Accounting for Good Health

BCG & Company cares for its employees — and their well-being.

People who work in offices tend to sit, at their desks … a lot.

To offset that sedentary lifestyle, BCG & Company has given its employees the tools to help them get and stay healthy.

Last year, Dave Brockman, managing director of this Akron-based accounting firm, attended a presentation by the American Heart Association about heart disease and the benefits of walking. He wanted his company to be represented in the AHA’s Akron Heart Walk and to create a walking-based program at BCG.

“Paula Harmon, senior manager in our Entrepreneurial Services department and longtime fitness guru, stepped up to lead our team at the Heart Walk,” says Amber Hyster, BCG’s HR and operations assistant. “I offered to take over the program-planning and bring together a group of BCGers who were as passionate about health as Paula and I were. We ended up finding seven others to complete our Heart Team.”

Hyster researched ideas for a walking program that would fit BCG’s staff demographics, and after multiple Heart Team meetings and months of planning, the “BCG HeartSmart – One Step at a Time” program was introduced firm-wide July 28.

AHA Heart Walk Director Jennifer Ewing spoke to employees about heart disease and showed them how to use their Start! Walking Now tracking system. Employees wore pedometers daily and tracked their steps online. They also earned credit for biking, aerobics and weightlifting. Employees received health assessments at the beginning of this 13-week competition and at the end, and participating staff members learned all their essential health numbers: heart rate, blood pressure, body fat and BMI.

At the end of the competition, employees had the opportunity to choose gift cards in denominations of $25, $50 or $100, depending on how many points they’d earned. The firm’s top male and top female participants could choose between $200 cash or two additional paid vacation days.

“We were shocked how well the competition went over with staff,” Hyster says. “Nearly 70 percent participated.”

The firm’s health and wellness program, BCGFit, promotes eating well, physical activity and keeping healthy, and it offers newsletters, periodic “tips & tidbits” and informational lunch ‘n’ learns. A nurse also visits the firm each fall to give flu shots to employees and their spouses.

Hyster says employees perform better when they’re happy and healthy.

“They give us their efforts day in and day out,” she says. “And if there’s any way we can support them outside of the traditional benefits, we want to do all that we can.”