You may have noticed MySpace’s latest redesign as a music-oriented network, but we’re betting you didn’t know about this latest change at their offices: MySpace’s MyHealth program, developed by the local wellness company Sage Wellness, incentivizes stress management and healthier eating habits with weekly onsite yoga, health and nutrition workshops, team sports and healthier menu items for the [also newly revamped] MySpace café.
Doesn’t sound like your office, eh? Many offices suffer from “presenteeism,” a new word coined to describe the phenomenon of workers whose productivity at work is diminished due to health issues. “It’s hard to be 100 percent effective every moment you’re at work,” notes Susan Hagen, an analyst from the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology Health Management Research Center. “We’re talking about the lack of productivity that stems from a health condition, or because you’re worried about your health.”
“Sitting at a desk for hours causes your body to naturally slump forward and round your shoulders…lead(ing) to aches and pains, says David Hansey, a board certified personal trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). “Looking at a computer screen can cause strain not only from your eyes but also from the angle or improper layout of your workstation.”
Many larger businesses have already begun addressing the physical and mental causes of workplace stress and physical ailments. “The concept of the health promoting workplace (HPW) is becoming increasingly relevant as more private and public organizations recognize that future success in a globalizing marketplace can only be achieved with a healthy, qualified and motivated workforce,” states the World Health Organization.
Want to turn your current workplace into a HPW? Employers need to follow the General Duty Clause of the OSHAct (that’s the US Department of Occupational Health & Safety Act), which requires them to provide workers with a safe workplace that doesn’t have any known hazards. But we’re thinkin’ MySpace went a little beyond that. A good place to get ideas is the Center for Disease Control’s Healthier Worksite Initiative (HWI) website, www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/index.htm. Here you’ll find tools that support expecting mothers, promote obesity prevention and tobacco-free worksites, teach you how to develop HPW programs and lots more. The CDC/NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) website (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics) is an indispensible resource for information on everything from creating healthier meetings (but with knowledge comes responsibility… what do you mean, no more donuts at Monday staff meetings?) to what can be done to minimize job stress. After all, you spend 40 hours (or more) of your life here every week. You might as well make it healthier.
—Lucinda Michele Knapp
