Message from Margaret Peisert, Co-Lead, Healthy Workforce, Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, and Tammy Jones, Co-Lead, Healthy Workforce, National Human Resources, Kaiser Permanente
Partnering to build a culture of health at work: KP Receives Platinum Award for Healthy Workforce
We are pleased to announce that Kaiser Permanente has been honored by the National Business Group on Health (NBGH)with a “Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles” Platinum award. This award was made possible because of the commitment of KP employees and physicians to living our total health brand for each other, our families, our members and patients, and the communities we serve.
We especially want to express our appreciation to you for bringing the Healthy Workforce programs to life on a local level.
Looking out for each other — our health and well-being — is embedded in the mission of Healthy Workforce, which was honored alongside KP’s employee wellness program in Northern California, Live Well Be Well.
Thanks to your leadership, throughout the organization employees are supporting each other to take healthy steps— walking together, ordering healthy food for meetings, taking the Succeed™ total health assessment — getting healthy, staying healthy, and building a culture of health at work. NBGH’s highest wellness honor is awarded to organizations that have established weight and lifestyle programs with measurable success and documented outcomes.
By taking advantage of Healthy Workforce programs, tools, and resources — provided at no cost to KP employees —we’re supporting each other to reach our personal and collective health goals, and the results are showing.
The Oakland Medical Center Landscape Maintenance UBT exemplifies this spirit. Together, the UBT reached their goal of 100percent completion of the online Succeed™ total health assessment. The total health assessment provides customized action plans, so the landscape team members got advice on how to protect their skin from the potentially harmful effects of the sun.
Since completing the total health assessment, team members have been more mindful of their own health — and the health of their co-workers. Observed one of the co-leads, Monica Taylor, “We’re more conscious of protecting ourselves on the job and improving our health. And it’s opened up conversations about how we can look out for each other as well.” (Read the full story on the LMP website.)
This is one of many teams — whether unit-based teams, departments teams, or Sole Mates on KPWalk! — who are partnering successfully to make healthy changes. And it’s working. In a recent KP Walk! survey, for example, two thirds of respondents reported they had more energy, three quarters increased their physical activity, and 78 percent experienced health benefits as a result of participating in the program.
Our employees and caregivers dedicate so much of themselves to caring for our members and patients, we also want them to have the resources they need to lead healthy lives, in mind, body, and spirit. The total health assessment is a great first step in making a healthy change. And there are many other Healthy Workforce resources to support us along our journey toward better total health.
Thank you again for your ongoing support of Healthy Workforce programs, tools, and resources. Together, we’ll continue to build a culture of health at work to help us all stay healthy and thrive.
