Liz Arnold, TMG Business Coordinator, draws names for her Start Walking Now Wellness team this quarter. Other team captains are Eric Dethamphaivan on left and Kim Murray on right.
Health plays a big role in many aspects of our lives. The better we take care of our health, the more prepared we are to handle the conditions we face at work. I’m sure by now you have heard or read about the benefits of healthy employees as there are plenty of stories about how significant the connection is. The most notable is increased productivity. Thankfully the leadership at our firm gets it, and we have had renewed investment in the health as one of our many office benefits.
For those of us who travel regularly for accessibility surveys, the benefits could not be more direct and obvious. Instead of just claiming more mental alertness, our jobs actually require us to maintain a level of physical fitness: many of us spend the majority of the day on our feet, walking buildings and sites, measuring and recording for hours on end. Because our clients need us to work within their business hours, it is often critical that we can work quickly and efficiently. To do so, we need to be both physically and mentally alert. The more alert we are, the better we can do our jobs, and the happier our managers (and more importantly – clients) are.
To help encourage us, The McIntosh Group has started a wellness program including a walking competition. We formed three teams and challenged each other to walk as many miles as possible. For those of us who are on the road conducting ADA surveys, the first two miles of our daily goals comes easily, but pushing ourselves beyond that can be challenging. It has been fun and rewarding both as an individual and as a firm to watch our totals steadily increase. Step by step we will become an even better and more fit company!
Bethany is s an accessibility surveyor and part of the prototype rollout design team, Bethany recently completed the inaugural class of Leadership AIA, is an Associate AIA Member and part of the Young Architects Forum.