[May 15, 2013]

Fifth Annual National Employee Wellness Month Kicks off June 1: More Than 175 Companies Commit to Promote Healthy Lifestyles

Now in its fifth year, National Employee Wellness Month (NEWM) will once again kick off in June, helping employers focus on engaging employees in healthier lifestyles. This year, more than 175 companies have pledged their support, joining sponsoring organizations Virgin HealthMiles, the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease and WorldatWork to demonstrate their commitment to promote healthy lifestyles and provide motivation and opportunities for employees to adopt healthy habits.

For half a decade, National Employee Wellness Month has showcased how engaging employees in sustainable lifestyle change helps to improve employee health and productivity, lower healthcare costs and create a workplace culture of health. This annual initiative helps employers learn from best practices of how companies are developing successful engagement strategies that lead to healthier lifestyles.

This year's participants include some of the world's largest companies. All Proud Supporters of National Employee Wellness Month have demonstrated a commitment to employee wellness, taking an active role helping employees improve their health and shining a spotlight on this important issue.

National Employee Wellness Month's supporting organizations include:

AGCO, Alliance for Work-Life Progress, Alliant Energy (News - Alert), Alpine Bank, American College of Preventative Medicine, American Diabetes Association, American Institute for Cancer Research, American Society of Bariatric Physicians, AOL Inc., Ascend, Ascension Health, Aspect (News - Alert), Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), Austin Diagnostics Clinic, Austin Radiological Association, Avon, Balance Concierge, Baptist Health, BBVA Compass (News - Alert), beBetter Health, Belmont University, Benchmark Senior Living, Best One Tire, BestCompaniesAZ, Better Hearing Institute, Bingham Greenebaum Doll, Blue Cross Blue Shield Louisiana, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, bswift, Buffalo Rock, Canyon Ranch Institute, Care Continuum Alliance, Casa Grande Regional Medical Center, CBIZ, Chandler Chicco Companies, Charles Schwab, Children's of Alabama, City of San Antonio, Coca-Cola, Complete Care Center, Continental Tire The Americas, CPSI, Cummins, Dignity Health, Domino's Pizza, EBSCO, EnPro Industries, Epicor, Equifax, Exelis, Fairchild Semiconductor, Fender, Ferguson, Finish Line, First Horizon, FitDesk, Frost Insurance, Fyda Freightliner, Georgia-Pacific, Gore Design, GlaxoSmithKline, Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health, Gregory & Appel, Greystar, Harlandale Independent School District, Harry & David, Harvey Building Products, Hawaii Medical Assurance Association, Hawaii-Western Management Group, Healthcare Leadership Council, Healthways, Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, HollyFrontier Corporation, Horizon Healthcare Services, The Horton Group, Howard County Public School System, Hunter Douglas, InfusionSoft, Ingersoll Rand, Innovize, The Institute for Family Health, Intuit (News - Alert), IRIS International, Jack in the Box, Jarden, KapStone Paper and Packaging, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Louisville Water Company, Luxottica, Lyons Companies, Maidenform Brands, MainSoure Financial Group, meQuilibrium, Marketing Innovators International, Inc., MetroWest Medical Center, Michael Best and Friedrich, Midwestern University, The Motley Fool, Mutual Benefit Group, MWV, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, Norbord, Norfolk Southern, NW Natural, Nypro Packaging, Obesity Action Coalition, Ochsner Health System, Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services, OhioHealth, Open Symmetry, Oregon Medical Group, OWL - The Voice of Midlife and Older Women, PHH, Pillager School, Polar, PVH Corp., Regions Financial, Resource Training and Solutions, The Retirement Advantage, Inc., Rush-Copley Medical Center, Ryan, SAIF, Sanofi US, Santa Rosa County District Schools, Sapers & Wallack, Inc., Schulze and Burch Biscuit Co., Schwabe North America, SEI, Severn Trent Services, Sharp HealthCare, Sonic Automotive, Southwest Business Corporation, SpaFinder Wellness, Spalding County, Sprint, St. Joseph Health System, Stearns County, SWIMKids USA, Texas Health Resources, The Christ Hospital, The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, The Horton Group, The Ohio State University, Timberline Knolls, TotalWellness, The Tower Companies, United Methodist Church/General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, US Healthiest, Vera Bradley, Verallia, Verso Paper, Veterans United Home Loans, vielife, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile (News - Alert), Virgin Produced, Virgin Wines, Visant, Wellness & Prevention Inc., Western Connecticut Health Network, Willamette Dental Group, XLA, Inc.

Companies can celebrate the spirit of National Employee Wellness Month by promoting healthy lifestyles to employees. Employers and employees are encouraged to promote at least one employee health activity in the workplace and share their success stories on social media. Please share your photos and videos on Facebook and Twitter (tweet to @HealthMiles, hashtag #NEWM2013).

Learn more about National Employee Wellness Month at www.nationalemployeewellnessmonth.com. The site offers a variety of resources that employers can use to promote healthy lifestyles, including wellness insights, workplace wellness success stories and more.

ABOUT VIRGIN HEALTHMILES
Virgin HealthMiles, part of Sir Richard Branson's famed Virgin Group, is the industry's top performing health engagement platform. We help employers encourage their employees to adopt healthier lifestyles and create great places to work. Using the latest in social, gaming, and rewards technologies, Virgin HealthMiles gets more people to change their behavior in meaningful ways for longer periods of time than any other company. More than 200 industry leaders representing 1,000,000+ employees have selected Virgin HealthMiles' award-winning programs for their workplace. True to our Virgin roots, we don't just play the game. We change it for good. Learn more at www.virginhealthmiles.com.

ABOUT THE STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME AND PREVENT (STOP) OBESITY ALLIANCE
The Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance is a collaboration of nearly 70 consumer, provider, government, labor, business, health insurer and quality-of-care organizations working to drive innovative and practical strategies that combat obesity. The Alliance receives funding from founding sponsor, Sanofi. For more information, visit www.stopobesityalliance.org.

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP TO FIGHT CHRONIC DISEASE
The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) is a national coalition of patients, providers, community organizations, business and labor groups, and health policy experts committed to raising awareness of the number one cause of death, disability, and rising health care costs in the U.S.: chronic disease. For more information, visit http://www.fightchronicdisease.org/.

ABOUT WORLDATWORK®
The Total Rewards Association

WorldatWork (www.worldatwork.org) is a nonprofit human resources association for professionals and organizations focused on compensation, benefits, work-life effectiveness and total rewards - strategies to attract, motivate and retain an engaged and productive workforce. WorldatWork and its affiliates provide comprehensive education, certification, research, advocacy and community, enhancing careers of professionals and, ultimately, achieving better results for the organizations they serve. WorldatWork has more than 65,000 members and subscribers worldwide; 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies employ a WorldatWork member. Founded in 1955, WorldatWork is affiliated with more than 70 local human resources associations and has offices in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Washington, D.C.

WorldatWork Society of Certified Professionals^® is the certifying body for six prestigious designations: the Certified Compensation Professional^® (CCP^®), Certified Benefits Professional^® (CBP), Global Remuneration Professional (GRP^®), Work-Life Certified Professional® (WLCP^®), Certified Sales Compensation Professional (CSCP)™ and Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP)™.

The WorldatWork group of registered marks also includes: Alliance for Work-Life Progress or AWLP, workspan and WorldatWork Journal.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]