When the City of Maple Grove started its “Fit for Life” Wellness Program in 1990, no one had much experience with worksite wellness initiatives. So the City started small. First it launched an annual fitness testing and health-screening event. Then each year it added another piece or two: A smoking cessation program here, a flu vaccination there.
Over time, the program evolved into what it is today—a comprehensive, year-round endeavor that’s at the very front of every participant’s consciousness. It includes exercise campaigns, online Medica health management, weight-management coaching, personal safety seminars, EAP (Employee Assistance Program) services for chemical and emotional issues, and even a partnership with an adjacent health club.
“It’s infectious,” says Ann Marie Shandley, the city’s human resources director. “We have people talking at the water cooler about how many steps they logged on their pedometers. After a retirement potluck, I heard someone talking about how they were going to record what they had eaten for our Shape [weight loss] program. It’s always out there in front of them in some way, shape, or form.”
Shandley says Fit for Life was developed to promote the health and well-being of city employees and their families. It aims to reduce health care and workers’ compensation costs, and to improve the quality of participants’ lives. She personally can vouch for it: She attends educational sessions, and she records her exercise (at least 30 minutes a day, four times a week) on physical activity cards that can be redeemed for up to two days of extra vacation at the end of the year.
Perks like these are key to employee buy-in, Shandley says.
“Generally, you’ve got to give incentives for people to want to participate in these things,” she explains. “What I’ve found is that people spend more time on football and basketball pools than they do on their own well-being. So somehow we’ve got to get them to focus on their health. We saw a tremendous increase in participation when we introduced the incentive of vacation time.”
The City of Maple Grove has built the program with a little help from outside entities. Its insurance broker, Stanton Group, provides the City with a health-management consultant free of charge.
“They have provided us with a number of resources and ideas, because they are connected to [several] different agencies and resources,” Shandley says. “Many of the ideas they bring us are free. Some others have a cost attached to them, but often they have helped us with that cost because they feel it’s important to promote a program of wellness.”
Local health fairs and community members have also pitched in. Maple Grove dentists have given consultations, and a massage therapist sometimes helps employees relax. Shandley advises companies that would like to start a wellness program to talk to organizations like hers. Get a feel for what other companies are doing, she says, and start small with offerings you can afford. Consult your health care provider; all the big ones have wellness divisions that can help.“Don’t be disheartened if you don’t see health care savings right away,” she adds. “It took us a long time to get unhealthy and have unhealthy behaviors. It’s going to take time. We’ve been doing it for 16 years and we’re still improving.”
