Despite temptations, Dave’s embraces health

At Dave’s Marketplace, employees face some unique hurdles to staying healthy and fit – namely, the products that surround them at work.
“At any given time, you can smell baked goods or pizzas being made,” said Kevin Lovett, senior vice president of employee benefits for Gencorp Insurance Group, of which Dave’s is a customer.
The independent grocer has several initiatives to keep its workers healthy. Chief among them is a “Biggest Loser” weight-loss competition: The eight to 12-week program, now in its fourth year, weighs employees weekly and ultimately hands out top prizes to the winning store and individual worker. This year, the grocer is rolling out a complementary multimedia program to promote diabetes awareness and preventative care.
Lovett called the competition “enormously successful” and “excellent for morale,” citing the 1,000 pounds employees collectively lost in its first year.
Enrolled employees must complete biometric screenings, a physical examination and a personal-health-assessment survey, with the reward that their deductible will be offset the following year. An upcoming smoking-cessation program will use several pathways.
The various measures have been “unbelievably well-received,” Lovett said, with 70 percent of employees participating. •