CGI Group Inc. has rolled out a new year’s wellness program that tackles employees’ health goals from an initial consultation through to the development of a personalized action plan.
The global information technology company, which has Canadian offices in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia, is offering the New Year, New Me program to up to 25 employees per location as an in-person, one-on-one consultation.
Read: Five health and wellness trends for 2018
Employees begin by filling out a health questionnaire and then meeting with an on-site kinesiologist to set their health goals and determine any challenges. “And then we work one on one over those eight weeks to develop a personalized action plan,” says Adam Burtnik, health and wellness coordinator at CGI Group.
The program is also available to all employees through an online plan, beginning with a health questionnaire to help determine which areas they should focus on and to help develop goals. In the following weeks, they receive online resources focused on nutrition or physical activity, sleep, stress and other topics.
“As part of that, we use the online program to promote the services available through our employee assistance program, in which they can have health consults with our third-party provider from a nutritional perspective or health-coaching perspective or physical activity perspective,” says Burtnik.
“That’s one of our key mandates of a wellness program — to promote what the EAP’s offering is and try to highlight that it’s not just crisis management or psychological counselling, but there’s a lot of other unique benefits that are basically free to the members, should they choose to use them.”
Read: What you don’t know about your employee assistance program
While CGI Group’s health and wellness services have been available to employees in various ways over the years, this is only the second year that it has been a part of a new year’s resolutions campaign. Depending on the location, it also aligns with other fitness offerings. For example, the company’s Markham, Ont. and Montreal offices have on-site fitness studios, so they offer a membership when employees enrol in the consultation program.
“Some of my colleagues across the country have compiled the different fitness facilities in their geographic area, and promoted the different deals that they have, as well as the different corporate rates we have with some of the larger, national gyms,” says Burtnik.
The program began in December with an early-bird incentive: a T-shirt branded with a company logo. “So that saw our registration rate increase quite a bit before the new year even started. And then in January, we continued that early-bird offer for an additional week, and then we just accepted regular registrations,” says Burtnik.
Read: Helping employees start the new year off on a healthy foot
Even though the program is underway, different locations are still accepting registrations, he adds. “Although it’s connected to the new year’s resolution, it’s really an opportunity to work with somebody for the eight weeks and accomplish their health goals, create a healthy behaviour change in any or all of those aspects to let them achieve their best.”
In early February, at the halfway point of the program, CGI Group is offering a session on healthy eating. In partnership with its employee assistance program provider, the session will also be broadcast as a webinar for all employees.