More than 40 years ago, two Oregonians shook hands and formed a relationship that became the global Nike phenomenon. Today, the international marketer of sports sportswear is guided by a mission: Bring inspiration and innovation to all athletes in the world.. Meghan Simmons (Wellness Center Manager) explains: “Our mission stems from the belief that if you have a body, you’re an athlete. When we built our corporate campus, it was with a vision of fitness, health and wellness as a central part of our culture. We grew into a very basic program…not something mandated by a CEO. Everyone here just wants to be healthy.”

While Nike offers health and wellness services to its 35,000 employees around the world, the resources at corporate headquarters (near Beaverton OR) are especially impressive. They include 2 gymnasiums (110,000 combined square feet), Olympic-size indoor pool, 8 group fitness studios, 2 international soccer fields, volleyball court, and rock-climbing wall.

Full-time and contract professionals provide a wide variety of wellness options for more than 5,000 headquarters employees, with some off-campus for those in the surrounding areas:

• Acupuncture

• Certification in CPR, first aid and automatic external defibrillator

• High-end VO2 max fitness tests

• Hydrostatic body fat test

• Massage

• Monthly health exams

• Weight Watchers®.

Wellness is closely associated with Human Resources/Benefits. Every year they sit down together and identify the top employee health issues, then develop a calendar of initiatives targeting high-priority areas.

Creativity Enhancement Programs

Meghan praises the innovative ability of her team. “We often do sessions where someone asks a question or throws out a word, then people respond with related words or phrases. We write everything down without trying to analyze it. Then we gather those thoughts together and discuss them. These sessions allow us to build on the ideas of others. The results become fun and crazy ways to achieve our goal.”

Meghan describes one example: “We created a prize wheel to help promote interest in our programs. We take it to mobile mammography sites, new hire orientations, and even our campus farmers’ market…anywhere we anticipate lines or crowds. Employees spin the wheel and get raffle tickets equal to the number it lands on. We also put prizes on the wheel itself. It can be anything from a free massage to a bottle of water. It’s been very popular “.

Meghan laughs: “Sometimes our creativity comes back to bite us. Once we were planning a week-long flu vaccination campaign. We thought it would be a great idea to print napkins with a bold logo and the slogan ‘Take one for the team, beat the flu bug.’ They were distributed all over campus. Well, Nike is a big fan of sustainability and we don’t use recyclable napkins. The lesson here is to consider the company’s bigger goals as well as your own , when planning”.

Sometimes the shows are so popular that they become a permanent fixture. A few years ago an acupuncturist came to talk about Chinese medicine and offered a group session. Acupuncture was so well received that individual sessions are now offered 3 times a week. Although primarily used to treat injuries, employees find acupuncture useful for treating stress, infertility, digestion, and allergies. Health plan employees are reimbursed up to $500 for acupuncture, as well as naturopathic and chiropractic treatments.

Since partnering with HR/Benefits, Wellness staff can now offer numerous free health screenings with aggregated results for your analysis:

• Bone density
• Glucose
• listening
• lactic acid
• lipids
• mammograms
• Prostate
• skin cancer
• thyroid
• Vision.

Meghan gives Nike high marks for encouraging employees to strike the right work-life balance. “If you need an hour or so to yourself…whether it’s to work out or go to the doctor…it’s never questioned. We tell employees to ‘do the right thing, whatever it is for you.'” That may mean coming in early, staying late, telecommuting for a couple of hours each day, or moms taking time to use campus lactation rooms during the day. The options are there.”

team merger Gets the least adjustment on the door

About TV show time the biggest loser became popular, Nike created team merger, a healthy weight loss competition. “We wanted to avoid just measuring pounds lost, which could lead people to try to lose weight in unhealthy ways. So we added body fat and waist circumference to our contest. A $25 entry fee goes towards cash prizes. Participants are given all the resources they need to map their progress.” Meghan points out that because people tend to focus only on the pounds, they may need education on the importance of waist circumference and body fat measurements.

The annual 10-week competition begins in February. “January is dedicated to promoting the contest. People get involved in other things during the holidays. Then it takes about 2 weeks for them to get back into some kind of routine.” Promotion strategies include:

• Posters in the lobby

• intranet

• Nike radio station

• Reference fitness trainers and instructors

• Staff promotional t-shirts.

Each competition ends with a celebration party, where the winners are announced and prizes awarded. Raffles throughout the party encourage attendance. Local vendors offer many prizes, as does Nike. For example, Nike Good for you fitness package is 60 minute massage, $20 campus lounge credit, 1 acupuncture session, 45 minute coach training and nutrition session. Another prize package from Nike includes a lesson with the professional golf, a new putter, golf apparel and a golf bag.

To help give participants a mental picture of overall results, Nike compares certain numbers to Nike products. Last years team merger Resulted in:

• 250 participants, with 180 finishing

• 1,379 pounds lost (equivalent to 897.75 pairs of Nike Air Max 360 III, Men’s Size 9)

• 349.5 inches lost (or 25.8 boxes of Nike shoes from end to end)

• 428.1% body fat lost.

Nike employees come together in teams of 3; incomplete teams are paired with other individuals to form a complete team. Meghan stresses that Nike is all about teams. “It fits our approach and helps keep everyone motivated. You know you’re not alone in the fight. Teams do everything together, including taking your measurements, working with a trainer and getting a nutrition consultation.”

Like many companies with on-site gyms, Nike faces the challenge of attracting people who think gyms are only for the physically fit. A strategy to overcome this misconception, called ActiveGroup, was developed by Body Training Systems; targets the beginning or out-of-condition athlete in a program that combines stretching, cardio, and weight training. Participants do not need to be gym members to join these classes. team merger members only show a wristband when registering.

Final Thoughts on Outsourcing

Meghan’s department relies heavily on contractors. In addition to getting legal advice on all deals, he advises anyone in the same situation to do their homework. “It is very important to make a good impression. When we hire a contractor, they represent us. Therefore, we personally make sure that they are among the best, through reference checks and research. If possible, we will see them in action …The Wellness team needs to do this… if we’re asking someone to come to a program, it had better be worth it. They’re taking valuable time out of their day for this. Whatever they’re missing, this should be better.”