SOPREMA bets on vitality

With a Fitbit and the app Fitter, thirty employees of SOPREMA are taking on the challenge of measuring a healthier lifestyle for three months. They are participating in the pilot "Healthy earned, healthy spent," an initiative of Healthcoin and De Friesland. The launch was accompanied at SOPREMA by a Healthy Wise three-day event. 

Monday morning, eight o'clock. In a shed on the SOPREMA grounds are tables full of bread and spreads. On the wall hangs a makeshift screen on which Mike van Holsteijn, founder of Healthcoin, will show his presentation after breakfast. The staff, mostly gentlemen, have taken seats on the dozens of chairs and are waiting to see what is to come.

Attention to CSR

Meanwhile, Catharina Ottens, hr manager at SOPREMA, does not hide her enthusiasm. Together with some colleagues, she has ensured that those who want to can now participate in the vitality program of Healthcoin and De Friesland. An initiative that matches SOPREMA's ambition, as CFO Geert Sibma explained in his welcome speech. "We want to make corporate social responsibility more important." The first steps toward this have already been taken, Ottens explains. ,,We offer our employees a health survey. This revealed that smoking, day and night shifts and stress are areas of concern. Since January 1, we have had the elderly policy. From the age of 55 people may choose to work only during the day. People over 60 are allowed to work one day less. They then go down 10 percent in pay, but build up 100 percent pension." And so more CSR measures have been introduced. Fruit in the canteen, company fitness, offering an anti-smoking program and training for personal and professional growth, for example. Furthermore, the company is looking for the greenest ways to travel, including abroad. The first step in making the fleet sustainable has already been taken: the old caddy has been replaced by a brand new one that runs on LNG.

Healthy lifestyle

Back to the 'Healthy earned, healthy spent' pilot that has now started. Rudin Eijgelaar of De Friesland explains the importance of a healthy lifestyle. ,,35 percent of disease costs are lifestyle related. Too high a workload, little exercise, obesity." According to Mike van Holsteijn of Healthcoin, there are also many temptations in everyone's environment that make it easier to make unhealthy choices. To do something about that, you really have to make healthier living attractive. And so Van Holsteijn came up with the Healthcoin. This is a digital currency that you can save by doing healthy things. And that is exactly what the SOPREMA employees will be doing during "Earned Healthy, Spent Healthy. The thirty participants all received a vitality box containing a Fitbit. Van Holsteijn: "It records the number of steps you take, but also sleep, heart rate and training activities." By linking the Fitbit app to the Fitter app, which was developed for Healthcoin, healthy behavior is directly rewarded. The more exercise, the more Healthcoins. Participants can also earn Healthcoins by participating in workshops and challenges, for example. They can spend the proceeds in sports stores and schools, or, for example, for a day in the sauna. The data are also displayed in the Fitter app. This gives them a picture of their own behavioral change."

'Everyone wins'

SOPREMA and De Friesland will not see the exact data of the participants for privacy reasons, but they will see a general report. SOPREMA can then discuss with the employees what is going well, what could be improved and how. Participants also fill out a survey at the beginning and end of the pilot in order to measure the effect. Van Holsteijn knows from experience that adopting a new lifestyle goes with ups and downs. ''But in the end, everyone wins by putting healthy behavior first." The start of 'Healthy earned, healthy spent' at SOPREMA went hand in hand with the Healthy Wise Three Days. Employees could take a workshop on Tai-chi, Psychosocial Workload or Working Safely at Height, among other topics. According to Ottens, the days went well beyond expectations. ,,The trainers received positive feedback and the employees were enthusiastic. This enthusiasm is motivating; they are increasingly driven to live healthier lives. They are even becoming somewhat competitive. So these three days are worth repeating, and I think the rest of 'Healthy earned, healthy spent' is going to be a success."