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Business Plan for Big Top Candy Company

PPE 310-Healthy Learning Communities

Kim Booth, Bianca Pineda, Ana Martinez, and Maci Shill

Arizona State University

October 25, 2017

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Business Plan for Big Top Candy Company

Creating a business plan for a wellness program is not always easy to do, but it is beneficial for
the employees and the company. When creating a business plan, its important to identify any
potential risk factors that contribute to environmental health at the company. After the potential
risk factors have been identified, then strategies can be developed to overcome those challenges.
An example of how a business plan for wellness program can work is at the Big Top Candy
Company. The Big Top Candy Company has been in business for a few years. However, the
company doesnt promote a wellness program for the employees. The CEO and managers of the
company have noticed an increase in employees being absent from work due to illness. As a result,
there has been a decrease in products being produced. So, as change agents at the company there
have been identified potential risk factors that contribute to environmental health and developed
some strategies to help resolve those issues.

Several risk factors are contributing to environmental health at the Big Top Candy Company such
as obesity and stress. Obesity is a risk factor that contributes to environmental health at the
company. "The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between
calories consumed and calories expended (Obesity and, 2017). However, in many companies,
obesity happens because of the lack of physical activity from employees. They are sitting down
non-stop in the same chair for long periods of time.

Additionally, many companies are near fast-food restaurants, and this is what influences the
decisions of employees to eat there. The employees eat food whenever they have time and not
when they need to eat which contributes to unhealthy habitats. Although some companies may
think employees health doesn't affect their work, "The connection between health and job
performance is widely known... a healthy workforce results in reduced downtime due to illness,
improved morale, increased productivity..." (Evans, 2013). Another risk factor at the Big Top
Candy Company is stress. According to statistics, workers reporting stress had a 46 percent
increase in their healthcare costs (Unknown, 2016). Stress can lead to various negative effects
that can harm employees health. For example, too much stress can lead to people having
cardiovascular diseases. It is important to note that, Stress may affect behaviors and factors that
increase heart disease risk: high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity
and overeating (Stress, 2017).

There are several strategies that the company could do to implement the wellness program.
Setting general goals is the first step to creating a successful strategy (Guide to Workplace,
2016, pg. 5). To be taken seriously as a business wanting to implement lifestyle changes, we need
to lead by example. This means we need to be demonstrating how great the changes can be by
individually participating in all that apply to us. Employers can lead by example by, Providing
healthy balanced food choices during workplace celebrations, gatherings, and providing healthier
foods in the vending machines (Healthfield, 2016). The company can also create a support group
for the employees.
The support group can go a step further and educate employees on how to read and understand
food labels. A strategy Progressive Insurance uses to help their employees stay healthy is providing
reimbursements for weight loss programs. The change agents believe that we can implement a
similar strategy. Instead of weight loss programs, the Big Top Candy Company can provide
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reimbursement for cooking classes, nutrition classes that highlight healthy eating and exercise
programs. The Big Top Candy Company can also help to, Eliminate negative side effects of stress
by implementing a stress management program. From this program, we will save money just from
reducing things such as high turnover rates, strikes or work absences (Unknown, 2016). Stress is
a common issue that has a simple solution.
Another strategy would be that all members of the company are included; including the president
and vice president of the company. Sometimes employees need to see their leader being involved
in the same activity to see that what is being implemented is important. More than just leading by
example, we need to get the employees on board. This will happen by listening to their issues with
the change and meeting them on their level. We need to personally talk to the resistant individuals
to discover the place where we need to start. When we have found the issue, it takes baby steps to
get to the finish line. We will talk them out of their resistance by getting them to the OK zone,
which is where they are, Willing to entertain some other views, but only within a narrow range
around their own attitudethis range is the latitude of acceptance, (Overbeck, 2015). This zone
allows the employee to see the change in a new light to gain more understanding, and hopefully,
acceptance of it. It will require time and patience, but attitudes can be turned around.
Developing a wellness program for a company is essential. It is not only beneficial to the
employees but the company as well. In order to design a successful wellness program, a business
plan needs to be created. As change agents at the Big Top Candy Company we identified some
risk factors that contribute to environmental health. For instance, we identified obesity and stress
as being risk factors that contribute to environmental health. We also developed some strategies
that will be beneficial to the employees. For example, some of the strategies for the company are
to start a support group, provide healthier food choices, and implement a stress management
program. Its important to remember that whatever challenges companies face there are always
solutions to the problems.
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References

Evans, L. (2013, March 15). What 3 companies are doing to keep employees healthy .

Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226041

Heathfield, S. M. (2016, November 30). How to encourage healthy food choices at

work. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-encourage-healthy-food-choices-

at-work-1917961

Obesity and overweight. (2017) Retrieved October 25, 2017, from

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

Overbeck, Jen (2015). You dont have to be the boss to change how your company works. 2-6.

Stress and
(2017,
October
from April
26Heart
20). Health.
Retrieved
Retrieved from http://www.hbr.org
220-223 Retrieved from Stress and Heart
Unknown
Health. author
(2017, (2016).
April 20).
Guide
Retrieved
to Workplace
OctoberWellness,
26, 2017,
Stress and Heart Health. (2017, April 20). Retrieved October

26, 2017 from

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/StressManagement/HowDoesStressAffectYo

u/Stress-and-Heart-Health_UCM_437370_Article.jsp#.WfKsp2hSyUl

Unknown Author (2016). Guide to Workplace Wellness, 220-223. Retrieved

from http://www.healthadvocate.com
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