CLAS Wellness Program Is a Great Fit

CrossFit Envy coach Jared Hasleton trains CLAS employees. From left: Sarah

King, Jared Hasleton, Varsik Karapetyan, Jolene Thomas and Nicole Jepsen.

Only a few months ago, Scott Warner spent most of his days seated in front of his computer. He almost always worked through his lunch hour. But these days, our MIS Administrator is 20 pounds lighter and regularly walks at least 6 miles per day.

Sound impressive? He's still in second place compared to Fran Williams, whose courier duties enable her to walk about 7 miles per day. And they both need to watch out for Varsik Karapetyan, who is catching up with 5 miles per day.

What caused these changes? Like many employers, we know that having a healthy workforce is good for business. And having a fitness program that's fun, convenient and social means more employees participate.

Just under a year old, our fitness program includes a tracker made by the San Francisco firm, Fitbit Inc., and on site lunchtime training from a local company, CrossFit Envy.

Along with the opportunity to participate in CrossFit workouts twice per week, participants can wear their Fitbit tracker throughout the day. It measures the number of steps taken, miles traveled, stairs climbed, calories burned and more. Then it uploads the information automatically to an online database. The immediate feedback the device provides has motivated our team. As Scott say, "We're taking steps for no reason. We're parking farther away."

The rewards are obvious. With an experienced team whose average tenure is 14 years, we're all aware of the benefits of exercise as we age. Additionally, being able to compare stats online makes friendly competition and company sponsored prizes possible.

The increase in morale has been noticeable. "It's always been a close group," says Susan Jones, our Executive Vice President. "But now there's more laughing and joking around. There's this friendly competitive environment, on a more personal level."