Wellness by Design 2012 - Hennepin County, Minnesota



2015 Worksite Winners

by Level

Bronze

Architecture Technology Corporation, Minneapolis,

Software Development/35 employees

+Green

We are conscious of the footprint we leave. We recycle and host annual electronic recycling for our employees so harmful electronics do not end up in landfills.

Carlson Advisors, LLP, Brooklyn Park

Accounting Firm/70 employees

+Green

We try to take advantage of the promotions offered by Hennepin County Wellness and tailor them to our group, making friendly competitions and challenges to gain more participation. Upper management has been really supportive to our ideas and promotions. Attendance has increased in our lunch and learns by both management and staff. If we haven't done a challenge for a while, people ask when we will be doing one again. It is good to see how engaged our employees have become in our wellness movement.

Center for Diagnostic Imaging, St. Louis Park

Health Care/2,000 employees

Our associates represent our most important resource, and their health and well-being is crucial to our organization and success. The company wellness program provides our associates with tools, information, and incentives to help make simple lifestyle changes to maintain and improve health. Our wellness initiatives include:

• A Wellness Calendar with monthly wellness topics that guide our programming and communications.

• An e-mail booklet with information on the month's topic, highlights of our company benefit plans related to the monthly topic, challenges and contests taking place on our online wellness portal, a healthy recipe, and a highlighted smartphone app and book.

• Promotion of a biometric screening incentive (medical insurance premium discount or extra PTO for those not enrolled in the medical plan).

• An online wellness portal (Novu) that enables associates to create individualized wellness programs based on their personal goals and interests while earning points for steps taken on the path toward healthier living (which are redeemable for entries into raffles, donations to charities, or local deals).

CenterPoint Energy, Minneapolis

Utility/1,375 employees

+Green

Our SWAT (Safety Wellness Action Team) is dedicated to the development and maintenance of a high performance safety and health culture. Through education and healthy lifestyle initiatives, we promote a safe, healthy, and productive workforce that is recognized as an important part of CenterPoint Energy’s vision. We engage employees in on-the-job and off-the-job experiences that lead to a healthy lifestyle and safe work practices.

Citizens Independent Bank, St. Louis Park

Banking, Financial Services/74 employees

+Green

Our main focus is to ensure that the wellness program is accessible to all employees and all fitness levels. The core of our program is a summer fitness challenge where employees earn points for wellness activities such as eating healthy, being physically active, quitting smoking, or getting a full night’s sleep. Prizes are awarded for both individual and team categories. In 2013 and 2014, we were able to expand beyond the fitness challenge to include a flu shot clinic, free AED/CPR certification, a blood drive, wellness speakers, company-provided healthy snacks, a tobacco cessation incentive, a weight loss incentive, and educational e-mails on a variety of wellness and environmental topics. We have 74 employees across four locations, so we always plan our wellness activities to accommodate the variety of schedules and resources. We ended 2014 with 82 percent employee participation, up from 40 percent in 2012.

City of Robbinsdale

Local Government/70+ employees

+Green

Teamwork, consistency, and commitment are the three areas we’d want other organizations to know about how Wellness by Design works for us. One of our organization’s strengths is that we can provide accurate and useful wellness information to our employees with assistance from the Health@Work staff. Consistently encouraging our employees is another success in our wellness program. We are consistent in our message to employees that their wellness matters; regular

e-mails and posting in our lunchrooms inform and encourage our employees. We communicate to employees the commitment to wellness from senior management. Also, our city council members show their support when staff presents them with an annual report of what our organization is doing in the area of employee wellness.

Constellation, Edina

Accounting Specialist/85 employees

+Green

The unique strength of Constellation’s wellness program is our well-being committee. Made up of 13 employees from across the company (including management, operations, telecommuters, and members in our Utah office), the committee meets monthly and has led many successful initiatives using a collaborative team approach. Our biggest innovation is our health and well-being reimbursement, which reimburses all employees up to $200 per year for well-being-related purchases. The reimbursement applies to any of the five elements of well-being as defined by author Tom Rath in Wellbeing: career, social, financial, community, and physical. To date, our proudest success is fulfilling our mission to foster a worksite culture that educates, motivates, and supports all employees’ personal well-being and professional productivity. We have accomplished this through a gradual culture shift in the past three years of the program’s existence.

ConvergeOne Collaboration, Golden Valley

Telecommunications/84 employees

+Green

We are based in Golden Valley, but we have employees across the nation and in the United Kingdom. We strive to make our wellness benefit programs easily accessible and attractive to our entire population.

Hammer Residencies, Inc., Wayzata

Human Services/530 employees

+Green

Our worksite wellness program is relatively new but has accomplished a great deal. In just the past year we have created a nursing mothers room, started a salad group, and obtained an onsite gym with shower facilities. We also have an active lunch group that goes outside to walk, dances to Zumba, or uses the gym next door. We have purchased a bicycle rack, offered Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) memberships to all employees, and are working on improving our vending options. We have had many contests and have had multiple success stories—including three employees who have lost over 75 pounds each. Our employees have access to the wellness intranet site, which has information on physical activity (including exercise ideas and community resources), nutrition (including CSA info, recipes, and farmers’ market information), and wellness (including nature, music and arts, spirituality, the mind-body connection, and more).

Hanratty & Associates, Plymouth

Insurance Agency/29 employees

+Green

Every two years we host a free biometric (46 point test) blood screening for all employees and their spouses. Employees use this comprehensive wellness screening to learn of illness or disease early so they can effectively manage their health. It’s a great opportunity for employees to learn more about their health risks at no cost to them (and spouses too!). We also have a game room, fitness room, and shower in our office facility. Employees can barbecue or bike, play foosball, ping pong, putt putt golf, or darts, and use treadmill and elliptical machines during work hours! We also have a full kitchen and “dream room” for employees to relax and take quiet time/breaks.

Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis, Minnetonka

Nonprofit/130 employees

+Green

The mission of the wellness committee is to promote a worksite culture that supports employees' desire to make healthy lifestyle choices. More than half of the staff participated in worksite activities in 2014. The Step To It Challenge was one of the most popular programs and several employees purchased Fitbits to keep them motivated and have continued long after the challenge was completed. These are some of the additional activities/events that we offered throughout the year:

• Motivational speaker on four keys to successful, life-long weight management

• Classes on yoga, cycling, Zumba, and Qi gong

• Cigna Insurance talk about all the rewards that employees can take advantage of

• Healthy Grazing Day

• Spring health fair

• Chair massages

• Take It Outdoors contest

• Flu shots

• Poker walk

• Stretches at all-staff meetings

Magenic, St. Louis Park

High Tech Consulting/550 employees

+Green

Magenic’s focus on worksite wellness has evolved over the past few years. We have a supportive culture with active participation of executive leadership, our Magenic-in-Motion branding of the program, and use of technology. During 2014, we partnered with the EveryMove@Work program. This program has helped us motivate employees and inspire an active workplace. The program has a platform that connects to fitness trackers and applications for our participants to track their progress, inspire co-workers, compete in workplace challenges, and earn rewards, ranging from gift cards to charitable donations. This technology has been well received by our employee base of highly competitive technical professionals. As a result, we have received numerous testimonials from participants.

