Success Stories > C-FER Technologies: Stress-Busting Lunch Hours and Fitness Fun

At C-FER technologies, lunch time is active time. Depending on the day of the week, you might find folks shooting hoops or playing soccer or enjoying bocce ball or heading out for a walk or run.

Nor is physical activity limited to lunch hour. Any time of day, you’ll see staff using the fitness room or taking a moment to do a few stretches. Even running the photocopier has become a “stretch” event, thanks to how-to posters on the wall.

For C-FER Contracts Administrator Lesley Wilson, it’s a vision come true. An avid runner, it pained her to see colleagues at the engineering firm hunched over their computers all day, sedentary and stressed.

“We have an absolutely beautiful lunch room with a door to the patio, and everybody stops to have lunch,” she says. “I thought if they could only get out, maybe they could eliminate some of that stress.” Hearing that Active Edmonton was scouting for workplace physical activity demonstration sites for 2006, she saw an opportunity. With management’s blessing, she put together a winning application.

As one of Edmonton’s four demonstration sites, C-FER received not only seed money but free consultations with MacEwan College wellness consultant Holley Christianson. Having an outside voice was key at that early stage, adding credibility as plans evolved.

C-FER formed a four-member wellness committee representing each of the company’s divisions. “We helped the team develop roles, so the workload was shared rather than one person taking on everything,” Holley says. “They were quite passionate about making a difference, which is great to see.”

First, the committee conducted a written survey to find out what sorts of physical activity and health and fitness learning sessions colleagues would welcome in the workplace. To ensure full participation and answer any questions, Holley administered the survey in groups of 10. The firm donated a half hour of every employee’s time to this important first step.

Nearly every idea raised in those surveys has come true, and a follow-up survey showed a significant increase in physical activity among C-FER staff. It doesn’t hurt that C-FER had some inbuilt advantages. First, it’s beautifully located in Edmonton’s research park, with an outdoor patio, an inviting lawn and multi-use trails just outside the lunchroom door. Second, the two-storey building came equipped with locker rooms and showers due to regulations about the chemicals used in its research laboratories. Third, the company had people passionate about wellness and willing to take the lead.

Frugal buying also helped. “It’s amazing what you can get if you go to people and ask,” Lesley says. But in some cases, it was a matter of unearthing what was already there. Take the basketball net. “It’s been there for years, stored underneath some pipes. They didn’t think anybody would be interested, but you’d be amazed how many of the guys go out and shoot hoops after lunch. It’s like the old saying, build it and they’ll come.”

Perhaps the most obvious legacy of C-FER’s three months as a demonstration site is an onsite fitness facility with commercial grade equipment. “Every time I walk by that fitness room, I get so excited,” Lesley says. “It doesn’t matter now if it snows for 20 months, we can still be physically active at work.” A small subset of the firm’s 73 workers use the room now, but she expects use to grow as results (including buff physiques) become apparent. What’s more, managers are discovering it’s a recruitment tool. “University kids say what made them choose our company over others was that room.”

"Awareness is another key legacy," Lesley says. “I don’t think most people realized that all it took was 20 minutes a day to have a healthy body.” Lunch-hour speakers reinforced that point and broadened the focus to healthy living. “Bringing in guest speakers on nutrition and personal fitness and ergonomics was probably the best thing we could have done. Everybody came to those.”

Well aware that this stew needs tending, the wellness committee meets every six weeks or so to cook up new ideas. Joining Health Canada’s Stairway to Health campaign, for example, they challenged C-FER to climb Mount Everest during February 2007. As in the past, their focus is on team wins rather than individual competition.

Lesley stands amazed at what this initiative has accomplished. “The stress level is definitely down. It has given people something else to think about, and it does build wonderful relationships. Now you’ll see employees who wouldn’t normally mingle stop in the hallway and talk.”

Staying Well at C-FER: A Summary of Initiatives

• Walking and running club: Anyone interested meets around noon, with walkers doing a 3-kilometre route and runners doing 5 kilometres. This initiative is a particular success.

• Group sports: A cabinet filled with balls and games, coupled with a weekly roster of events, encourage staff to join in shooting hoops, bocce ball, soccer, disc golf and more.

• Fitness room: Commercial grade elliptical trainer and bench press installed in an unused boardroom with matching funds from Active Edmonton and sponsorship by a local fitness company.

• Library: A new section of the library offers wellness resources, including some of the many health and wellness magazines available free by subscription.

• Intranet: A new intranet page provides wellness information and alerts staff to physical activity opportunities.

• Lunch & learn: Qualified speakers on topics such as ergonomics, nutrition, personal training, and finding a fitness facility. Speakers have included a dietitian who teaches at the University of Alberta, a physical trainer with the City of Edmonton and an independent ergonomic consultant. Most speakers were paid about $300.

• Ergonomics: New employees are offered ergonomic chairs and keyboards. In the research laboratory, where there’s a need to lift heavy loads, managers endorse stretch breaks and reinforce correct technique and other preventive measures.

• Healthy menus: Food ordered for meetings and conferences now includes healthy options with less emphasis on candies and dessert. Friday donuts have evolved to Friday donuts and muffins, offering a lower-cal option while keeping the social time.

• Social and charity events: C-FER gatherings include physical fun through such events as a golf tournament and a family bowling day. The demonstration period closed with a fun run/walk charity event for the Youth Emergency Shelter Society.