Employees Walk Around the World with Wellness

September 7, 2011      |      Posted on Posted in Press Releases

It takes 65,684,826 steps to walk around the earth.  For the employees of US Joiner and Turnbull LLC, it took only six weeks to reach and surpass that number by over 12 million steps.

In an innovative effort to engage employees in their personal health, US Joiner and Turnbull LLC teamed up with leading employee wellness provider, ACI Specialty Benefits and their AppleCore Wellness Program, to develop the company-wide walking challenge, “Cruising to Treasure Island.”  With a keen focus on engagement, motivation and accountability, ACI Specialty Benefits utilized their extensive experience in program development to design a customized, incentive-based, and results-driven program for each of US Joiner’s six U.S. locations complete with personalized program orientations and promotional office material at each site.  In just six weeks, over 31% of employees company-wide were able to walk a combined 38,900 miles—nearly 1.5 times around the world.

“A lot of hard work went into the success of this walking challenge,” explains ACI Specialty Benefits Wellness Director Nicole Quartuccio Ring, RD, “From enthusiastic executive-level buy-in, the development of program and marketing materials, and of course, to the hard working employees of US Joiner and Turnbull whose perseverance and commitment to health made this all possible.”

Throughout the program, employees were equipped with personal pedometers to track each of their steps throughout the day.  To foster friendly competition, prizes were awarded to not only the top individual walker in the company, but also to the location with the highest average number of steps per employee.  Some locations, including the winning San Diego location —who averaged over half a million steps per employee—even developed in-house prizes for departmental competitions.

“Competitions like this walking challenge are enjoyable for our employees and offer a chance to renew their focus on their personal health,” says US Joiner President David Rathburn, “We had employees parking in the next parking lot to accumulate more steps, people getting on the treadmill during their breaks and lunch hours—the buzz around the office for this program was just astounding.”

The grand-prize winner of a healthy night on the town for the challenge was Gary Black of Crozet, Virginia, who totaled nearly 1.5 million steps on his own.

“This high rate of utilization and impressive results are a testament to the will of US Joiner and Turnbull employees and the experience and dedication of the ACI Specialty Benefits AppleCore Wellness team,” proclaims US Joiner HR Manager Laura Bendler, “The sense of personal responsibility instilled in our employees along with the expertise, commitment, and attention to detail provided by ACI Specialty Benefits has been our recipe for success—they know how to get the job done right.”

About ACI Specialty Benefits
ACI Specialty Benefits ranks in the nation’s Top Ten providers of employee assistance programs, wellness, student assistance, and work/life services to corporations worldwide. ACI’s AppleCore Wellness Program includes creative challenges, unlimited wellness coaching, health seminars, access to the GetFit website and monthly publications. Founded in 1983, ACI remains a privately-owned specialty benefits corporation, headquartered in San Diego. For more information regarding ACI’s AppleCore Wellness Program or any other of ACI’s EAP services, please visit www.acispecialtybenefits.com or email ACI at askthepros@acispecialtybenefits.com.

About US Joiner
US Joiner installs and outfits high quality marine interiors for large, oceangoing vessels. If you need to furnish the marine interior of a commercial or passenger ship, oil platform or a military vessel, US Joiner will bring its considerable knowledge and capability to outfit your marine interior effectively and efficiently, while delivering the utmost quality, dependability and service.