March 6, 2006
King County brings Weight Watchers directly to employees at worksites
King County, as part of its wellness initiative, is working hand in hand with Weight Watchers to bring its popular Weight Watchers At Work meetings to employees of King County.
"Our goal is to empower employees to take charge of their health and make choices that will help them live long, healthy lives," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "We are supporting them in goals they have set for themselves."
"We are thrilled to offer At Work meetings to the King County employees," said Evie Chestnut, Corporate Account Manager for Weight Watchers. "King County is innovative in their approach to promoting employee health and wellness."
Bringing the weight management program directly to employees at King County worksites is part of the county's Health Reform Initiative, which strives to cut skyrocketing health care costs by improving employee health. The county has designed a new benefits program that ties out of pocket expenses to an employee's level of participation in wellness activities. Participation in Weight Watchers At Work meetings will not affect employees' out of pocket expenses, but will help them achieve their personal goals of weight management.
The program was announced last week and already meeting organizers have been contacted by dozens of interested employees. Organizational meetings to register employees will be held this week. The meetings are organized and conducted outside of county business hours and the county has agreed to provide conference room space for meetings.
"I think Weight Watchers has the best approach to weight management," said meeting organizer and King County employee Janey Elliott. "I have been waiting for the day when Weight Watchers meetings would come to King County for a long time, and I am so happy to see it finally arrive. I know there is tremendous interest from fellow employees in this kind of a program."