The folks at Horizon Software International have walked 11,102 miles and far from falling down at anyone’s door (see the song lyrics) they’re climbing stairs, shedding pounds, and talking as they’re walking. It’s just what Julie Denmon was hoping for when she pitched senior management on Walkingspree‘s fitness program. “Who knew,” she says, “that a walking program would coax cubicle dwellers to get up and go talk with their team members, instead of emailing across the office?” Just as she expected, people are losing weight, they’re much less sedentary, and, as she hoped, there is “Definitely more team collaboration and more social interactions. I personally witness every day at lunch, our employees walking the property.”

1. Some 11,102 Miles Later, This Is a Wellness Program That Really Works http://www.tlnt.com/2012/02/16/some-11102-miles-later-this-is-a-wellne...
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by John Zappe on Feb 16, 2012, 8:18 AM | 0 Comments
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With all due respect to The Proclaimers, the folks at Horizon
Software International have walked 11,102 miles and far from
falling down at anyone’s door (see the song lyrics) they’re
climbing stairs, shedding pounds, and talking as they’re walking.
That talking thing there is a big plus. It’s just what Julie Denmon
was hoping for when she pitched senior management on
WalkingSpree‘s fitness program. That was 48,940,815 steps
ago.
“Who knew,” she says, “that a walking program would coax
cubicle dwellers to get up and go talk with their team members,
instead of emailing across the office?” Just as she expected, people are losing weight, they’re much
less sedentary, and, as she hoped, there is “Definitely more team collaboration and more social
interactions. I personally witness every day at lunch, our employees walking the property.”
EVENTS
Sitting leads to earlier dying
“I’ve never had so many people come into my office,” says Denmon, who’s office manager for the
140 employee company that specializes in developing software for food service operations. “They
come in and tell me how many pounds they’ve lost. And they’re talking to each other.”
Feb 26-28, 2012. Austin, TX
That’s a happy consequence of a program developed to improve the fitness of office workers. Study
after study shows that sedentary office workers are more likely to have health problems than active
The HR conference — transformed. From the
workers. In the most extensive and authoritative study of office workers ever done, researchers publishers of TLNT. Learn more »
found that the longer workers sat, the more likely they were to die.
Of the 822 who told researchers in 1981 that they sat almost all the time, almost 20 percent were
dead by 1994. Of the 3,000 who said they “almost never” sat, just under 7 percent were dead. MOST POPULAR ARTICLES
Peter Katzmarzyk, one of the leading researchers in the field of exercise science and medicine and 4 Good Reasons Why Culture Is
lead author of the study published in 2009, said bluntly, “What we generally see is that people who More Important Than Strategy
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2. Some 11,102 Miles Later, This Is a Wellness Program That Really Works http://www.tlnt.com/2012/02/16/some-11102-miles-later-this-is-a-wellne...
Among Silicon Valley’s high tech firms it’s not at all unusual for companies to offer health club A Look Ahead at Five Key Trends
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Denmon says it’s too early for Horizon to know it’s return on investment. She suspects, that like the
social interaction benefit, it will be positive. At a cost of only $99 for each of the 83 participating Are Cover Letters Passé? Some
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employees (plus a few more dollars for incentive prizes), it isn’t an expensive program. Valuable
1 day ago
Getting a ninefold return on the investment would be a happy result, but that wasn’t her first thought
when she happened upon the program last year. She was scouting locations for the company’s more popular articles »
annual user conference when she asked the rep showing her around about the pedometer on his
belt and discovered WalkingSpree.
“I was very intrigued to say the least,” explains Denmon, who said it wasn’t hard selling senior RECENT COMMENTS
management on the program. In fact, she says, Randy Eckel, Horizon’s president, is one of the
company’s Top Walkers and lately he’s been averaging 19,000 steps a day, an impressive 9 miles. “ Ibehavior,surechildren use the word
am not
as
I would
and animals
exhibit behaviors. However, as I am
An easy to implement program ...”
— Joel_drotts on Forget Culture –
WalkingSpree is easy to implement. The technical parts are all turnkey. At Horizon, employees Change Performance by Working on
bought the pedometer to track their steps. Each gets a personal, private web space where they can Climate and Habits, 30 minutes ago
record medical information, set health goals and see how they compare to the company. Denmon
gets reports on the walking indivdiuals and groups do. “ Seems to me that to back to the
strategy would be
another good
Like all programs, there’s a certain amount of cheerleading to get it started and periodic contests to specifications document you likely
keep up enthusiasm. Next month Horizon is competing against a Chicago software to see which created when selecting . . . ”
company will log the most steps. — StevenRothberg on What to Do If Your
Talent Management Provider Has
This month, the campaign is “Avoid the Elevators. “Our company is divided between two floors and I Been Acquired, 10 hours ago
have seen a tremendous increase in stair use,” Denmon says. “I even designed a t-shirt for this
specific campaign. Of course you have to win the shirt with various challenges during the month.” “ An interesting topic you raised there.
With all the changes happening out
John Zappe was a newspaper reporter and editor until his geek gene lead him to launch his first there in the Talent world, one cannot
website in 1994. Never a recruiter, he instead built online employment sites and sold advertising ”
be . . .
services to recruiters and employers. Besides writing for ERE.net, John consults with digital — LebHR Editor on What to Do If Your
content operations, focusing on the advertising side. Contact him at zappemedia@gmail.com. Talent Management Provider Has
Been Acquired, 12 hours ago
Tags: Benefits, health care, HR News, HR trends, Wellness | More “ Great tipsnot a big fan of cover
generally
on cover letters! I am
letters that are long or contain . . . ”
— Jennifer Olsen on Are Cover Letters
Passé? Some 91% of Execs Still Think
They’re Valuable, 1 day ago
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