Each year, Frett/Barrington employees form a team and compete in “Lighten Up Wisconsin,” a team-oriented statewide exercise and weight-loss program. Teams choose whether to compete in the categories of weight loss, physical activity or total fitness, a combination of both.

In conjunction with “Lighten Up Wisconsin,” Frett/Barrington sponsors lunch-ins and seminars throughout the year discussing topics such as “Why Diets Don’t Work” and “Wellness as a Way of Life.”

Frett/Barrington also organized “build your own salad” and “brown bag” lunches, where employees could bring in lunch from home and have counselors evaluate the nutritional value of the lunch.

Another popular program among Frett/Barrington employees is “Steps Toward Success.” In January, the company purchased a small stepper that employees can use while sitting at their desks. The stepper tracks the number of steps taken.

“We set it up as a rotating piece of equipment. Each person has it for a week, and at the end of the week, we log in the number of steps done,” Frett says.

Frett/Barrington also had a walking contest among employees called “Shuffle Into Shape.” The company gave employees pedometers that held seven days worth of step data. Each week, everyone’s steps were recorded and logged into miles, and employees mapped out how many miles across the United States they accumulated.

Frett says their overall program has seen measurable successes in its employees. “It’s really changed people’s lifestyle,” she says.

Erin Hoffman, an employee at Frett/Barrington who participated in the “Employee Wellness Program,” lost more than 20 pounds and dropped four clothing sizes.

“I knew I was probably reaching the heavier side of the desired weight range for somebody my age and height,” Hoffman says. “With all the talk about wellness at work, I finally decided to make the financial commitment of having my family join a gym.”

The gym membership supplemented Frett/Barrington’s programs, Hoffman adds. “We were part of “Lighten Up Wisconsin” which encouraged us and taught me how to start tracking the minutes I was exercising and also focused on all the different types of exercises you can do. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a gym,” she says.

The walking pedometers also helped Hoffman realize that it does not take much time throughout the day to be active and make a difference in overall lifestyle.

Nutritional tools and education provided by the wellness program also made Hoffman realize the amount of calories actually consumed throughout the day.

“It was really a quantity issue,” Hoffman says. After realizing this, Hoffman tracked her calorie intake and activity expenditure with Sparkpeople.com. She said she now gets up for 5 a.m. workouts and eats more healthfully without completely cutting out any certain foods.

“We see the value in having healthy employees. Every time we go to meet with clients to do their renewal, we see their insurance rates going up,” Frett says. “They’ll ask us, ‘What can we do?’ and really the answer is to have people focusing on the lifestyle issues that in the end cost everybody more money.”

The bottom line, Frett emphasizes, is that with rising health care costs, the employer’s return on investment for managing these costs and increasing productivity are of greater interest to the company.

“People are taking notice,” Frett says. “The toughest thing is for organizations to figure out where to begin … my advice to clients is to just keep it simple.”

Hoffman, who, based on the number of steps recorded on her pedometer has almost reached San Francisco, agrees it is the first few steps in the wellness direction you want to be in that matter the most.

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