The Governor’s Foundation for Health and Wellness has launched an online workplace wellness kit, Small Starts @ Work, through its Healthier Tennessee initiative to help Tennessee employers implement wellness programs.

“Engaging and encouraging people to make healthy changes while at work results in a reduction in chronic disease and health conditions and that is a very compelling reason for employers and decision makers and worksites to have a wellness program at work,” says Rick Johnson, CEO of the foundation.

“It contributes to morale, to a feeling that this is place where people want to work and is a place where people care about you.

Healthier Tennessee launched its statewide awareness campaign, Start Now, in October 2013, and followed it up with a series of 60 personal health challenges, Small Starts @ Home, for individuals in January. Small Starts @ Work is the latest effort to encourage healthier living in Tennessee.

“From the beginning we have been focused on venues where people gather most often and where we believe there is a greater opportunity to encourage and enable behavior change, and those are work places, faith communities and schools,” says Johnson.

The online toolkit provides employers with tips, ideas and actions to help employees get healthier together by being more physically active, eat healthier food and abstain from tobacco in the workplace and during the workday. It can be adapted for businesses and organizations of all sizes and is optimized for use on all platforms, including phones and tablets.

Employees aren’t the only ones who benefit from improving health. Johnson says implementation of wellness programs can both improve health outcomes and reduce the cost of doing business or operating an organization. Data from several rigorous studies show that employers save an average of $6 for every $1 spent on wellness.

“Over time there is also the effect it has in reducing the employers’ share of employee health care cost,” Johnson says. “A majority of employers provide some form of health insurance coverage and usually pay some share of the premium costs. So having healthier employees who are more physically active, are healthier, and don’t use tobacco has also been show over time to contribute to a reduction in cost.”

Tennessee consistently ranks among the least healthy states in the nation. Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are at near epidemic levels, the rate of obesity has risen from 10 percent to 32 percent since 1988, and only two states have higher rates of tobacco use.

Johnson says cost should not be an obstacle that holds employers back from getting on board.

“There are ways to do this over time that don’t require a huge capitol expense, but it does require a commitment and it does require making it a priority,” he says. “Yes, you can build a fitness facility at your work site and offer gym memberships for employees, and if you have the means to do that, by all means do that.

“But that is not a requirement to create a healthy workplace. You can do it with walking programs, you can do it with healthier food choices. You can offer free help with smoking cessation.

“Cost does not have to be a barrier to doing this.”

The Governor’s Foundation for Health and Wellness is a non-profit corporation that brings together a statewide coalition of employers, health insurers, hospital systems, local governments, school systems and healthcare-focused foundations and community organizations in an effort to increase healthier living.

Later this year the Governor’s Foundation will offer a wellness toolkit geared toward faith-based communities.

“Having healthier employees has been shown to increase productivity, lower absenteeism over time and create a workplace with people who are more satisfied at work,” Johnson says. “A healthier workplace is a more productive workplace.”