Michael Foods, Inc., Minnetonka

Food Manufacturing/3,600 employees

The Michael Foods, Inc. leadership team gets very excited about wellness for its employees by allowing a generous budget and the opportunity for staff to participate in the various activities.  Our wellness initiatives focus on three areas:  1) Physical Activity, 2) Education and Awareness and 3) Changing Behavior.  We like to have fun along the way with programs such as food giveaways, massages, exercising or exercising more, losing weight, educational seminars, health fairs, yoga and fun prizes.  And because we know that wellness is not just physical, we offer our employees financial wellness and various opportunities to participate in the community. We love to keep our programs fresh and new for our employees in order to continue to encourage and support our mission of Live Well, Work Well!

Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, Minneapolis

Faith organization/70 employees

Being at a worksite that does not provide a cafeteria, our wellness committee has implemented a staff lunch once a month. The lunch is a salad, sandwich, or soup bar that staff contributes to. Every other month the wellness committee plans a $3 taco bar. We are proud that these lunches have brought staff together.

Normandale Community College, Bloomington

Higher Education/618 employees

+ Green

We are still growing and there is room for improvement. There are many topics we could be sharing with our employees and ways to engage everyone. We are working on utilizing the state’s StayWell Health Assessment results and Work Well summary to come up with a plan on what we can do as a committee and organization to reach out to employees. Our wellness committee consists of staff, faculty, and the Dean of Health Sciences. Our president is also working on integrating wellness into the student body. Despite having no budget, the wellness committee is still able to bring great wellness programs and presentations to our employees. We participate in the Health@Work challenges and also revamped our spring fitness challenge by creating a spreadsheet where participants can track their progress. We have walking maps available, and our foundation’s department hosted a 5K run/2.5K walk in May.

Rockler Companies, Inc., Medina

Retail/500 employees

Our goal is to try many activities and approaches to involve as many people as possible. We try to cover many areas and not just focus on weight loss.

Tealwood Senior Living, Bloomington

Health Care/2,700 employees

More than ever, wellness is becoming extremely important when employees are looking for a company to work for. Tealwood Senior Living is working hard to be that employer by offering health insurance, healthy vending choices, walking paths, wellness education through newsletters, and incentive programs. Each year we set new goals to increase wellness offerings to employees and to make our employees recognize they need to take care of themselves as they take care of others. We want to inspire all to be healthy, happy employees!

Twin Cities Spine Center, Minneapolis

Health Care Specialty Clinic/92 employees

We are a newer wellness program trying to promote healthy lifestyles and a healthy workplace. Our committee members, including the two wellness coordinators, are all volunteers and come from many departments across the organization. The wellness committee work is in addition to our regular workload. We are all passionate about health and wellness. We focus on anything from group activities and challenges to individual health, including meditation and massage. We try to keep our employees engaged with our wellness board, wellness tips, healthy recipes, and articles in our company newsletter. Our campaigns have had good participation and turnout; we are always looking for ways to increase employee participation. We have many other ideas that we are excited about implementing in the future.

VAA, LLC, Plymouth

Engineering Consulting/120 employees

We are expanding from a strong physical wellness organization to include social, community, financial, and career wellness to reach more employees and their families.

van Wagenen Financial Services, Inc., Eden Prairie

Business Solutions – Tracking Services/180 employees

Every year van Wagenen Financial Services strives to add something new to the company wellness program. This past year we have added the following: onsite yoga, onsite Weight Watchers, monthly group wellness activities offsite (kickball, snow tubing, gym workouts, etc.), open market with salad options, and league softball and kickball. We continue to have spring, summer, fall, and winter wellness challenges that seem to always be a success. We encourage associates and the wellness committee members to bring new ideas to add to the wellness program. The wellness committee will stay strong in continuing to promote wellness in the company.

Silver

Adolfson & Peterson Construction, Minneapolis

Construction/670 employees

+Green

Adolfson & Peterson continually looks for ways to help team members improve their health and reap the benefits of the annual wellness program. The foundation of our annual wellness program is the biometric wellness screening that we provide our team members each year, at no cost to the participant. Through this testing, team members can learn details of their health scores in the following categories: BMI, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, glucose, and tobacco use. The individual's score may result in an annual reduction in health care premiums. The score also gives participants an awareness and early detection of any health issues they may have. We are very proud to note that our wellness efforts have resulted in no increase in health care premiums for three years in a row. The team members’ reduction in health care premiums can be as much as $2,000 or more per year, depending on their wellness score and the tier they have chosen.

Anchor Bank, Wayzata

Financial Services and Banking/300 employees

At Anchor Bank we believe health is wealth. Promoting wellness is beneficial for employees, leadership, and clients. Healthy employees are better equipped to work as a team and deliver exceptional service. Our wellness program “TLC” (To Live Consciously) provides tools to assist employees in reaching our goals. As a part of TLC, a comprehensive and confidential health (biometric) screening is offered free of charge. Employees who improve or achieve a certain score can qualify for a lower health premium.

We regularly share articles related to healthy nutrition, exercise, and more. We also promote a series of wellness-related webinars and offer free flu shots to our employees. Employees on our medical plan are eligible to receive a fitness discount, and have the opportunity to consult with physicians through a program called Teladoc. Anchor’s senior leadership recognizes the benefits of wellness and is committed to supporting the health of employees.

City of Brookyn Park, Brooklyn Park

Local Government/410 employees

+Green

We believe wellness is more than just your body. We have tailored our program around six pillars of well-being: body, mind, financial, social, career, and community. We have a detailed passport program connected with our pillar program. The passport guides employees on how to get incentive points in each pillar of well-being throughout the entire year. In 2014, we had a workshop for each of the pillars and an online pillar retake program for those unable to attend the workshops. In 2014, the number of employees excelling in the program doubled. Each year, we have a celebration kickoff to recognize top wellness performers and our city manager rewards the top department with a personalized lunch with him and his family. We also provide cash, wellness time off, or sick time converted to vacation time for those in the program that reach certain participation levels.

