Merchants’ Colleagues are on the move!
In an effort to improve colleague health and well-being, Merchants Insurance Group, located on Main Street in downtown Buffalo, has been instituting a number of healthy initiatives, the latest being an in-house fitness area.
Unveiled July 12, the new, open area includes a walking track, treadmills that can be used while working, dedicated areas for yoga, Zumba, and other aerobics activities, as well as changing areas and small conference rooms.
In addition to its use for exercise, the room is set up as a lounge where employees can eat, meet and relax. The workout area is the latest project for the nearly 100-year-old Buffalo-based company in a multi-year, on-going initiative to get employees active and healthy.
- On-going programs include weekly yoga classes; weekly lunchtime workouts including cardio, Zumba, tai chi, and weights; and seminars during the year on topics such as exercise, healthy eating and prevention.
- A number of fitness campaigns, such as the “Win to Lose” team event encouraging colleagues to work on teams supporting each other for weight loss; “Move to Win”, an individual program to encourage increasing “step counts” per day, where participants logged 27,716,924 steps, which is like walking from Buffalo, NY to Beijing, China and back; and the “Under Pressure Campaign” to raise awareness of high blood pressure.
- The company also provides a monthly email “Wellness Tips” newsletter; annual flu shots; an annual wellness fair; and annual biometric screenings and health risk assessment.
- The company also encourages healthy eating through special “healthy food” campaigns in the company cafeteria.
