and it is a competitive market. So why is FitSense any different?

At a recent meeting, I was discussing this exact question with our staff. Interestingly, we came to quick agreement on what differentiated FitSense from other providers.

FitSense aims to establish relationships with participants of all of our wellness programs through regular face-to-face contact and phone/e-mail support. Additionally, our aim is to satisfy each individual participant and assist them in making a real lifestyle change.

This is not windowdressing, this is how an organisation and our staff approach our wellness programs. We are sincerely dedicated to assisting program participants to maximise their health and fitness. With this focus, we have been able to obtain a 99.5% satisfaction rating from program participants in 2008. What this means is that of those people who have participated in a FitSense program, more than 99 out of every hundred were satisfied with the result and found the service beneficial.

This is what sets FitSense aside from other corporate wellness providers. We really do care about getting the best results for participants and we will bend over backwards to do everything we can to assist them.

We all know that the benefits of exercise have a great impact on overall health and longevity. However as a runner, I found this recent research of particular interest. Researchers at Stanford University showed that individuals who continue to run as they get older had fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and were half as likely to die early.

The 20 year study showed that running reduced not only the risk of heart disease, but also cancer and neurological diseases such Alzheimer’s. One of the researchers put it in simple terms, “19 years into the study 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners”. That is definitely motivation to exercise regularly.

The researchers concluded that the benefits of running were largely due to the vigourous intensity exercise that the runners experienced on a regular basis. Many of us get low and moderate intensity activity on a regular basis through incidental exercise such as walking, however continuing to maintain the vigourous activity throughout our lives is very important.

Smoking has major implications on our health and our risk of heart disease, but what about passive smoking?

I was interested to read recently about what could be termed a natural experiment. A small town in the US banned smoking in public areas and workplaces. The policy only lasted six months because of pro-tobacco people overturn the law. However during the six months, the local hospital experienced a major downturn in the incidence of heart attacks. However, as soon as it then was removed the number of heart attacks jumped back up.

This is not solid scientific evidence, but it does make you question the impact our environment has on our health. Unfortunately we are not always in control of our environment.

We are obviously doing quite well in Australia as most indoor environments are now smoke-free. However perhaps we need to go further and have regulations implemented to ensure a smoke-free area of 10 or 20 m around doors into our workplaces and buildings.

That is the title of a recent discussion paper authored by the National Preventative Health Task Force, a committee of medical experts set up by the Commonwealth government.

So what did the ‘Australia: the healthiest country by 2020′ report conclude?

Obesity, tobacco and alcohol use are our three biggest problems and Australians must do better in combating these. These three problems cost almost $6 billion per year in direct health costs and another $13 billion a year in indirect costs. One of the major indirect costs identified in the report was that of absenteeism and poor performance at work.

This further highlights that poor health is not only costing the taxpayer money, but also costing employers significant amounts of money. As a provider of corporate wellness services, our major goal is to minimise these indirect costs in order to save the employer money while directly impacting the health of individual employees.

Alarmingly, the report also predicted that by the time our children reached early childhood, their life expectancy will be two years less than today’s average because of the effects of overweight and obesity. This means that we are going backwards, despite all the recent medical advances and improvements in health care.

There is no doubt we have to work harder at improving the health of our nation.

I recently enjoyed reading a book written by Virgin’s Richard Branson. The book was titled Business Stripped Bare and walked through some of the practical lessons that Branson has learnt throughout his 40 years in business.

Branson attributed the success of the Virgin group to many factors, however one that really stood out for me was his ethics and care for others. It is common knowledge that Virgin have a strong environmental focus as shown in their trial flight earlier this year when one of it’s aeroplane engines was fuelled entirely by coconut oil.

He also has a real care for his staff. Throughout the book, he continually pushed the point that it is the staff at the coalface of his business that result in the success of the business. He emphasises that staff need to enjoy the work they do and have a fun and uplifting workplace. He also prioritises the health of his staff, and not just through standard means. This is highlighted in African communities where he has put a large amount of funding to assist with health care not only of staff but also for their communities.

This caring approach has obviously paid off on, with the Virgin group now being one of the world’s most successful organisations and also an organisation which attracts talented staff.