1. Improving Employee Health Using a
Workplace Health Promotion Program
Michelle Nguyen
4th Year
Google, Inc.
Zurich, Switzerland
http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/company/

2.  Co-founders: Larry Page and Sergey Brin
 Company was established in 1998 and
the Zurich office was opened in 2007
 800 Zooglers
 Google’s engineering headquarters for
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
 Google Maps, Search and Ads team,
Google Apps, Gmail, Sales
Introduction to the Company

3.  Total Population: 7,997,000
 Life Expectancy at birth
 Males: 80 years
 Females: 85 years
 Non-communicable diseases
account for 90% of all deaths
 Cardiovascular disease: 38%
 Cancer: 27%
 59.3% of males and 40% of
females are overweight
Switzerland

4.  Swiss Federal Law on Compulsory Health Care of 1996:
mandatory health care insurance
 Individual mandate
 Guaranteed enrollment
 Community rating
 Federally defined basic health care package
 Private insurers make money from supplemental packages
 Co-payments usually required  Government subsidies for
medical expenses more than 8% of income
Switzerland’s Health Care System

5.  The Swiss culture is diverse; its three main languages are
German, French, and Italian
 The country’s 26 cantons also adds to the diverse culture
 No official religion, but most cantons recognize official churches
 Sports are popular due to the alpine geography
 The Swiss are the world’s largest consumers of chocolate
 Known for cheeses
 Swiss dishes include potatoes and cheese
 Family privacy is important and most families engage in
outdoor activities on the weekend
Culture

6.  Arrive to meetings early
 First impressions are very important
 The Swiss customer always looks at the face first
 Strict hierarchical rules
 Customer, boss, then colleagues
 Introduce boss to customer
 Bosses can address employees by their first name; employees
can address bosses by their first name only after told
 Professionalism is expected both inside and outside the
workplace
 Don’t use too many hand gestures
Culture: Business Etiquette

7.  CEO: Larry Page
 To contact Google in Zurich, Switzerland, you can
 Write to: Brandschenkestrasse 110
8002 Zürich, Switzerland
 Call: +41 44-668-1800
 Email at this link:
https://support.google.com/fiber/contact/fiber_general2
 Introduce yourself by stating your name and purpose:
 “Hello, my name is Michelle Nguyen and I am interested in
implementing a workplace health promotion program at your
office.”
Communicating with Human Resources

8.  To provide education, skills, and resources
that will be permanently incorporated into
the daily diets and lifestyles of employees
 To reduce the percentage of overweight
employees
 The program will not be limited to affected
employees, but will be offered to all
employees in hopes of prevention and
treatment
 To not fix a medical problem temporarily, but
teach employees to change their complete
diet or lifestyle for the rest of their lives
Goals of the Workplace Health Promotion Program

9.  The workforce is an important sector of
society and the employees need to be
healthy for themselves and for the
company
 Activities among the workforce will directly
or indirectly affect the economy and other
sectors
 Employees spend a large portion of their
day at work
 Employee productivity directly affects how
well a company does
Importance of the Workplace Health
Promotion Program

10.  Google, Inc:
 Increased productivity at the
office
 Boosted staff morale
 Longer employee retention
 Zooglers/employees:
 To be healthy physically, mentally,
and emotionally
 Health education and services
 Information can be passed along
to their families, the community,
and society
Benefits of the Workplace Health
Promotion Program

11.  Jungle Lounge: 100+ plants
 Water Lounge: massage stations and aquariums
 Slides/Firepoles
 Games: pinball, foosball, Pac-Man, and ping-pong
 Antique gondola ski lifts
 Free restaurant-quality food
 Interior designed conference rooms and thinking spaces
 Sport groups
 Bands: Gleegers
Google’s Workplace Health Promotion
Program

12. Google’s Workplace Health Promotion
Program

13.  Goal: To understand the health risks and culture of Google
Zurich’s employees and address these issues by
implementing a workplace health promotion program
that will encourage a healthier diet
 Step1: Assessment of the country and population’s health
 Research health statistics of Switzerland
 More than ½ of the population is overweight
 Many people do engage in outdoor activities
 Research health statistics and benefits of Switzerland employees
 Sport groups
 Free food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; check if food is healthy
 Know culture of the Swiss and other nationalities of people
employed at Google
Google’s Workplace Health Promotion
Program