Clockwork Active Media, Minneapolis

Technology/70 employees

+Green

The strength of our wellness program is that it is completely integrated into the company culture. “Wellness” isn’t something we see as the job of a person or committee, but our collective responsibility to ourselves and each other. Wellness at Clockwork encourages individual choice and empowers individual action. In our organizational discussions, we focus on the positive effects of taking care of oneself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

A unique aspect of our program is its organic nature. Wellness discussions aren’t initiated from the top-down. Instead we highlight and celebrate the company-wide benefits of healthfulness—better teamwork, collaboration, communication, and partnership. With this approach, we’ve seen numerous talks, programs, and events initiated by staff such as MS150 teams, a weekly meditation class, walking meetings, walking/standing workstations, and wellness articles in our weekly newsletter. Our culture of wellness rewards initiative and supports action—but doesn’t dictate participation in a particular program.

Our innovative approach to creating a balanced, human-friendly workplace encourages all employees to take the time they need away from work, which makes the time they spend working more focused, happy, and energized.

Dristeem, Eden Prairie

Humidification Systems–Manufacturing/120 employees

Dristeem is committed to enhancing the health and well-being of our employees and their families.

The Health Matters wellness program is designed to provide access to health information and services to assist employees in managing their own health.

The Health Matters program includes:

• An onsite health coach who meets one-to-one with employees and spouses who are interested in making lifestyle changes.

• An annual health assessment, biometric screening, and health coaching session with the onsite coach. Employees and spouses must complete all three steps to earn a premium discount to their health insurance. We had 79 percent participation in year three.

• Walking routes and groups (one-mile loops created indoors and outdoors).

• Onsite exercise equipment, including a recently purchased treadmill and recumbent bicycle for employee use.

• Classes/activities/challenges on a variety of topics such as physical activity, nutrition, group exercise, and financial wellness.

Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis

Health Care/6,000 employees

+Green

HCMC has continued to evolve our health management program since its inception in 2008. There are two onsite fitness center spaces for employee use, walking paths, and designated stairs as well as onsite classes available to help employees with options for activity. Through our partnership with our health plan, we now offer onsite health coaching as well as telephonic coaching to employees. This program continues to grow and its success is helped by employee referrals. In 2014, a mobile farmers’ market was offered onsite as a pilot program. With plans to return in 2015, the market will not only serve HCMC employees, but will include a patient-based program as well.

International Dairy Queen, Inc., Minneapolis

Food Service/420 employees

+Green

Our Wellness Team is comprised of all volunteers. Our wellness program began with baby steps by slowly educating our employees about the far reaching effects of health that not only involves good nutrition and exercise, but also mental and financial health. We have successfully opened and now manage a workout facility and are slowly changing our work culture that says it's ok to get away from your desk to work out or relax in our newly remodeled first floor. The employees who have embraced these changes are our advocates and have been successful in inviting others to join in on the fun. We are very fortunate to have executive support for all these changes, for without that, we might have had another story to tell.

Kraus-Anderson, Minneapolis

Construction/350 employees

Our health and wellness programs are designed so that employees can participate in activities throughout the year. In 2013–2014, we focused our efforts on creating an environment that would support and encourage employees to make better choices in the long term. We also provide educational materials, tools, and resources so employees can stay active, eat better, and monitor their progress in and outside the workplace, promoting lasting change. In 2014 we began a yearlong no-tobacco campaign, including monthly education materials as well as an assistance resource guide. Employees are also encouraged to participate in team building events that involve physical activity throughout the year.

Mound Westonka High School, Minnetrista

Education/94 employees

+Green

The Westonka school district is working hard to improve wellness for students and staff.

Districtwide initiatives have led to great changes in how we as educators approach wellness and nutrition. The overhaul of the wellness policy was the start to changes in our building. We now have a school garden (made by students) that our school kitchen uses to make fresh food. We have healthy vending and water available to all. We, as a staff, have participated in the Frosty Challenge. We have created activity boxes for students and staff that create easy active break activities. With an increased push for technology in the classroom, we understand there is a need for breaks for the brain and use them to our advantage. Our facility upgrade allowed us to create more of a space for lifelong activity in the weight room by adding cardiovascular equipment used by students and staff.

Olson, Minneapolis

Advertising and Marketing/500 employees

+Green

Olson’s wellness program continues to be successful because we are able to leverage existing employee trends and interests. We also have strong support throughout the agency and a culture of employees at all levels participating in healthy activities on a daily basis. Additionally, Olson aims to provide a variety of wellness initiatives to target varied groups of employees, mixing in fitness competitions and incentive rewards to increase awareness and engagement.

Park Nicollet, St. Louis Park

Health Care/8,500 employees

+Green

Because Park Nicollet is a health care provider, we have the unique opportunity to tap into resources that may not otherwise be available to other companies such as physicians, onsite dietitians, an employee health clinic, sleep educators, a health and care store, research and education, lactation consultants, and our Better Eating Collaborative (made up of physicians, researchers, and dietitians). We have been successful at providing farmers’ markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes to team members for over eight years. We also have a strong partnership with our EAP vendor and encourage our team members to give them a call once a year for a personal tune up. Our well-being program is part of our employee occupational health and safety department. This program provides opportunities to connect with our team members, whether it is diabetes education or a quick consult on services that are available.

PreferredOne, Golden Valley

Health Insurance Carrier/320 employees

+Green

PreferredOne believes that we “walk the wellness talk” with our own employees. This helps us understand and work with our clients in helping them develop and implement wellness programs for their own employees. We take a comprehensive approach to wellness for our employees by providing awareness and information through lunch and learns, wellness newsletters, onsite work out facilities, healthy food choices with our onsite cafeteria and vending, walking and weight loss challenges, onsite massage, and personal training services, as well as offering an outcome-based biometric screening program.

PreferredOne’s Wellness4U program is supported by our senior management staff in many ways, including their participation in our wellness programs and services, encouragement to staff, and allocation of budget dollars for ongoing wellness programming.We are proud and thankful for this opportunity to ‘strut our stuff’ by applying for the Wellness by Design recognition award.

TRIA Orthopaedic Center, Bloomington

Health Care/450 employees

+Green

Five years ago a small group of employees wanted to start a program to help employees stay active at TRIA. The goal was to have classes for employees taught by employees. This was a grassroots effort by some very passionate people. Since that time, TRIA Fit has grown to include employees from Park Nicollet, HealthPartners, and just this year the community. In 2014 TRIA kick started a “Green Team”—whose motto is “living the green”—to take a look at how TRIA can reduce waste and do its part to help the environment. In 2015 we partnered with our Integrative Health group and formed the new “TRIA Fit & Well” to offer a more well-rounded and holistic program for our participants. We continue to offer free group fitness classes and discounted integrative health classes for our employees to ensure accessibility and affordability.

