At insurance company Aspen over 90 percent of the 50 employees are signed onto the Wellness programme. Accountant Denis Perrault is on the Wellness Committee and said he’s sure enrolment will soon be 100 percent.“Everybody will get on board because everyone is talking about it around the office all the time,” he said. “Our company bosses are fully committed.”

He said they truly believe that a healthy, happy employee is more productive and now foster a healthy workplace and work environment. The company foots the bill for gym membership fees for all staff but now stipulate that this will only be done for staff signed onto the Wellness programme.

“They take the view that if you are serious about improving your health you would want to part of the programme,” Mr. Perrault said. At Aspen very generous incentives are offered to encourage employees. In January the monthly challenge was to exercise at least once a day. All those who met the challenge were entered into a raffle for a $50 gift certificate. At the end of the year those who have met all 12 challenges are eligible for a $600 gift certificate.

The company also provides a healthy lunch at the monthly lunch presentation.

“We worked out that it costs the company $27 per month per person,” said Mr. Perrault. “This means that even if as a result a person misses one less day of work a year, the company is ahead.”

Apart from the clear benefit to the company’s bottom line, the programme has also improved the social atmosphere in the office. Employees encourage each other to stick with the various challenges. “In the hallways you’ll hear people say ‘did you eat your breakfast?’ and people will remind you to drink four glasses of water,” he said. But not all moves have been popular. The company now has a no soda pop policy and has removed the sugary beverages from the fridge. “Now you can get water or some fruit juice,’ said Mr. Perrault. “A lot of people were pretty angry when we implemented that but we believe it was a good move. And I think now most people agree.”

In fact the wellness committee at Aspen are looking to expand the healthy diet promotion in the office and feature fresh fruit baskets. In praise of the programme and the support the committee get from Catherine Burns Wellness Manager at Argus, Mr. Perrault dubbed the scheme “One of the best undertakings Aspen has done.” He also said that he would like to see Argus give a discount on their premiums to companies like Aspen where participation is high and employees are managing their health well.