PBN’s Healthiest Employers awards: Groov-Pin, South County Health, AAA, U-Haul earn top honors

PROVIDENCE – Providence Business News celebrated its 10th annual Healthiest Employers of Rhode Island Awards program Thursday, awarding top honors to four organizations for their dedication to their employees’ well-being.

Smithfield-based manufacturer Groov-Pin Corp. was the top winner in the 15-499 employees category this year.

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South County Health in South Kingstown, which operates South County Hospital, was the winner in the 500-1,499 employees category. South County Health is a repeat winner in PBN’s Healthiest Employers program.

AAA Northeast, based in Providence, earned top prize in the 1,500-4,999 employees category.

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U-Haul International Inc., which has multiple locations throughout Rhode Island, was the top company in the 5,000-plus employees category.

The four organizations were among the 22 companies recognized Thursday in a virtual ceremony. Companies were judged based on their responses to several questions regarding the their programs for physical, financial and mental well-being, as well as on what makes their programs stand out. The ceremony also formally announced the company rankings in each of the four categories.

The event’s keynote speaker, Jim Purcell, co-founder of the Returns On Wellbeing Institute, spoke about the importance of mental health, and how low mental and financial wellbeing can drive poor physical health and job performance. He said that mental health comes before physical health, and workplace culture comes before programs.

“Without addressing and overcoming the mental and emotional barriers to long term behavior change to lead to healthier lifestyles, good physical wellbeing is not attained,” Purcell said. “Without supportive workplace cultures of wellbeing, programs however good won’t work.”

To address this, Purcell outlined three steps. He said companies need to convince leadership that mental health is about compensation, benefits and culture first. Companies also need to assess its culture, pay and policies as it pertains to mental health, Purcell said. Lastly, he said companies should align their wellbeing initiatives with their CEOs’ top strategic business objectives. “This is important to know if your initiatives are working,” Purcell said.

Purcell also said leaders should tell their stories of mental health struggles to break the stigma. When he was the top executive for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Purcell had gotten counseling to cope with his brother committing suicide. He said he subsequently shared his story with employees and had many people share their stories of mental health struggles in return.

“If people start telling their stories, it becomes more commonplace,” Purcell said. “I think there’s nothing more important than a leader getting up and telling their story. It makes it OK.”

The full list of honorees was announced June 30 and can be viewed here. Profiles of all the companies and organizations are included in a special section that will publish Friday as part of the Aug. 6-19 print edition of PBN.

Tufts Health Plan was the partner sponsor of PBN’s 2021 Healthiest Employers program.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.