Gold

Arthur J. Gallagher & Company, Bloomington

Insurance/Broker/70 employees

Our office has two wellness programs. One is from our corporate office that offers biometric screenings and an online portal with many tools and resources that help educate and support employees with their healthy lifestyles. This program is tied to our benefits where we can get a benefit differential by participating. The second wellness program is specific to our location where we really try to affect the culture through champions, social events, onsite education opportunities, health challenges, and group support. Participation in these events is tied to wellness hours.

Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis

Publishing/139 employees

+Green

In 2014 we wanted to change the strategy behind our wellness program. In the past, we had offered a robust program, but did not gather data to support our offerings. We began offering biometrics screenings and health risk assessments to every employee. The first year we offered it, we had 85 percent participation. We then structured our program around areas of interest and health risks for our aggregate employee population. In 2014 the corporate office was relocated. In the new office, each employee was given a sit/stand desk. This promotes wellness each and every day even as you work!

Bepex International LLC, Minneapolis

Manufacturing/57 employees

+Green

Our Bepex Bwell program has been up and running for several years. Each year the wellness team challenges itself to see how we can be more effective in promoting employee well-being in the broadest sense of the term. We have two senior management representatives on our team, including the director of operations and the CEO. This enables us to get fast buy-in on any proposed initiatives. We make a point of attending wellness conferences and seminars to keep up to date with new developments in this area.

Cargill, Hopkins

Agriculture/160,000 employees

Cargill has been actively promoting employee wellness locally since 2003. Since then the programming has grown to include many different aspects of health. Programs include

incentive-based wellness programming for employees and spouses, biometric screenings, onsite corporate fitness centers, the employee 5K run, wellness speakers, farmers’ markets, and online team-based fitness campaigns—there is something for everyone! Cargill offers two 5K runs/walks annually to their Minneapolis employees; the Rockin' Robin in April and the Turkey Trek in November. Both events take place over the noon hour at Cargill's World Headquarters in Wayzata. In 2010 we had our 12th annual Turkey Trek 5K Run/Walk with a record number of over 1,000 employees participating.

City of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Center

Local Government/155 full-time and 130 part-time employees

City of Brooklyn Center employees work in multiple buildings—city hall, a community center, public works, a garage, the Earle Brown Heritage Center, a police department, and two municipal liquor stores. Each department/building has a representative serving on the wellness committee. The representatives not only communicate wellness program activities to the employees in their department, but also encourage them to participate. One of the goals of our wellness program is to offer employees opportunities to interact with staff they don’t see every day. The community center provides an onsite fitness area with an exercise room and a 50-meter indoor swimming pool. This unique facility is available to employees at no charge, as well as their family members for a nominal charge. Adjacent to city hall and the community center is a picturesque walking/running/biking trail in Centennial Park. Our focus going forward is the total well-being initiative that we have started after doing a total resource inventory for our organization.

City of Maple Grove, Maple Grove

Local Government/250 employees

+Green

Over the last two years, the City of Maple Grove’s Fit for Life program has focused on biometric numbers as a way of improving employee health. We are encouraging employees to focus on their personal health goals through awareness of their numbers. Our comprehensive wellness program offers diverse, year-round activities to meet the individual needs of the many city departments. Many of our employees work in several locations and work in shifts that cover 24 hours, so we have tailored our program so everyone can earn an incentive of up to two vacation days. We offer onsite seminars, an annual employee 5K, onsite biometric screenings, and many other activities employees can choose from in a supportive environment to lead to healthy choices and habits for themselves and their families.

City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis

Local Government/4,000 employees

+Green

Our wellness committee uses claims-based data analytics to drive targeted actions. With representation from key areas of the city, we are able to identify best practice interventions that are applied in relevant ways to reach each unique population sector. We approach our actions with sensitivity to the variety of positions here at the city. From office workers to police officers and firefighters to our public works employees, we work to make well-being relevant and engaging.

City of Richfield, Richfield

Local Government/215 employees

+Green

Our 2013 and 2014 employee wellness programs included a wide variety of lunch & learns—some facilitated by professionals and others led by fellow employees—to interest a wide range of employees. A certified fitness trainer spoke and then followed up with body composition testing; an ambassador for Honoring Choices Minnesota gave valuable information on health care directives; specialists in the fields of nutrition, meditation, and back care also provided workshops. Members of the local pickleball league taught us the game with so much enthusiasm that an informal “lunchtime pickle ball league” was formed and employees played late into the fall. Police officers offered self-defense training and other employee-led workshops included a juicing demo and a “Running for Non-Runners” clinic. A goal of attracting employees that have not participated in the past was met!

Cobb Stecker Dunphy & Zimmermann, Inc., Minneapolis

Insurance/97 employees

+Green

CSDZ has had an active program in place since 2006 to protect employees by making an investment in their health and well-being. Our definition of wellness goes beyond health to include mental, spiritual, and financial well-being. We title our program “Journey to Wellness.” We believe the only way to keep our program relevant is to listen to our employees. Our program is going where our employees are going. For example, currently many of our employees are in the “sandwich generation” with children and parents to take care of, so it’s a priority to connect them with resources to help reduce and manage stress. It’s all about being flexible and evolving as our employees change and evolve. While our program continues to evolve to support our employees, we will remain focused on their “Journey to Wellness,” which includes physical, social, financial, career, and community well-being.

Coughlan Companies/Capstone, Edina

Publishing/99 employees

+Green

Coughlan Companies values its employees’ well-being and has created a vision to foster thriving at work, which has been integrated into its strategic corporate goals. We are committed to measuring and improving our engagement with a feedback loop from employees on where we can improve and what we can do to foster a thriving work culture. Building a successful well-being platform aligns us with our strategic goal to move beyond just a “wellness program” to incorporating work-life and community well-being into our culture. We have:

• Added a “people related” corporate strategic goal to look more holistically at success beyond profits.

• Added a Paid Time Off (PTO) incentive for those who are not on our health plan to encourage all employees to engage in wellness.

• Added an incentive for spouses to help engage our families’ well-being.

• Offered company-paid health and wellness coaching year-round.

• Added financial well-being support and education.

• Aligned our wellness initiatives with our sustainability committee to take a holistic approach to environmental and human sustainability.

• Expanded our wellness initiatives to include options for physical, financial, career, social, and community well-being.

• Incorporated work/life and community well-being into a new shared leadership framework that was integrated into our performance review process.

