Company Spotlight: VHB – Workplace Health and Wellness Never Goes Out of Season

VHB is a local company made up of engineers, scientists, planners, and designers who are having a Healthy-VHB challenge where they are challenging each other to lose weight, eat healthy, and be active. They’ve started a running club to prepare for the Corporate 5k, had a healthy lunch kick-off with a talk by a holistic doctor. VHB Corporate 5k team member Christen Callahan shared how they keep the momentum going all year round!

TSE: How long has VHB been participating in the IOA Corporate 5K?
CC: 8 years

TSE: Estimated number of people participating in 2016?
CC: 35-40

TSE: How does your company instill healthy living into the corporate culture?
CC: VHB recognizes that health and wellness is important to employees and offers a wide range of benefits including cholesterol and blood pressure screenings, flu shots, nutrition workshops, wellness webcasts, fitness reimbursement, and the HumanaVitality wellness and rewards program.  VHB also has a VHBWell Programs Committee that puts on activities throughout the year, such as a monthly Pedometer Challenge.

TSE: Does VHB observe ‘Corporate 5K season’ or keep the emphasis on being active all year long?  If so, how do you do that?
CC: To encourage participation in the Corporate 5K, our office has a running group that meets regularly to train for this year’s race. VHB also pays the entry fees for our staff to participate.  In addition, a sample of some of the wellness related events as part of VHB’s VHBWell wellness program that runs throughout the year are as follows:

o VHB Step-a-thon & Walking Awareness Challenge
o Office Walking Maps – features routes for inside and outside trail markers to encourage walking breaks
o VHBeHealthy – Weight loss & Nutrition Awareness Challenge 
o VHB Bike & Green Commute Challenge 
o Various VHB Road Races & Corporate 5K Events  
o Ergonomics Awareness - Health & Safety Program 
o In-Office Yoga classes
o Healthy Breakfasts

TSE: Last year VHB placed top three in the Mixed and Women’s Divisions in the Engineering category (the most competitive!). Congratulations!  Are your runners going after their industry competitors again in 2016 or is the company emphasis mostly on the fun, networking, and camaraderie of the IOA Corporate 5K?
CC: The IOA Corporate 5K is a yearly team building event for VHB.  We reserve a tent, have food and drinks brought in, one year we even had a crawfish boil!  Families are invited to participate in any way they can, running or cheering the runners along. While we can’t say we don’t get just a little pleasure from out-pacing our competitors, we are focused on having a great evening with our friends and families.