Employer envy

Mr. Jelly Belly has an employer who is a lot more fun than mine is.

We don't have employee get togethers and picnics and golf outings and bowling leagues and soccer leagues. Or company shirts, jackets, hats, pens, golf balls...well, you get the idea.

We have a 2-hour Christmas luncheon.

To say their overall company morale was a bit higher than ours would be a huge understatement. At our company, we are not permitted to have good morale.

This policy is very clearly outlined in our employee handbook:

The Company does not tolerate any manner of workplace happiness. The Company will consider any form of lightheartedness occurring between two or more employees to be a serious offense. Walking with a spring in your step will lead to disciplinary action and the third such offense can and will result in termination.

Yeah. Not a fun place at all.

All of this is why I am always so jealous when Mr. Jelly Belly comes home with tales from the office. Like the time they sponsored Weight Watchers at Work. Paid in full by the employer with meetings held during working hours.

Their newest gimmick is the formation of a health and wellness committee. They send out newsletters with health and diet information and look for ways to motivate employees to lead a healthier lifestyle.

They have designated November as "Maintain Your Weight" month. They have distributed a pedometer to every single employee and employees are encouraged to rack up some miles. There are several different things they can do to earn points, which they log on a company website. Each time you earn 150 points, you win a $25 gift certificate.

Jealous. SO.VERY.JEALOUS.

The 75-year old owner of my company makes it perfectly clear that he hates overweight people and once called someone a “fat pig” while he was loudly berating her for some really minor mistake. I only wish I was making that up.

Anytime your employer wants to "walk the walk" instead of just "talking the talk" when it comes to employee health, I think that's a good thing. Sure, I know it probably has at least a little something to do with health insurance and finding ways to keep their rates down. But they really do genuinely care about their employees and want them to be happy in their job and healthy in their lives.

There are always employees who will complain about participating in this type of program. I invite those people to trade employers with me for just one month. They will be on their knees begging for their jobs back.

The environment in which you work can have such a huge effect on how you feel about your job – not to mention your stress levels.

Wouldn’t you rather have a dull, lower-paying job in a friendly, relaxed and even fun environment, than an interesting, higher-paying job in an atmosphere so oppressive that you have to literally force yourself to go to work every day?

(And if Mr. Jelly Belly wins one of those gift certificates, I am totally stealing it.)