Culligan Water Conditioning, Minnetonka

Water/70 employees

Culligan’s well-being initiative, AquaFIT, seeks to promote wellness and encourage employees to take responsibility for their own well-being. While headquartered in Minnetonka, Culligan is dedicated to bringing wellness to all employees. Therefore, Culligan provides free onsite biometric screenings, monthly visits from a physical therapist, and bi-annual visits from a wellness professional at all 30 U.S. locations—even the small locations with just a handful of employees. Culligan has also partnered with Viverae, a leading provider of online health and wellness content and educational programs, to provide tools and support needed to create a healthy and well workforce. AquaFIT is less than halfway through the program year and has already surpassed the number of employee biometric screenings performed during the entire 2013–2014 program year. Iincentive program participation has increased 25 percent in 2015. In addition, Culligan has a strong, cross-sectional wellness team that helps communicate programs to all of its locations.

Custom Fab Solutions, LLC, Chanhassen

Manufacturing/44 employees

+Green

With changes to our wellness program, we were able to accomplish the goal of at least 75 percent participation across the entire company. These changes ranged from competitions and physical activity to education on retirement funds. The employee response to these efforts was very positive with an average participation rate of 89 percent for 2013 and 98 percent in 2014.

Management has been incredibly supportive of the wellness initiative. They have supplied funds for materials, time during the work week for employees to participate, and ideas to help make events successful. For 2013 and 2014 we hit our goal of 100 percent participation from management. The biggest success has been the annual Bean Bag Tournament, a two week double elimination tournament with the top four teams winning cash prizes. The tournament gives employees the opportunity to take 20–30 minute paid breaks to get out in the fresh air and play games. This challenge has created a camaraderie among employees that has strengthened the team year after year. There was hesitation from employees as programs and events started, but over time and through implementing our employees’ ideas and adding more of a competitive “fun factor,” participation increased. This proves that wellness is not only important to the company, but also to our employees.

Delta Air Lines, Minneapolis

Airline/7,000 employees

Delta MSP is a 24/7 operation and never closes for business. Considering the variety of jobs, locations, and shifts, there is no one "better time" than another for wellness programming. Delta MSP has accepted that challenge and is rising to the occasion. Through a top down/bottom up approach, the Delta MSP employees have assembled an interdepartmental wellness committee that works together to plan, communicate, and promote wellness, striving to create a culture of wellness for our employees. All Delta employees, whether they are in an office, at the terminal, or on an aircraft, have opportunities to manage their own health and well-being and work as part of a team to drive a culture of health. With strong executive management support, eager employees, and a little healthy competition to fuel our wellness fire, the Delta MSP "Flight to a Better You" wellness program strives to keep climbing!

Diversified Plastic, Inc, Brooklyn Park

Manufacturing/49 employees

+Green

Diversified Plastics has shown repeatedly that you can generate strong employee involvement in wellness activities without excessive expenditures. Senior management-level commitment—along with a creative and energetic wellness committee that keeps it fun for the employees—have been the keys to our successes.

Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis

Health Care/22,000 employees

+Green

We know that to provide the best possible patient care, we must have healthy, happy, and engaged employees, which is why at Fairview we truly value our employees' health and well-being. And we know that well-being is about more than just eating broccoli, jogging a 5K, or what happens in the doctor’s office. You can’t fill a prescription for it and it doesn’t require a pedometer.

We offer a variety of programs and benefits—from mindfulness or caring for an elderly parent or sick loved one, to financial wellness and gym memberships. We have recently signed on to the Partnership for a Healthier America, removing deep fried foods from our cafeterias and displaying and marketing healthy options for our staff and guests. We have walking routes mapped at each hospital location and have begun using treadmill desks and sit-stand workstations in many of our facilities. We have amazing leadership and talent development programs for our future leaders.

Each day at Fairview provides an opportunity for employees, and their family members, to continually improve their personal well-being.

Great Clips, Inc., Bloomington

Haircare/Retail/225 employees

+Green

We are excited to utilize an online wellness program for the second year in a row, as it has proven most efficient in communicating and housing our wellness challenges and initiatives.

HealthFitness Corporation, Mineapolis

Population Health Management/5,000+ employees

As a leader in health management and corporate fitness, HealthFitness emphasizes healthy lifestyles—for our associates and our clients. At our corporate office in Bloomington, we do as we say, literally. Our associates participate in wellness program physical activities and nutrition challenges, health coaching and screenings, and use online trackers, health assessments, and more to improve their health and productivity in the workplace. From a free, on-site fitness center to treadmill workstations and leadership-led walking meetings, our associates strive to embody a healthy workplace and lead by example. To encourage healthy choices, we offer fresh fruit, granola, and other healthy breakfast items on Fridays, flexible schedules to work from home as needed, and social outings to connect with other associates. We also offer an internal social networking site to connect associates—on everything from exercise challenges, to running clubs, and personal health success stories.

HealthSource Solutions, Minnetonka

Corporate Wellness/33 employees

The HealthSource Solutions corporate wellness program, called 'Heart & Soul,' is more than a catchy name. It's an acronym for what we strive for as wellness practitioners. Heart & Soul stands for: healthy employees actively reaching out together, supporting outreach, unity, and living well. We offer our employees exactly what we offer our clients: easy, fun, and applicable wellness resources, programs, and events. In addition to traditional health promotion activities (health assessment, screening, behavior change campaigns, etc.), our wellness programming focuses on team building and community service opportunities. This has helped create a fun and cohesive work environment for our local and out-of-state staff.

King Solutions, Inc., Dayton

Transportation & Freight/107 employees

+Green

I am proud to say that we have made great strides towards promoting and rewarding a healthy work place at King in the past three years!! For example, we had over 50 percent participation in Health@Work’s Frosty Challenge. A number of employees are participating individually in ambitious health-challenging programs, and they are excited to share information with their

coworkers. We now have over 22 stand-up desks in use and our owner supported the recommendation to reimburse registration fees for walks, runs, and other fitness events. Our employees have shared information about Lyfe Tea, Shakeology, and HealthSource Chiropractic and Rehab. It is really fun to witness the culture shift and how our teams encourage and hold one another accountable for making healthy choices. Healthy tips are posted on the main bulletin board monthly, and employees are encouraged to add apps to their phones. We want to keep our workforce healthy and happy!

North Memorial Medical Center, Robbinsdale

Health Care/5,000+ employees

We offer one-on-one and group training, which are the most popular and successful programs. We also just launched our Live Virtual Training program, which allows us to work with employees who are off-site. They are able to get healthy with proper instruction, guidance, and knowledge through exercise/yoga virtually. Another program we just started is life coaching and movement life coaching. Life coaching helps clients realize the benefits of establishing a clear view of themselves and get a vision of the path to change and find true joy in their lives. With clear-guided steps and support, you can live a fulfilling, happy, and purposeful life. Coaching allows you to access your own inner wisdom, which is always present and available. Movement life coaching includes all the benefits of life coaching along with personal training.

