WALKING THE WALK

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EBSCO Publishing in Ipswich offers free pedometers to its employees. David Le
Beth Howell, vice president of human resources for EBSCO Publishing, and Scott Lane, wear their pedometers as they walk down the hall. David Le
EBSCO Publishing employee Scott Lane takes a blood pressure reading at a station in the company's gym. David Le

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July 28, 2010

Ipswich business buys pedometers to get its employees moving

By Steve Landwehr STAFF WRITER The Salem News Wed Jul 28, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

They're on the move at EBSCO Publishing, where strolling the halls is replacing kibitzing around the water cooler.

Beginning in May, the Ipswich company began offering employees free pedometers, devices that clip onto a belt and measure the number of steps wearers are taking, calculating the calories burned, among other things.

They're one component of a program known as Virgin HealthMiles, started by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways.

HealthMiles essentially pays people to become more active, but at EBSCO it's also turning into healthy competition, in every sense.

"For me, the cash doesn't really have anything to do with it," said Kathleen McEvoy, the company's media communications coordinator.

When she first joined, McEvoy said, she would strap on the pedometer before walking her dog in the morning and tally about 5,000 steps. At work hours later, she realized the tracking device was still registering 5,000 steps.

"I realized I sit here for hours not doing anything," she said — or at least anything physical.

EBSCO sets objectives for all participants that include cash rewards when specific goals are reached. Taking 12,000 steps a day, for instance, is worth about $125. Rewards are also offered for entering information from the pedometer on HealthMiles' website.

Maximum incentives per employee are $500 a year.

Keeping track of things like blood pressure and weight, or making a no-smoking pledge, are also worth money.

Besides the companywide goals, departments within the company are also challenging each other to walk the walk, and of the 800 employees who work there, 456 are taking part so far.

The pedometers cost about $25 each, and even if every employee maxes out on the incentives, McEvoy said the expense is far outweighed by the benefits of the program.

"We're a self-insured company, paying for our own health care," she said. "A lot of companies are trying to make that connection about health."

Beth Howell is vice president of human resources at EBSCO. She said she considered herself to be an active person, albeit sporadically.

The pedometer told a different story.

"Way less" than she expected, she said. "I thought I was more active outside work than I am."

Like many employees, Howell's job keeps her desk-bound most of the day.

"I've found it's really motivating me," she said of the program. "The progress alerts we get every month have been telling me I'm not on track."

Scott Lane is superintendent of contract services in the engineering department.

"We're fitter than you think," he jokes about himself and the other engineers.

A recent project was the kind of thing that used to produce territorial protectiveness between departments, he said. But at the same time, a HealthMiles challenge was issued, and it served as an icebreaker.

The program has encouraged Lane to start riding his bike to work, who said he has only one regret: "It doesn't apply to spouses."

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