‘Green’ gym ups participation

PUMPED: Arpin Group opened its
PUMPED: Arpin Group opened its "green" wellness center about a year ago to support fitness efforts of its team members, including Taylor Arpin, foreground, a fifth-generation member of the family-owned business, and Mark Greene, senior vice president of the GSA division. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Arpin Group Inc., the West Warwick-based moving company, strives to keep its team members focused on adopting healthier lifestyles. With more than a century’s worth of experience moving and storing furniture and goods for families, governments and corporations, it’s no surprise that this five-generation, family-owned company wants to ensure its team members are vibrant, active and healthy.

Nurturing a healthy workforce has been a longtime corporate commitment, and the company has been encouraging its team members to adopt healthy habits and get exercise for the past eight years or so. Nevertheless, in September 2014, Arpin transferred part of its health and wellness benefits package into cutting-edge territory: It established New England’s first completely green wellness center, said Christina Sarza, Arpin Group’s director of human resources.

“We installed this green gym to encourage and motivate our team members to take the steps to stay active, healthy and improve their quality of life,” she said, about the gym. “After a workout, they can see a digital reading of how much energy they put back into the grid.”

The gym includes two treadmills – which use 32 percent less electricity than their nongreen counterparts – two bikes, one elliptical and one rowing machine. In addition, there are stations for weight lifting, stretching, multi-unit and cardiovascular workouts. Open six days a week, the gym is free for team members’ use.

- Advertisement -

The gym’s elliptical and bikes harness the power of human energy. When plugged into a power outlet, they convert the human energy generated into electricity, which is then returned to the site’s power grid. In addition, team members can charge their portable electronic devices using the energy they generate during their fitness routines.

Several years ago, Arpin adopted monetary incentives to reward those who fulfilled company-established wellness incentives. In 2014, an annual medical “well visit” and annual dental exam and teeth cleaning, a smoking-cessation program (if a smoker), a biometric screening and personal health assessment were required wellness incentives. Those who followed all the recommendations received $750 (individual) or $1,200 (family) deposited into their next year’s health savings accounts. A team member with a family policy could only receive the full $1,200 if his or her spouse completed every wellness incentive commitment as well. Between 2012 and 2014, Arpin contributed a total of $233,000 to team members’ HSAs, said Sarza.

In addition to getting monetary rewards deposited into their HSAs, fully participating team members pay 15 percent of their health insurance premiums. Team members who don’t complete every wellness incentive must pay 32 percent. “We thought we’d get people to be compliant,” she said.

Arpin’s voluntary wellness programs are growing in popularity, although some team members remain disengaged. “Participation rates have increased from 50 percent in 2012 to [more than] 80 percent in 2014,” said Souza, and the goal for this year is 100 percent. “We push for it and market for it and incentivize it, but there will always be some [team members] who won’t participate.”

The company encourages its team members to engage in exercise off-site and during weekends as well. To that end, it pays the registration fees for team members who choose to participate in local community events sponsored by nonprofit organizations, such as fundraising walks, 10K runs or marathons. The company established Arpin Strong, a charitable fund created after the Boston Marathon bombing of April 2013. Arpin Strong supports a number of local and national charities related to health and wellness, food banks, etc.

In past years, Arpin had sponsored on-site annual screenings and wellness clinics to assess such biometrics as blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels in an effort to address and resolve health concerns early on. This year Arpin took a slightly different approach by allowing every team member to get these biometric tests done at their own physician’s office, at no cost.

Arpin continues to invest in its team members’ well-being, because, said Sarza, “Without good health, you cannot be your best self at home, at work or at play.” n

A Healthy Thought:

‘Arpin Group continues to invest in team members through wellness programs and incentives.’

Christina Sarza, director of human resources, Arpin Group

Number of Employees: 245

CEO (or equivalent): David Arpin, president and CEO

No posts to display