Polaris, Medina

Manufacturing/5,107 employees

Our program is a mix of onsite programs and challenges, health plan programs, and doctor/patient interactions. We offer 'fun' internal programs like wellness challenges while also addressing 'serious' topics through our communication channels. We offer onsite biometric screenings to employees and spouses and encourage them to know their numbers and take accountability for the results. We offer a broad program that has something for everyone. We are proud to be an employer that makes health and wellness of our employees and families a priority.

ProMed Molded Products, Inc., Plymouth

Manufacturing/163 employees

+Green

ProMed is very involved in wellness. Our philosophy is we make products to help in people’s lives; we want our employees to realize how important wellness is for them. The biometric risk assessments were an important key to starting our program. We’ve been doing that since 2006. It showed people how to change their lives to be healthier. We’ve gradually introduced other programs until now it is part of our lives, which we’ve seen through decreases in both health insurance claims and employees’ absenteeism.

SFM Mutual Insurance, Bloomington

Insurance/232 employees

+Green

Health and wellness promotion is nothing new at SFM. As a workers’ compensation insurer, safety, wellness, and ergonomics are part of our culture. We have an active safety and wellness committee that is always looking for new ideas to keep it fresh. This past year the committee introduced employees to sit/stand work stations, healthy cooking, and pickle ball. We also had our first ping-pong tournament, and an engaged following on our wellness blog. We’d like to think that our wellness efforts are paying off —not just in healthier employees and low turnover, but also in lower medical costs. Our medical premium increases have averaged in the low single digits for some time, but we’ve enjoyed no increases for the past two years.

SJE-Rhombus, New Hope

Embedded Controls/35 employees

+Green

The 2015 SJE-Rhombus Wellness Program: Employees can reach their own level of health by participating in the 2015 SJE-Rhombus LiveWise and SMART Wellness Program. This year’s program was designed for employees to set their own unique and personal health goals in collaboration with a Health Advisor. Employees can focus on the area of wellness that is best for them. It’s simple. Employees choose a SMART goal with the Health Advisor, complete a Health Assessment, attend their one-on-one meeting(s) with the Health Advisor, achieve their goal and earn up to $250 in monetary incentives!

Turck, Inc., Plymouth

Manufacturing/480 employees

We take great pride in our well-being efforts. Turck considers all employees team members. We work together to make well-being an integrated part of life. Our focus includes physical, financial, community, career, and social well-being. We believe it is an important aspect of everyone's

day-to-day life. Health and happiness matter at Turck. These are just some of the reasons why Turck provides so many resources and activities to help employees achieve their well-being goals. Turck's well-being offerings are for all employees and spouses. Participation will reduce health premiums and encourage success. We strongly promote our onsite Well@Work clinic, onsite

well-being coach, and our Work/Life Pursuit benefit. We believe cultivating a culture of

well-being and workplace flexibility enhances our employees’ ability to be effective workers, family members, friends, and contributors to their community.

UCare, Minneapolis

Health Insurance/ 844 employees

UCare is committed to improving the health and wellness of its 840-plus employees who serve more than 470,000 UCare members enrolled in its Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans. Our branded employee wellness program, RENEW, was formed in 2006. RENEW has grown and adapted in tandem with UCare’s employee population. Today’s RENEW is a multi-faceted and popular wellness program offering preventive, multi-faceted health programming. Because it listens to employees, RENEW’s key strength is that it knows its customers. This strong connection led to more than 94 percent of employees accessing RENEW programming one or more times in 2014. Employees enjoy two fitness facilities; onsite learning programs about fitness, nutrition, and well-being; a workshop series about mindfulness and healthy eating; a resource library; a dedicated Web site; wellness campaigns (such as Strength in Numbers); flu shot clinics; and an employee wellness expo. RENEW also arranges for onsite deliveries of fresh fruit and in-season produce.

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Higher Education/18,000 employees

+Green

Our wellness program offers many different options for assisting our university community meet its health needs and goals. We offer a wide variety as we have a broad range of employee needs. With our points-based program, employees can earn points that turn into dollars saved on their yearly premiums. We offer services onsite and at no cost, as well as offer reimbursement for programs to encourage motivation and completion of healthy activities. We also utilize the internal resources at our campus from our Boynton Health Services; parking and transportation; the Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute; Center for Spirituality and Healing; recreation and wellness facilities; and our coordinated campus partners offer services to our employees and dependents. Our program continues to grow each year and includes new offerings as well as new technology to meet the demands of our population.

Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc., Maple Grove

Pharmaceutical/750 employees

In 2014 we offered a free motion monitor to all employees to encourage activity. The program had three goals for each day: at least four five-minute walks, total steps, and 30 minutes of moderate activity. Over 70 percent of our employees participated in the program. We also offered biometric screenings, flu shots, fitness club reimbursement, weight management reimbursement, onsite seminars, Tai Chi classes, and paid time for volunteering.

vRad, Eden Prairie

Health Care/300 employees

+Green

At vRad, we not only share a passion for delivering the highest quality health care to the patients we serve, we are also passionate about promoting health and wellness among our team members. Our goal is to create a supportive environment that provides team members with many different opportunities, and tools to engage in their health and wellness based on where they are at individually on their wellness journey. For the past few years, our focus has been on biometric screenings, team member challenges, lunch and learns, and various fitness activities. As we continue to introduce new wellness programs, we hope to see even greater improvement in our team members’ biometric scores, as well as bring awareness to how every day little things affect our health in big ways.

Welsh Companies, Minnetonka

Commercial Real Estate/300 employees

+Green

Our wellness initiative is evolving from wellness (fitness and health related) to a broader

well-being focus. We are focusing on five elements of well-being: career, social, financial, physical, and community. We are weaving well-being into all that we do and have seen a ground-swell of our employees initiating wellness-related events ranging from Zumba, to walking clubs, to running clubs, to onsite yoga. Our educational opportunities are directed toward topics relating to wellness, ergonomics, financial, and career well-being. Our new performance management process stresses career well-being with more frequent check-in’s and opportunities for employees to share their career goals. We also sponsor a variety of volunteer activities to promote the community. Social events include cookouts, ice cream socials, networking, and a variety of other social events to promote the social well-being aspect. Well-being is becoming ingrained in our culture—it’s who we are!

