Rand Worldwide (OTCBB: RWWI), a global leader in providing technology solutions to organizations with engineering design and information technology requirements, today celebrates the accomplishments of employees from Australia, Canada and the United States who participated in the company wide Weight Loss Challenge. The goal of this voluntary employee health and wellness initiative was to encourage staff to make healthy lifestyle choices and demonstrate how small changes can have a large impact.
Carole Trask, vice president of human resources at Rand Worldwide, who was also a participant in the challenge, says, “We wanted to continue the positive momentum created by our first wellness challenge so we followed it up with another fun activity that provided multiple benefits. In addition to shedding a few pounds and encouraging a healthier approach to food and physical activity, a bonus for everyone was the camaraderie that took place across teams around the globe. And because research indicates that healthier employees are happier employees, ultimately our customers are winners too.”
Winning Results
To provide support, encouragement, and increase the chances of success, employees formed teams at the beginning of the 12 week challenge. There were teams from ten Rand Worldwide offices throughout North America and Australia. Members of the top three teams that shed the most weight, based on percentage of weight lost, shared prizes including amazon.com gift cards, three month gym memberships, and exercise products.
Individuals that recorded the largest percentage of weight loss every three weeks, received bonus gift cards. At the end of the three-month challenge, the top three individuals who lost the most weight based on percentage of weight lost split the winners’ pot that was generated through a $20 registration fee. The two individuals who came in first and third place both hailed from the Omaha, Nebraska office while the second place winner came from the Vancouver, British Columbia office. Participants joining in on the challenge came from Rand Worldwide offices including: Adelaide, Australia, Detroit, Michigan, Des Moines, Iowa, Framingham, Massachusetts, Independence, Ohio, Mississauga, Ontario, Omaha, Nebraska, Owings Mills, Maryland, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as several home offices in between.
In the end, the Weight Loss Challenge resulted in an average 6.2% lost per participant.
The top 3 teams were:
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: collective weight lost: 12.39% per participant
- Marketing Waist Removal: collective weight lost: 9.73% per participant
- Pounds Away: collective weight lost: 6.39% per participant
The winning individuals were:
- First Place – from the Omaha, NE office with 18.42% weight loss
- Second Place – from the Vancouver, BC office with 18.33% weight loss
- Third Place – from the Omaha, NE office with 15.99% weight loss
Based on the successes of both this and Rand Worldwide’s inaugural wellness challenge, the company is speaking to employees about what shape the next health and wellness challenge will take.
Three Rules to Success
Even with the team support and enticement of prizes, making the change to healthier habits can be difficult. A member of the Marketing Waist Removal team, Nathania MacGregor, saw great success and shared three key rules that could be applied to anyone looking to shape up.
Rule #1 – Eat healthy 6 out of 7 days of the week
“This meant one day a week I could splurge and have something fun. Honestly – I didn’t feel deprived at all,” says Nathania MacGregor, director of marketing, IMAGINiT Technologies, a division of Rand Worldwide. “My body stopped craving bad foods.”
Rule #2 – Go to the gym at least three times a week
“My advice here is – pick an activity you love,” says Nathania. “I actually like going to the gym so I didn’t dread it. If you hate it, you won’t do it. So walk, run, swim, dance…whatever gets you going – pick it and commit to it.”
Rule #3 – Have the support of others
“Having the support of team members was invaluable,” says Nathania. “It’s much easier to not cheat when you feel like you’re being held accountable,” she concludes.
About Rand Worldwide
Rand Worldwide is one of the world’s leading professional services and technology companies for the engineering community, targeting organizations in the building, infrastructure, and manufacturing industries. The company advances the way organizations design, develop, and manage building, infrastructure, and manufacturing projects. Fortune 500 and Engineering News Record's Top 100 companies work with Rand Worldwide to gain a competitive advantage through technology consulting, implementation, training, and support services. One of the world's largest integrators of Autodesk software, the company also provides data archiving based upon solutions from Autonomy, facilities management software from ARCHIBUS, CAD and PLM courseware through their ASCENT division and provides training and support solutions on Dassault Systèmes and PTC products.