Al Jisr Foundation ‘Project Wellness’ improves corporate productivity

MUSCAT: 'Project Wellness' is a corporate wellness programme that was launched by Al Jisr Foundation that focuses on employees’ wellbeing.

The aim of the initiative was to help employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviours, which would result in lowering health risks and improving productivity. Project Wellness targeted employees’ lifestyle habits: diet, physical activity, and sleep, which can prevent obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases.

The challenge duration was 10 weeks. It involved 4 organisations: Al Jisr Foundation, Meera, Miras Investments & Projects and Mazaya Oman. In total, 63 members joined and 6 teams were created, at random, to compete against each other for a monetary prize.

Zulaikha Al Zadjali, head of the Health initiatives, said “Project Wellness is not just a weight loss programme. It is about improving overall health and fitness by encouraging a lifestyle change. Throughout the 10 weeks, we provided our employees with Fitbit devices to monitor their activity, nutrition and exercise seminars, frequent diet tips through emails, weekly weight checks, blood pressure screening and scheduled fun team building activities.

“The programme was a success with 78% of the participants reported achieving their fitness goals and 98% reported an increase in energy levels.”

Saurabh Shah, a participant from Meera, lost 14kg throughout the competition. He said, “It’s important that we keep ourselves physically fit and spare time to exercise regularly.

“Due to busy lifestyles, we neglect our health. Project Wellness is an excellent initiative that raises awareness by creating a positive mindset towards leading a healthier life.

“There was personal attention given to each participant. Participants were given a body composition scan by a professional from Horizon Fitness and an informative presentation on the risk of obesity and unhealthy diets.”

It was concluded that the best way to improve employees’ wellbeing is through a workplace health initiative. Therefore, the foundation is inviting other organisations to implement a wellness project with the help of Al Jisr Foundation.

Project Wellness is an inclusive programme that is applicable to all genders, age groups, and physical abilities. Adjustments can be made according to personal health requirements.

The aim of the initiative was to help employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviours, which would result in lowering health risks and improving productivity. The challenge duration was 10 weeks