Get Support from the Top

The most important step to any new program or effort within a company is top level support.  If your leadership supports your health and wellness efforts:  congratulations! If not, then your first step is to secure his or her support.  Here’s how:

• Gauge their personal interest in health:  if it’s high, you already have a head start.  Chances are good that if your leadership is health conscious, he or she will be supportive of creating a store/working environment that encourages health.
• Show them the money:  Find out what your company currently spends on health care costs for employees.  Provide your leadership with a cost analysis of how much could be saved if employees adopt healthier habits.
• Appeal to their sense of competition:  Supermarkets across the country are proving that health and nutrition sells.  Provide your leadership with a list of comparable competitors in other market regions who are offering health and wellness programs.  Make the case that health and wellness programs offer market distinction, additional sales (if marketed properly) and offer customers added value for shopping at your supermarket.