Whole Foods Creates New Healthy Employee Incentive Program
A number of you may be familiar with the Whole Foods Market chain; perhaps you even shop or work there. If you’ve never heard of them, they are a grocery store that specializes in “natural” and organic products including: pet products, baked goods, national brands, meat, produce, and more.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Recently, the Texas-based chain decided to issue a new incentive for their workers: The Team Member Healthy Discount Incentive Program. This program basically states that the healthier you are, the higher your employee discount will be. In order for an employee to qualify for the incentive, they must start out with a low Body Mass Index (BMI). This is a known indicator of the amount of body fat you have. It’s also used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health issues. Along with the low BMI, you must also have good blood pressure, low cholesterol, and not be a smoker.
Workers who qualify for the program will be rated on 4 levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. To break the levels down further:
- Bronze = 22% off discount
- Silver = 25% off discount
- Gold = 27% off discount
- Platinum = 30% off discount
If you want to know how to reach Platinum status:
- You must be a non-smoker.
- Your blood pressure must be 110/70.
- Your total cholesterol level must be <150 or LDL <80.
- Your BMI must be <24 (23.99 or less).
Wanting your employees to be healthy and live a healthier lifestyle may seem like a nice thing. However, there are some problems with this. Take blood pressure, for example. Sometimes bad blood pressure can be a result of other health issues or even genetics, and cannot be changed no matter how much a person may exercise or what amount of healthy foods they consume. Granted, cutting out bad habits like smoking or gorging on junk food is a good thing to do, regardless of what incentives it may get you, but the point is there may still be employees who won’t qualify for the program anyway.
Apart from their latest employee health program, Whole Foods has made great strides in the environmental field. It’s already known that they sell organic products, but did you know they were the only Fortune 500 company to offset 100% of their energy cost with the purchase of wind power credits? They have eliminated the use of plastic bags, donated at least 5% of their annual net profits to charities, and made the EPA’s list of “Top 25 Green Power Partners”.
To find out more about Whole Foods and where a store may be located near you, check out their website.
By Heidi Marshall
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Tags: grocery store, natural products, organic, Whole Foods
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