PBN Healthiest Employers of Rhode Island 2025 Awards
100-499 EMPLOYEES #1. Centreville Bank
CEO (or equivalent): Harold M. Horvat, Chairman, CEO and president
Number of employees: 265
EMPLOYEES’ GOOD OVERALL HEALTH is derived from having an impeccable company culture, according to the leadership team at Centreville Bank.
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That means workers are proud of their workplace and they want to be there, said Jeff Kennedy, the West Warwick-based bank’s vice president of total rewards. That, he says, is where creating an environment that values well-being starts.
“From that, we can really get the feedback we need and build upon the programs we have in place from a healthy standpoint,” Kennedy said.
Wellness is key at the bank, said Josh Varone, executive vice president and chief human resources officer. That implies setting up steady, reliable and accessible foundations for the bank’s basic health offerings.
“We also want to make the basics of wellness and health care as affordable as possible to our employees,” Varone said.
Centreville’s strategy to creating a healthy work environment is two-fold, Varone says: continue to increase wellness benefit offerings and minimize the cost of accessibility for employees.
By increasing its overall budget, Centreville has consistently paid more to minimize any increases in health care costs to employees in their checks every other week, Varone says.
Centreville officials recently explained through an open enrollment livestream with employees at the end of June how wellness benefits work, Varone says.
“We explained why our employees are only seeing this much of an increase because of the efforts and the partnerships we have,” Varone said. “One of the things I heard from multiple people is ‘Wow, this is great. I can’t believe my increase was only $12 a pay period,’ or something like that.”
Employees, Varone says, felt they would be seeing significant cost increases due to declining economic conditions. They were “pleasantly surprised” how Centreville mitigated those concerns, he said.
The company also saw increased participation on some key benefits, such as the flexible spending account enrollment. An FSA is a pre-tax benefit account that allows employees to set aside money from their paycheck to pay for qualified medical expenses or dependent care expenses.
Close to 20 new participants signed onto Centreville’s FSA program, representing about 8% of the company’s total workforce, Varone said.
“I think that is key because it speaks to how we’re communicating with employees, how well educated they are,” Varone said. “We got 20 employees that now understand the value of an FSA and how that can help save them money in the long term. We are doing what’s best for them and giving them the best possible offerings.”
An example of expanding health and wellness benefits for workers includes a new employee assistance program established at Centreville in the past year. EAPs are a work-based intervention program designed to assist employees in resolving personal conflict that could adversely affect their work life.
The new EAP, Kennedy says, spotlights how Centreville is taking a more comprehensive approach to wellness.
“We have taken steps to really encourage employees to take advantage of not just what’s available for benefits for their physical health but also from a mental health standpoint,” Kennedy said.
In the past 12 months, Centreville increased its health reimbursement account contribution to up to $3,000 per covered family to help offset their out-of-pocket deductible expenses. The HRA is incorporated into the company’s medical plan offerings to help ease the burden of employees needing to pay for non-routine medical expenses that can be costly and unexpected.
Employees also benefit from the company’s business partnerships, Varone said. Community partners across the bank’s portfolio often offer discounts to Centreville employees.
“We have a community discount partner program where we partner with businesses that are customers of ours, that are local to our branches, and we work with them to give our employees discounts on their services,” Varone said. “This translates into more affordable healthy lunches. You can go into a lot of the restaurants that we partner with. It’s more of an overall benefit, but that is something that we have expanded in 2024 and into early 2025.”
A Healthy Thought:
‘We also want to make the basics of wellness and health care as affordable as possible to our employees.’
JOSH VARONE, Centreville Bank executive vice president and chief human resources officer
