When 92 percent of your employees respond positively in an independent survey to the following two statements: “My place of employment is a positive place to work with a common sense of purpose and connection between employees,” and “My organization provides a work environment that supports a balance between work and my personal life,” management should be satisfied.
After all, being selected by the Providence Business News as one of the Best Places To Work in Rhode Island is a third-party endorsement of the value Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd. (KLR) places on creating a team environment that attracts, retains and motivates employees.
Under the leadership and direction of Managing Director Alan Litwin and the Partner Group, KLR makes work/life balance and employee wellness an integral part of the firm’s strategic plan. These two goals are underscored by supporting worksite wellness through personal health assessments, individual and group health programming and by establishing personnel/employment policies mandating a healthy lifestyle at the worksite.
Through a commitment to wellness, continuous encouragement and the allocation of financial and staff resources, we have embarked on a results-oriented wellness program. In addition to the senior level support at KLR, the program success relies on the establishment of a Wellness Team that has created a Wellness Operating Plan to serve as a measurement tool against which to judge the success of our programs.
Another important part of our wellness plan is the collection of critical data that provides us with appropriate health and demographic information. In confidential surveys conducted recently through the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Good Health Benefit Program, more than 63 percent of employees at KLR responded, identifying the following topics of interest:
• Exercise/physical activity (walking/running clubs).
• Group classes on nutrition and weight loss.
• Stress management.
• Personal health screenings.
• Group health seminars.
• Life/work balance.
• Resistance and strength training.
Our Worksite Wellness Team met to review the survey data with Blue Cross and together decided on a schedule of topics, programs and activities to address the health and wellness needs of our employees. Programs planned for the first half of 2008 include:
• Walking club designed to encourage participants to pursue more active lifestyle by increasing physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight.
• Nutrition and portion-control workshops that provide practical advice to enable participants to make healthy dietary choices part of their everyday life, along with guidance on how to understand food labels and approved dietary guidelines.
• Living and working more effectively with others by learning more about your personality; recognizing other major personality types that surround your daily life; and learning how to develop strategies for dealing with stress associated with them.
Finally, to address the interest in health screenings, the committee settled on a Dermascan Skin Screening program designed to create awareness around the risks of skin cancer, and provide life enhancing suggestions for protection from the sun. Handouts, individual consultations by a health educator and a non-invasive test of the participant’s facial area will be offered.
The next challenge for the KLR Worksite Wellness Committee is to overcome the obstacles most commonly associated with preventing employees from participating in worksite wellness programs. These barriers include:
• What is the best time of day to offer these programs.
• What is the preferred length for a wellness program.
• Not enough time in the day and other work/life priorities.
In deciding how best to meet this challenge, our Worksite Wellness Committee surveyed staff and the majority of respondents stated a preference for the mid-day, 1-hour lunch period. Fortunately, with the program scheduling flexibility offered by Blue Cross, we are able to accommodate our employee schedules.
With a successful health initiative, we hope to witness an improvement in employee health habits and celebrate the complete integration of worksite wellness programs into KLR and successfully transform our firm into a well workplace. •
Steve Loffredo is the human resource manager for Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd., a Rhode Island-based certified public accounting and business consulting firm.
