PBN Healthiest Employers of Rhode Island 2025 Awards
1,500-4,999 EMPLOYEES #1. Point32Health Co.
CEO (or equivalent): Patrick Gilligan
Number of employees: 4,065
IN ORDER TO take a holistic approach to well-being with the philosophy of serving members effectively, Point32Health Co. has to take care of its employees first.
Expanding Women’s Health in Newport
South County Health has expanded its award-winning Center for Women’s Health to Newport, offering a…
Learn More
Through recurring surveys and focus groups, the Canton, Mass.-based health care parent company of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care asks its employees about their well-being and experiences with company benefits. According to company Chief People and Culture Officer Pete Church, the results help him and his team to appropriately preserve, promote or find services that fill the gap of well-being benefits.
The feedback showed Point32Health that a significant, if not substantial, part of its workforce values flexible work arrangements, are caregivers to aging parents and/or children, and are worried about financial security in the upcoming months, Church says. The company’s internal data, along with information from Forbes stating Rhode Island as having one of the highest costs of living in the U.S., helped guide the company’s well-being framework.
“We have a belief at Point32Health that to serve our members requires that we take care of ourselves,” Church said.
Point32Health uses a six-pillar well-being model: physically thriving, emotionally resilient, financially fit, connected and supported, meaning and purpose, and safe and empowered. Using this model, Church says the company honed its well-being benefits package to offer one or two services for each pillar that will help its workers achieve confidence and success.
Church knows his colleagues will face unforeseen circumstances at home that can impact productivity at work. But he wants to be a partner by finding a way to reduce stress, from flexible work arrangements and helping employees receive a portion of their salary ahead of the pay period, to offering a caregiver concierge service.
Providing benefits is the first step in helping Point32Health’s employees, but the challenge is helping employees find the benefits when they need it the most, Church says.
“I fundamentally believe it’s important for us to ensure access and education,” he said.
Point32Health Director of Colleague Well-Being Karen Ryan says the company’s education is implemented in a number of ways, from onboard training to presentations. But a recently launched company program has already made a significant impact.
Point32Health last year established its Mental Health First Aid Training program, mentoring 100 individuals known as “mental health advocates.” The training includes a self-directed course in Mental Health First Aid, a four-hour in-person training session, a workshop dedicated to learning more about the company’s specific well-being programs, and a workshop on how to be a mental health advocate.
“It really helps to heighten awareness of different cues that you can look to see if someone may be having some difficulties or challenges, and then it probes you to ask a little bit more,” said Ryan, who noted the trainees are not counselors but rather can help people find the resources and benefits that could best help them in their moment of need. “We aspire to be a role model employer in delivering holistic colleague well-being programs so that people thrive, both personally, as well as professionally, and they positively impact our colleagues, their family members, [our] members, as well as people in the community.
Following the training, a quarterly survey is sent to program graduates to see how the individuals have used the program. According to the survey, mental health advocates have supported more than 542 colleagues and made at least 500 referrals to programs and benefits at Point32Health. The survey also asks advocates how they’ve used their training in their communities.
The training has been used more than 400 times and 100 referrals have been made to national or local well-being programs, per Point32Health’s data. Church noted the benefits can be costly, but effective well-being programs that work means a workforce that stays with the company.
“If I keep one person, one employee from leaving the company because we offer this benefit, the benefit pays for itself,” Church said.
A Healthy Thought:
‘We have a belief at Point32Health that to serve our members requires that we take care of ourselves.’
PETE CHURCH, Point32Health Co. chief people and culture officer