14.  Step 2: Assessment of Google’s current
workplace health promotion program
 Distribute mandatory surveys to all employees in
the office
 Ask questions regarding feelings of the workplace,
lifestyle, and diet
 Ask for recommendations or revisions to current
program
 Distribute voluntary BMI tests
 Sample survey questions:
 “How often do you eat in your office’s cafeteria
per day? Per week?
 “How often do you engage in moderate physical
activity? Rigorous activity?
Google’s Workplace Health Promotion
Program

15.  Step 3: Based on survey and BMI results, find a health risk
that must be addressed
 If you know that Google’s “restaurant-quality” food is
unhealthy and employees are eating it more than five
times a week and do not exercise, a program should be
introduced to deal with the issue
 At Google’s weekly Friday meeting, inform employees of
Switzerland’s health statistics and overall employee BMI
results
 Introduce new “healthy food promotion program”
Google’s Workplace Health Promotion
Program

16.  Step 4: Implementation of the “healthy food promotion
program”
 Revise Google’s “restaurant-quality” menu to a healthier restaurant
quality menu
 Replace snack room foods
 Instead of candy and chocolate-coated pretzels, have granola bars and
bananas
 Education:
 Show employees appropriate portion sizes
 Inform employees on which foods are healthy and why they are healthy
 Provide new recipes they can try at home
 Provide a nutrition counselor employees can go to when they have
questions and to monitor the program
 Provide a forum in which employees can share diet and lifestyle
advice
Google’s Workplace Health Promotion
Program

17.  Step 5: Evaluation of the new program
 Distribute another mandatory survey asking about diet at home
and work and lifestyle changes
 Offer voluntary BMI tests
 Talk to supervisors about a change in productivity/innovation
 Receive feedback from the nutrition counselor
 Evaluation of employee feedback
 Have a voluntary survey to ask about employee feedback
 Have a suggestion box in the cafeteria requesting healthy
recipes
 Monitor employee activity at the cafeteria throughout the year
to see if employees still like the program
Evaluation of Google’s Workplace Health
Promotion Program

18.  There will be a shift to healthier BMI scores
 Employees will have the tools to have a healthier diet
 Employees will educate their families, the community, and
society
 The message boards will be full of advice coming from peers
 Healthier food will be provided for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
 Employees will be happier
 Google will see an increase in productivity and staff morale
Evaluation of Google’s Workplace Health
Promotion Program: Expectations

19.  Contact Human Resources or the supervisor of Google
Zurich through phone, email, or in person
 Explain the BMI rates of employees before program
implementation
 Show the change in BMI rates after the cafeteria menu
was redesigned
 Create a flow chart showing the benefit of educating the
employees
 Employee  Peers  Families  The Community  Society
Providing Feedback

20.  Since Google employees are interesting and love the
different methods used at Google, they will be open-
minded about the program
 Employee health will improve; BMI and overweight will decrease
 People will feel better and will spread education to others
 Continuation of program is necessary
 A healthy diet is a permanent change
 Employees will feel better about themselves and will feel it in their
bodies
 Employers will see a happier staff and will have more
technological productivity and advancements
Opinion and Thoughts

21.  Encourage employee use of current facilities, such as the
basketball room, work-out spaces, and the soccer room
 Encourage more sport group activities and offer incentives
to the winning team
 Offer weekly group exercise classes
 Have monthly group activities outdoors
Future Recommendations

22.  http://www.who.int/nmh/countries/che_en.pdf
 http://www.who.int/countries/che/en/
 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/health/policy/01swiss.html?_r=
0
 http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-zurich-office-2013-2?op=1
 Becker, R. C., & Corrao, J. M. (January 01, 1990). Cardiovascular
disease in women: scope of the problem. Cardiology, 77, 6-7.
 Faeh, D., & Bopp, M. (January 01, 2010). Increase in the prevalence
of obesity in Switzerland 1982-2007: birth cohort analysis puts recent
slowdown into perspective.Obesity (silver Spring, Md.), 18, 3, 644-6.
 Marques-Vidal, P., Bochud, M., Mooser, V., Paccaud, F., Waeber, G.,
& Vollenweider, P. (January 01, 2009). Obesity markers and
estimated 10-year fatal cardiovascular risk in Switzerland. Nutrition,
Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases : Nmcd, 19, 7, 462-8.
References