As a firm, we strive to inspire people to be the best they can be, both personally and professionally. To help empower our employees’ overall health and well-being, each year Anders has a Wellness Initiative that focuses on helping improve employee’s well-being in all aspects of their lives. The initiative offers activities and programs to improve health while working towards an incentive based on points earned by attending and participating in these events and activities.
For 2020, the theme is ‘A New Decade of Wellness’ because we are revamping the initiative and introducing several new factors.
2019 Wellness Initiative
In 2019, 140 employees – about 72% of the firm – participated in the wellness initiative. The program was a points-based system where a certain amount of points were awarded for events and activities such as running a 5k, preventive health care visits, or attending a wellness lunch and learn.
There was also a six-week walking challenge where employees were put into teams and they tracked how many steps they got collectively each week. At the end of the six weeks, the winning team was announced and recognized. 105 employees – about 54% of the firm – participated in the walking challenge in 2019.
Employees were responsible for entering their points and steps into a wellness points tracking system set up in the firm’s intranet. The points would then go to HR for approval. At the end of the program, HR downloaded all of the point data from the intranet to determine which employees qualified for each incentive level based on the points they earned.
Changes for 2020
For 2020, we have partnered with CHC Wellbeing to use the CHC Wellbeing online portal to track points, steps, and to offer a wide variety of new ways to earn points.
One of the great benefits of using the portal is that it can be accessed from any mobile device, meaning employees can enter points for activities and events as they occur instead of waiting to get to their desk at work.
The employees are also able to link their tracking devices such as Apple Watches or Fitbits to the portal so that their steps are tracked without them having to manually enter numbers. This has allowed us to expand the walking program to be year-round instead of a six-week walking challenge. On top of earning points for their average daily steps, we will have a few two-week distance-specific walking challenges throughout the year.
The portal also offers health webinars and e-learning courses to help employees make up points for any onsite activities they may miss points for because they are out at clients or working remotely.
Why a Wellness Initiative
The benefits of investing in our employee wellness initiative is first and foremost about the wellbeing of our employees. The healthier and happier our employees are, the better they will perform at work. The onsite activities offer a fun way to build employee engagement and encourage team building throughout the firm. This is also a way we can get employees from all departments together throughout the year.
In addition to all of the positive effects the wellness initiative can have for our employees, it can also help the firm’s bottom line by lowering insurance claims and the amount of lost time at work due to illness.
Overall, the Anders Wellness Initiative helps promote positive habits for our employees which helps the continued success of the firm. If you’re interested in working for a firm that values wellness, check out current job openings at Anders.
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