1) Problem:
In today’s corporate world, there seems to be not enough time in the day to complete the tasks given towards a certain employee. Due to this, the increase of sedentary employees has skyrocketed, leaving room for error as many health risks can spur from not walking enough throughout the day. This assessment will measure the amount of behavioral and physiological change throughout a mid-size company regarding the instillation of a walking program.
2) Refining the Problem:
The purpose of a walking program is designed to help employees recognize there is enough time in the day to walk the recommended amount of steps while increasing their overall health and physical activity. Typically, the general population for this assessment will be focusing on the men and women of a company who fall within the range of age span of 22-65 years old. Being that most of the population can walk with ease, there are no major risk factors or specific ability levels that come into play when analyzing their behavioral change. Staring at computer screens for a majority of the day can impair the employees thinking habits and limit their creativity for finding exercises throughout the day, as well as limits the amount of exposure they have to exercise throughout the day. Walking is simple, free, and can be achieved at all hours of the day all over the world. Creating a walking program, guiding out mile markers throughout the company will allow employees to see how simple it is to increase their daily step intake, yet more importantly I am hoping that it sparks change and recognition that walking around is not difficult. I want employees to come to the realization that they probably have walked this route around the company a million times before, probably not considering it any type of exercise. In light of this, measuring an employees overall behavior towards the program, will be a key part to the success of this program.
3)
In order to implement a successful program, there are many steps that need to be achieved before analyzing the results. First, it is imperative that I measure the employees participating in the challenge average steps per day and body measurements in order pre program in order to see change at the end of the program. After the four-week program, I will create a posttest that measures their overall changes in body measurements and daily step intake. The posttest will provide me with the information to see if the program was successful and how well the employees adapted to change, hoping that they will continue walking after the program is over.
I will motivate the employees through incentives; such as gift cards and little weekly challenge “trophies” that the employee can put on their desks as a little friendly competition. Throughout the challenge, constant feedback will be made after each day, announcing walking statistics, leaders of the week, as well as walking routes around the area that employees can continue exercising out of the work place. At the end of each week, I will want to have a suggestion/ comment box for the participants to see if anything should be changed or added to the program. By doing this, there will be room for improvement for myself, the employees, and the program itself for future years to come.
Overall, there will be no grading system or final exam, but what will measure ones success are his or her overall attitude towards the program, motivation to change, and their mindset towards exercising throughout the workday. Due to the fact that there is no written assessment, I will base their progress off of my overall opinion of their mindset change. I will also base it off of the scales below. After each day, the employees will log how many steps completed on a sheet of paper that is located in a common and frequently visited room.
4)
The components of the walking program that have been chosen to observe are the employees overall daily steps, behavioral change pre and post test as well as a measurement of their body measurements. Other components of this program are advertisement, planning out the walking route, budgeting for pedometers while making sure employees participate.
5) Scale
The scales chosen to assess performance are linked above. The employees and administer will have two different scales. Each employee will be assigned a number and at the end of each day will input their daily steps. At the end of each week, the administrator will collect the sheet and input his or her information into their own table which has an extra column labeled: excellent, good, and needs work.
Excellent means that the employee is achieving the recommended amount of steps per week, not afraid to increase their workload, as the recommended amount may not be a challenge anymore. Good means that the employee achieves the amount of steps per week, but does the bare minimum to succeed. Overall mindset there but he or she has room for improvement. The needs work column means that the employee is not motivated and not achieving the recommended amount of steps per week.
6)
As a test administrator, he or she will have a relatively easy time conducting this program, as the foundations of the program would already have been planted within the company. With this in mind, employees will have a general understanding of the program, what is needed to be successful, the walking route, as well as where to document the collected data. Result sheets will be hanging in the hallways, as each employee will have a private number due to confidentiality reasons. At the end of the day, the employee will mark down how many steps completed. Your job as an administrator at the end of the week is to categorize them into the scale above as excellent, good, and needs work.
7 ) Analysis of Results
The results used for a rating scale would be formative rather then summative due to the fact that this program is not designed for a pass/fail or letter grade. This program is designed to improve the employees overall mindset on exercise throughout their sedentary lifestyle of a workday. The ultimate rating scale, as previously mentioned would be if the employee landed in the excellent, good, or needed work areas. This allows the administrator to view who is succeeding with flying colors, who is walking just to “walk” and who needs extra motivation. Regarding body measurements, no necessary grade will be given but a so called “gold star” will be rewarded for employees who are working hard and determined to make changes.