Each year Americans can spend more than 2,000 hours in the workplace. For some employees, it can be difficult to maintain healthy lifestyles during working hours. Many San Diego County residents find monthly support in their email inboxes and posted in their workplaces: the Live Well @ Work newsletter.

The Live Well @ Work newsletter has been educating employers and employees on healthy practices since September 2013. The newsletter is developed by the Worksite Wellness Program for the NEOPB initiative at UC San Diego Center for Community Health, funded by CDPH though the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency. To date, the newsletter reaches more than 5,000 employees from over 50 worksites around San Diego County and has facilitated many partnerships with local and national organizations such as Feeding America San Diego and the American Heart Association.

The newsletter development team members create positive and intriguing content that provides employees and employers alike with the knowledge required to make improvements in their health. Live Well @ Work features articles about positive practices to improve health from employee and employer perspectives, nutritional guidance education, local Wellness Champion highlights, Harvest of the Month and EatFresh.org promotions, and an event calendar that helps promote and connect San Diegans to community events with an emphasis on health. The awareness and direct education provided by the newsletter gives employees and employers tools to make positive changes within their work environments. In turn, this benefits the San Diego County community members and beyond.

If you are interested in receiving the Live Well @ Work newsletter for your organization or to  learn more about the no-cost worksite wellness program, please contact the Worksite Wellness Program at worksitewellness@ucsd.edu.

Article written by Kelley Thompson, Center for Community Health, Worksite Wellness Program, UC San Diego