Connected wellness efforts boost impact

If you had to find one word to describe South County Hospital Healthcare System’s employee wellness program, that word would be “comprehensive.”
The following areas of wellness at the Wakefield facility are addressed: Physical activity; nutrition; medical risk; life satisfaction; financial wellness and career development. It’s based on the wellness model of author and researcher Tom Rath, and as Assistant Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Maggie Thomas said, it looks into the interactions of these identified areas.
In fact, Thomas says, the effects of financial health are pervasive: “It may have an impact on production, attendance, issues that arise in terms of transportation, in addition to stress. It impacts the employer and co-workers and ultimately – our patients,” she said.
With participation levels up and the fact that staff health insurance contributions have not increased over the past four years, this integrated, thorough approach appears to be working. The message carries over from an online wellness portal to signs around the building reminding employees to take a break.
And the program, said Joanne Soccio, senior compensation and benefits specialist, is constantly being tweaked. For example, she said, “We’ve been modifying the incentive program. Instead of a raffle, it’s an option of $150 in a cash bonus or reimbursement [for a wellness effort].”
An integrated approach strengthens each aspect, Soccio said. “It’s leveraging the wellness program to support another area.”

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