Platinum

Allianz, Golden Valley

Insurance/1,712 employees

+Green

Our company well-being initiative, True Balance, promotes wellness and work/life balance and encourages employees to take responsibility for their physical health, social well-being, and financial fitness. Healthy employees contribute to our success: Productivity increases, absenteeism decreases, and employees are more satisfied in their jobs—not to mention all the benefits to their personal lives. The needs for true balance will be different for every employee, which is why we offer various programs for employees to choose from such as free onsite health screenings, nutrition/weight management, an onsite fitness center, and healthy food options, to name a few. At Allianz, employees’ social well-being involves career satisfaction, a sense of inclusiveness, flexible work options, stress management, and family support. We’ve created several programs to support this pillar such as generous PTO benefits, a Diversity Day, and an onsite child care center. Our focus on wellness also encourages financial wellness. We offer programs to enhance employees' financial knowledge, skills, and savings programs like a 401(k) plan and professional management assistance and investment advisory services.

Allina Health, Minneapolis

Health Care/28,000 employees

Allina Health offers a wide variety of employee wellness programs and activities throughout the year. Allina offers a formal “Wellness Rewards” program to employees and spouses that includes a health risk assessment, biometric screening, health coaching, and access to tools and support for achieving wellness goals. Tools and support include online eLearning courses, wellness challenges, healthy lifestyle programs, apps, treadmill workstations at over 10 Allina locations, individual and group integrative wellness coaching, seminars/webinars, group fitness classes, a run/walk club, and an Allina-wide healthy food policy. Allina employees and spouses receive partial-reimbursement for weight management, stress reduction, and nutrition classes. Free tobacco cessation courses and nicotine replacement therapy are also offered. Allina Health leadership continues to encourage innovative and effective programming that meets the needs and interests of the employees.

Associated Financial Group, Minnetonka

Employee Benefit, Insurance, and HR Solution Consulting/250 employees

+Green

This year we have expanded our offerings to include individualized activities to engage and incent those employees who do not typically participate in the worksite activities. We focus on making our initiatives as inclusive and engaging as possible. We have expanded our activities and opportunities to earn wellness rewards to include events employees can do on their own time, outside of work. Specifically, we want to encourage individuals to participate in their community, whether it is completing  a charity 5K race or participating in a volunteering event such as Habitat for Humanity or making meals for families in need. We feel this is important because it addresses more than the ‘standard’ physical aspect of wellness; it also focuses on the whole person’s

well-being while also giving back to others. Additionally, we recognize that not everyone wants to participate in worksite challenges, so we are also encouraging employees to utilize tools and technologies provided by our wellness and employee assistance program. 

Cigna, Eden Prairie

Health Services/700 employees

The Eden Prairie office’s healthy life committee recognizes the dynamic processes involved with wellness. We are dedicated to fostering a worksite culture that is supportive of anyone’s desire to make healthier lifestyle choices. By taking pride in providing events and activities that support holistic health through work-life balance, stress reduction, activity, and nutrition, we hope to inspire our employees to take charge of their health and adopt positive habits and attitudes around living healthy every day.

City of Eden Prairie, Eden Prairie

Local Government/275–500 employees

+Green

The City of Eden Prairie offers a wide variety of programming and is less concerned about 100 percent participation and more about offering programming that interests employees and gets them involved. We are fortunate to have director and senior management level support and participation, which aids in creating a culture of wellness for employees. This support allows employees to feel comfortable engaging in their health and well-being while at work.

Our programming is ever-evolving to meet the needs of a diverse employee population. The next few years we will continue to promote and engage employees in physical, financial, and nutritional activities but will also put more emphasis on emotional well-being, safety, and career health. We have had great success in offering team challenges that encompass several elements of health. There is definitely a competitive and contagious spirit at the City!

City of Minnetonka, Minnetonka

Local Government/236 employees

+Green

The City of Minnetonka’s HealthRewards wellness program recognizes the importance of having happy, healthy and engaged employees and is committed to supporting employees on their own wellness journey. The program focuses on providing employees with tools, resources, and opportunities to develop and strengthen each of the essential areas of total well-being: physical, emotional, financial, professional/personal growth, and social/community. We understand that every person is different, so the program is set up to provide a variety of options to meet each employee’s needs, interests, and goals. The city of Minnetonka’s wellness program was recognized as a Wellness by Design Gold Workplace Award winner in 2009–2010 and a Platinum Award Winner in 2011–2013.

City of St. Louis Park, St. Louis Park

Local Government/266 employees

+Green

The City of St. Louis Park continues to grow in its commitment to employee wellness, year by year. We not only live and breathe wellness in our daily practices, but we also continue to put resources towards improving the wellness of our employees, encouraging them to live healthy, full lives. In 2013 we adopted a healthy eating/active living policy, and in 2014 we proposed and approved the hiring of an onsite wellness coordinator. We look forward to continuing to grow in years to come.

Conwed Plastics, Minneapolis

Manufacturing/300 employees

+Green

Modifying plan designs and shifting costs to employees were no longer options to control health insurance costs without negatively impacting our ability to attract and retain employees. With little control over the price tag on health insurance, we chose to focus on what we could control together with employees. We introduced wellness as a win-win solution to create a “culture of health” that fosters a long-term commitment to healthy lifestyles and the reduction of health risks among our employees. Changing and adding new options to our wellness program is the way we keep our employees engaged. Offering a wide range of activities so there is something for everyone is the key to successful participation. We have expanded our program each year. It is amazing how fast it has grown and how many success stories we have started to hear from our employees.

Graco, Minneapolis

Manufacturing/1,900 employees

+ Green

Our program incrementally evolved into an outcomes-based program. Annually we review data, refine the goal levels and health factor measurements, as well as utilize external, independent physicians to review and evaluate the program: Dr. Merlin Brown, internal medicine, and Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, preventive cardiology.

We have a 79 percent male population. Spouses are key family stakeholders in health care and lifestyle choices as well as cost drivers on the medical plan. On-site biometric screenings are open to spouses. Onsite free physical therapy for employees (for personal- and work-related pain and injuries) is also available. Onsite mammography services provide convenience for an annual preventive exam that is often delayed due to women’s busy schedules.

We also have employee-led daily five minute stretching groups in the factory. The program was initiated by a factory employee who was one of our wellness champions and who identified the benefits of workday stretching. At present, there are five active employee-led daily stretching groups with 75–80 employees regularly attending.

HealthPartners, Bloomington

Health Care/14,000 employees

+Green

Each part of our organization has a commitment to well-being. That commitment was made stronger when our board included well-being in our new mission. At HealthPartners, we recognize that well-being is more than just physical fitness. We acknowledge that each of us is a whole person, with daily concerns, goals, stresses, and happiness that exist inside and outside of work. To equip our people to be at their best, to thrive, and to be whole people that can serve others and fulfill our mission, we offer an array of well-being offerings (e.g., coaching, challenges, courses, and education) across the dimensions of well-being. Our program’s flexibility and depth has led to high participation levels. Resiliency has been a major focus for HealthPartners in the last few years as we support our employees in dealing with the significant changes occurring in health care.

