Each day StoneArch employees, including myself, face choices about health and wellness. Do I take the stairs instead of the elevator? Will I work straight through lunch? What about giving in to that 3 p.m. soda? Every. Single. Day.
Luckily for us, StoneArch supports helping employees incorporate healthy habits into our workday. This blog, for example, is written in part from a standing desk station overlooking the Stone Arch Bridge. Not a bad way to get inspiration. It’s a beautiful view and I’m combating the negative effects of sitting all day.
Health and wellness are at the very core of StoneArch’s philosophy and our work. They also extend to creating an environment that encourages healthy lifestyles among employees. Being a healthy and whole person encompasses your entire lifestyle: relationships, activity, nutrition, work and purpose. They all play into being a whole individual. StoneArch recognizes and encourages this balance.
Enter the STRETCH Committee. What started as a loosely defined “health and wellness committee” evolved into a movement where ideas for the health of employees and work culture are set in motion.
Have you read about the risks of sitting all day? The STRETCH team did. We raised the issue and created a solution (that solution being this standing desk). Someone else had the desire to bring plant life and energy into these dreary winter days. There was a STRETCH solution for that, too: everyone in the office now has their own self-made terrarium as a desk-brightener. Here, creating a healthy office environment has meant more than just replacing the candy jar – it’s been about empowering individuals to define what a healthy office is and then making it happen.
The STRETCH mindset has really caught on. It’s a “healthy peer pressure” of sorts. It’s hard to take the elevator when you walk out with a colleague who’s decided to take the stairs. It’s easier to take a quick walk during the day when someone else invites you to join them. And I don’t feel so dorky taking an hour to stand and work when there’s a station set up to do just that. So it’s OK to give in to peer pressure, especially when it’s of the healthy sort.