Health Incentive - Toll Contract Logistics

Last October I raised a Health Incentive concept to our management group to involve all willing participants. In our transport industry we have an issue with unhealthy staff with the stigma of an unhealthy industry, as well as an aging industry. To make our culture change with a fresh view of getting involved and turning peoples’ lives around for those who were willing, I championed a program where a Naturopath drew up individual health plans to each member and we followed a journey for three months to see who could lose the greatest percentage of body fat.

What motivated you to set up a health and wellbeing program?

Last October I raised a Health Incentive concept to our management group to involve all willing participants. In our transport industry we have an issue with unhealthy staff with the stigma of an unhealthy industry, as well as an aging industry. To make our culture change with a fresh view of getting involved and turning peoples’ lives around for those who were willing, I championed a program where a Naturopath drew up individual health plans to each member and we followed a journey for three months to see who could lose the greatest percentage of body fat.

What does your program involve?

A practitioner comes out to the site, in an industry of transport which is constantly in demand of being on time and on the move, we scheduled our one on one consultation around the staff to ensure we could maximise our approach. If someone comes to see you it's much easier to participate as someone else is constantly coming back to track your progress. Anyone could have a small incentive for a winner at the end of 12 weeks and every two weeks a naturopath can come to your site and check your results and improve them.

There was personal interaction and constant involvement visually around the workplace, talking about it with family and friends. Management were also involved, bringing commonality between the groups to share and go through the experience at the same time. The ability to have a private one on one session with an expert meant that you could find out about all your personal choices in life and work with someone to have a goal to ultimately change your life around and this was supported by the workplace.

Management help drive the incentive to each of the particular work sites, focusing their attention on scheduling, motivating and leading by example with all their team mates. I drove the organised events for each site, made sure visual posters where around the workplace and made a DVD production at the end of the cycle to capture all the people who were truly inspired by this. This was not a difficult task as everybody thought it was amazing and their attitude towards health, lifestyle and general wellbeing had changed for life, not only for themselves but their family and friends.

What did you do to promote the program?

Monthly weigh in numbers producing an overall sum of weight loss for each site with motivational posters and testimonies to how each employee was tracking in their journey. A motivational video of employees was then done to further inspire other states and customers to join the program. We spoke to our customers who visually and verbally saw the changes in our staff. We held tool box meetings to promote and had our naturopath visit every two weeks to ensure each individual was following their program, so the 12 week $1000 cash incentive was a driver, but the personal relationship with an expert who saw you every fortnight was a great motivator for people to stay on track.

Who participated in the program?

Managers senior, middle, ground staff drivers, warehouse staff, fleet controllers, even customers came in to see if they could join. It was a top down approach which elected managers to drive by example the program and promote it to their staff on a large scale.

What was the impact of the program and how was this measured?

Employees have dropped their cholesterol levels, dropped their blood pressure tablets, are sleeping better, better rested, have better attitudes and less stress on their joints. Over 65 people participated and the total weight loss was over 500 kilos. That’s an average of 8kg per person!! The culture made the relationship more harmonious between management and ground staff and allowed people to get their families involved in their challenge and change their way of thinking about food and general wellbeing for life. We often put our health on the back burner but with simple steps there are ways to incorporate it in everything we do.

Today we have had our key customers such as Viridian, BlueScope and Coke all gather ideas and momentum to push forward the same type of scheme to entice their people to feel the same way.

Testimonials from people who personally came to thank me after the program to say how their lives have been changed, and that was the biggest reward of all. When somebody whispers to you that you have helped them be a better and healthier person for themselves and their families, then we know that simply the success of this program has escalated beyond its initial concept.

The article posted in our Annual Newsletter with a major spread.

HEALTHY LIVING PROGRAM SUCCESS
Toll Global Logistics Staff in Melbourne have successfully completed a 12 week health incentive program in order to help educate employees how to create a healthier culture amongst themselves and their families. The feedback has been remarkable with five sites encouraging over 65 participants.

Overall the group lost in excess of 500 kilos over the 12 week period with many people losing 10-15% BMI.
The knowledge passed on to the group via our selected naturopath allowed each person the opportunity to understand the eating options that best suited each person. The majority of participants will use this knowledge to help change their lives into the future and utilise the healthier options more often.
A life changing experience has been shared by many as the word spread through to friends and families. With the support of Toll GL we believe we have helped create a healthier work force across the Victorian operations.
We congratulate all our participants who gave the program a go and have helped create change in their lives for the better.

*Disclaimer:
The publishing of entries on the WorkSafe Awards website and or/the granting of an award does not constitute any endorsement by WorkSafe Victoria of a product, method or service, or the occupational health and safety performance of the workplace. Monthly Champions must undergo expert review to progress through to the stringent validation and judging process and can only progress to the next stage of entry once WorkSafe are satisfied that the entry/entrant has met the relevant award category criteria and terms and condition of entry.

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