Ideas for National Employee Health and Fitness Day

National Employee Health and Fitness Day is May 21. This Web site from the National Association for Health and Fitness has lots of ideas for employers.

Yesterday, in a meeting, we talked about employee health and wellness. As just one idea, several of us discussed what we could do to discourage our employees from smoking. We came up with everything from scheduling smoking cessation classes on site at 4 p.m. to providing vouchers for employees to attend sessions elsewhere. We're also checking to see if stop-smoking aids are deductible health expenses from employee Flex Spending Accounts.

Two sites at About.com also focus resources on smoking cessation. The Lung Diseases site has a gallery of resources for smoking cessation as does Terry Martin's Quit Smoking / Smoking Cessation site. We decided that we didn't want to play Big Brother and ban smoking in the office park and outside of our buildings, but we recognize the need for a solid Smoke-free Workplace Policy.

You might also want to take the Adult Fitness test offered by The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In conjunction with National Employee Health and Fitness Day, one client company launched a pedometer challenge. Teams of employees walked and every employee who completed 100,000 steps during the month received a voucher for a new pair of walking shoes and a chance to win a prize in a drawing. The challenge was fun, it emphasized team building, and reinforced a fit lifestyle for employees. So, plan something special for your employees starting May 21.