Rancho La Puerta, the destination spa in northern Baja California, has announced the measured results of its Employee Wellness program. The innovative program aims to inspire employees and their families to live a healthy lifestyle by following the founding practices of Rancho La Puerta. In addition to dramatic results achieved by staff members, the program appears to have had a broad and positive effect on many other residents of the region.
“The Employee Wellness program showcases the Ranch’s dedication to the health of our employees and guests, and makes positive results easily achievable,” says Roberto Arjona, Chief Executive at Rancho La Puerta. “With new statistics showing Mexico to be the most overweight country in the world, we see this program as part of our social responsibility not only to our employees but to the entire Baja region as we all strive for health and wellness through a balance of mind, body, and spirit.”
The program began a year and a half ago and now includes 440 employees, two doctors, a nutritionist, psychologist, and exercise psychologist. Workshops and classes cover topics that include cancer prevention, drinking risks, and healthy eating practices, while daily fitness classes (including spinning, kickboxing, Zumba, and more) take place Monday through Friday on property specifically for employees and their families. The program also aims to inspire all participants to continue with a more active and balanced lifestyle at home.
Complimentary lab work and physical examinations every six months have helped evaluate participants’ progression in the program. As of June, 2013, the Employee Wellness program had resulted in a combined weight-loss of 1,700 pounds, 4-percent on average body-fat reduction per person, decreases in pre-existing health issues, and an overall boost in excitement and energy from employees.
“In addition to the positive physical changes we’ve seen in our staff, we’ve noticed an overall moral boost, which in turn has a contagious effect on our Ranch guests and keeps them happy and motivated throughout their visit. We’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made and the benchmarks we’ve set and hope our programming ideas will inspire other businesses to take note and start similar programs that benefit their employees’ well being,” states Arjona.
Influenced in part by Rancho La Puerta’s Employee Wellness program, the city of Tecate and nearby businesses are beginning to enliven the well-being of their employees. For example, Tecate recently created the city’s first-ever bike routes and Rancho La Puerta transportation installed bike racks on their buses to encourage employees to bike to work. Rancho La Puerta has also created a preferred pricing agreement with Trek Bikes so it could offer micro-credit opportunity for employees to purchase and pay off their bikes on an affordable plan.
Mary Bemis
Mary Bemis is Founder & Editorial Director of InsidersGuidetoSpas.com. She is a pioneering spa journalist, most recently honored by Medika Life as one of the "Top 30 Influential Voices Transforming Wellness." She is an inaugural recipient of Folio's Top Women in Media Award, and was honored by ISPA with its distinguished ISPA Dedicated Contributor Award. In 1997, she launched American Spa magazine, and in 2007, Mary co-founded Organic Spa magazine. A pioneer in the sustainable spa and beauty worlds, Mary is co-curator of Cosmoprof North America's Discover Green Pavilion. She is a Global Wellness Day Advisor, and a co-founder of the Washington Spa Alliance.
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