The Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) has honored the Gundersen region of Bellin and Gundersen Health System with the Platinum Well Workplace Award. Platinum is WELCOA’s highest award level. It is the fourth time the Gundersen region has received the honor.
The award recognizes Gundersen’s commitment to the health and well-being of its employees. To reach the platinum level, an organization must accomplish the highest standards of wellness support and organizational alignment for wellness. Reviewers judge an organization based on seven key benchmarks including:
Committed and aligned leadership
Collaboration in support of wellness
Collecting meaningful data
Crafting an operating plan
Choosing initiatives that support the whole employee
Creating supportive environments, policies and practices
Conduct evaluation, communicate, celebrate and iterate
Gundersen surpassed 90% in six of the seven categories, including 100% on its conduct evaluation, communication, celebration and iteration. The organization received a final score of 95%, beyond the platinum designation’s 92% threshold.
An organization-wide initiative
Achieving the highest level of workplace wellness excellence is not an easy task and takes the time and effort of departments across the organization. Gundersen’s Office of Population Health, EAP, Benefits, Safety, Employee Health, Organizational Development, Corporate Communications, Spiritual Care and many others have all led work to accomplish our mission of creating a healthy workplace where employees can thrive.
The Gundersen region’s work is rooted in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim:
Improve the health of the population
Offer outstanding patient experience
Ease the financial burden of healthcare
However, its leaders understand the Triple Aim is nearly impossible to deliver on if its employees are not being taken care of.
“Our organization has a responsibility to not only promote healthy lifestyles and encourage our employees to be healthy but to also nurture a culture of health and well-being for everyone,” says Heather Schimmers, president of Bellin and Gundersen Health System’s Gundersen region. “We are motivated to build this culture by our employees’ enthusiasm to help others live happy, productive and enriched lives through healthy living.”
How Gundersen is providing wellness opportunities to its employees
Gundersen’s leaders constantly look for ways to improve and innovate the organization’s healthy and safe workplaces. Gundersen offers staff many opportunities including the MyHealth Rewards and employee assistance programs (EAP), and employee tobacco cessation opportunities. These programs, like others have seen great success throughout the organization. The MyHealth Reward program emphasizes healthy behaviors and preventive care. Since 2005, more than 85% of program participants have stayed current with preventative care, testing and immunizations. This means thousands of employees every year prevent health problems or detect them early on. EAP has seen similar success. In 2023, 28% of employees used EAP’s resources. Lastly, thanks to Gundersen’s tobacco cessation education and opportunities, less than 10% of employees report using tobacco products.
Other programs the organization offers include:
Continuous improvements to its Total Rewards program
Onsite exercise and meditation spaces
Walking trails, food resources and wellness challenges