Hennepin County, Minneapolis

Government/8,000 employees

+Green

HealthWorks defines wellness holistically and offers physical health, mental health, financial health, and social well-being resources. Hennepin County also offers career and community

well-being resources.

In 2014 HealthWorks offered:

• 215 in-person trainings at 38 locations

• 20 webinars (10,473 webinars were viewed)

• The Trade Time for Fitness program, which reimburses employees for wellness purchases

• A tiered physical activity program that reimburses participants for going to the gym six, eight or 12 times a month

• A catalog of trainings that departments or work units can schedule at their chosen date, time, and location

• 22 biometric screenings and flu vaccine clinics

• A nutrition policy requiring healthy food options at county-sponsored events

• An onsite medical clinic for county employees and adult dependents

• A full-time onsite health coach

• Onsite massage and fitness classes

• 50 percent off the Get in Gear races

• $40 off a Nice Ride subscription

• A spring and fall Hennepin 5K run/walk

• Monthly exercise challenges

• A sleep hygiene challenge

• Anonymous online screenings for mental health conditions

• EAP counselors and Voya representatives onsite

Mall of America, Bloomington

Entertainment –Retail/1,200 employees

+Green

When we introduced spouses to our annual biometric screenings in 2014, we had over 90 percent of the spouses participate in our medical plan! We received lots of positive feedback from the team members.

An in-house smoking cessation program was implemented in 2014. We provided information, but the program is mostly used as a support group, with peer encouragement being most valuable for team members’ battles with smoking. We added one Fresh & Healthy vending machine in 2013n and it is been doing very well. We are in the process of adding four more machines with the hopes to replace our candy machines this year!

Our Fitbit Library continues to be very successful! Team members can check-out a Fitbit for up to four months free of charge. We always have a long waiting list. Those who take advantage of this program usually purchase their own because they like them so much.

Marsh and McLennan Agency, Minneapolis

Insurance/175 employees

Our wellness initiative includes:

A Balanced You Platform that focuses on employees’ overall well-being (physical, financial, community, career, social)

2 Employee committees are based on this platform. (The CARES committee is the social and community well-being group and we have a wellness committee that focuses on physical and mental well-being)

• Onsite Pilates classes (organized and paid for by employees) are offered to employees in eight-week sessions.

• Walking work stations (treadmills).

• An onsite gym with weights, foam rollers, stationary bikes, an elliptical machine, treadmills, and showers.

• A healthy food policy that encourages smart choices at company-sponsored meals and meetings.

• An onsite ergonomics team that conducts ergonomic evaluations for all new hires and as requested.

• A partnership with Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota and St. David’s Center for Child and Family Development for their organizations’ annual 5K runs, for which we reimburse employees the registration fee if they attend.

• Healthy eating choices by promoting CitiesFruit, a company that will deliver fresh fruit for the entire week to your worksite. We also purchase free fruit once a week.

Metropolitian Airports Commission, Minneapolis

Aviation/585 employees

+Green

The Metropolitan Airports Commission’s (MAC) Well‐being Program and Health Engagement Program work in partnership and complement each other with a common goal to enhance the well‐being of our employees, retirees and dependents. The MAC’s signature well‐being program is “Move to Improve.” This is a physical activity program that rewards employees who exercise a minimum of 30 minutes at least 12 times a month. The MAC also provides a $20 per month discount for eligible offsite health clubs.

The MAC’s unique well‐being program organizes, promotes or supports the following events:

• Three free, onsite fitness centers ● Onsite Delta Air Lines farmers’ market

• Weight Watchers at Work ● Ping pong tournaments

• Onsite ice skating rink ● Basketball games

• Annual golf tournament ● Softball games

• Free nutrition classes ● Tennis games

• Yoga classes ● Flu shot clinics

• Line dancing classes ● Annual health fair

• Blood drives ● Community fundraisers (Polar Plunges, Heart

• Community Supported Agriculture Walk, Relay for Life)

(CSA) program

Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis

Health Care/4,200 employees

+Green

The WIN (Wellness Is Now) program has been in existence for eight years. The program started locally but has now expanded nationally. We now have a Web site that all federal employees can access from work or home, with many interactive programs available. There are quarterly competitions targeting weight loss and increasing activity. There are also monthly informational programs that address health topics like women’s heart health in February or prostate cancer in March. There is also a monthly newsletter that is available online and in print. The program sponsors a national VA 2K in May every year to promote activity and support our homeless veterans program with donations of clothing and personal hygiene products. Last year the program started a nature trail to promote exercise and stress reduction by getting people off the beaten path and back to nature.

Opportunity Partners, Minnetonka

Nonprofit Service Organization/650 employees

In 2013 and 2014 wellness programming at Opportunity Partners focused on cultural change as well as program expansion. We had very successful Biggest Loser challenges in 2013 and 2014 with approximately 120 participants each year. In 2013, the group lost 800 pounds and in 2014, they lost 900 pounds! In addition to increased attendance across programs, we created several new wellness partnerships including voucher programs with Weight Watchers, LA Fitness, Lifetime Fitness, and eQuality Farms, for which we now serve as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) delivery location. With a number of successful programs in place, we turned our attention to creating a sustainable cultural shift in which wellness became a part of who we are as an organization. We accomplished this through mid-level management training and support, integrating safety and wellness programs, and changing the conversation on wellness and how we support and retain our employees.

Village Automotive Group, Wayzata

Automotive/382 employees

+Green

Village has been actively working through its wellness program for the past five years to create a heightened awareness of better health and lifestyles. Our wellness committee and advisory board have been promoting activities that help employees reach their goals, strengthen their individual well-being, and improve our ROI.

YMCA, Minneapolis

Nonprofit/800+ employees

Our wellness program is supported by senior leadership and has quickly evolved to become part of our culture, resulting in the transformation of the organization and its team members. We have a solid wellness steering committee that focuses on the three areas of wellness (fitness, nutrition, and well-being) and ways to address wellness challenges through programming.

We have become the highlight of the fulltime team meetings when we bring fun into the organization while weaving health, recognition, and results into our presentations. There is an established budget and wellness dashboard to measure successes and track the health of the organization. We have seen a reduction in health care costs year over year, and overall improvement in the low risk category of team members. We are becoming healthier as an organization year over year. With a strong branch champion network, we can continue with the success of the program and sustain a culture of health.

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