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Mayors, Business Leaders HighlightImportance of Wellness in WorkplaceBy Jeannie FanningMayors and business leaders joinedtogether April 3 at the U.S. Chamberof Commerce for an open conversationand best practices workshop highlightingthe topic of “Wellness in the Workplace.”Racine (WI) Mayor John Dickertand Alexandria (LA) Mayor JacquesRoy spoke on panels highlighting theirwork inside and outside city hall to motivateemployees and citizens to focus onimproving their health. District of ColumbiaDirector of Human Resources ShawnStokes spoke on behalf of Mayor VincentGray to quantify the District’s recent successesin employee wellness. ColonialLife, the Conference of Mayors partnerfor voluntary employee benefits and education,also provided wellness programbest practice examples.Dr. Robert Karch of American Universitymoderated the first panel focusing on“The Virtues of Workplace and CommunityWellness.” Colonial Life Public SectorDirector Bill Heydt explained that cities arelooking at four key areas when analyzingtheir health care plans today: cost sharing,supplier management, governance,and wellness. Cities know they need andwant to implement and expand currentwellness programs, but the already highdemands on staff makethis a slower processthan most would like.Heydt did conclude witha solution, surmising thatthe “…longevity of wellnessprograms is dependenton cost savings,” inaddition to the incrediblyvaluable, but intangiblebenefits, like improvedemployee morale.Roy expanded thepanel to include wellnessoutside city hall,explaining his city’sefforts to implement astrong smoking ordinancein Alexandria,the only of its kind inLouisiana. He focusedon the political implicationsthat these wellnessordinances can bring –including being accusedof infringing on personalrights. The mayor lookedat this from a differentangle, explaining that,“The public sector buildsthe road, so the privatesector can drive thecar.” Making a healthierAlexandria breeds abetter environment forbusinesses to thrive andgrow.Dickert and Stokesspoke on second panel,highlighting Best Practices in additionto new wellness program accreditationstandards. Recognizing the concern oftight staff time, Dickert and Racine’s “WellCity Program” bring a low cost, competitiveedge to wellness in city hall. Dickertfocused on what he called “…creating thecollaboration between employees andgovernment,” in wellness engagement.Through an exercise-tracking program,employees try to beat the mayor by anumber of weekly workouts. In the firstyear, the program saw 675 participants.Washington (DC) Human Resources DirectorShawn Stokes explains the district’s wellness programchanges since 2011.Racine Mayor John Dickert discusses the city’s“Well City” designation.The number of participants increased to754 in the next year. Efforts like this aimto bring better health to an employeepopulation that saw a health insurancerate increase of $1 million last year.Stokes has also looked at cost and timeeffective ways to help her employees inthe District of Columbia. By analyzingreports and finding the ten most commonhealth issues to her employees, Stokesand her team started a campaign aroundhighlighting the right health care choices.The issues were not just older, high-riskemployees. “Employees 21-35 were usingUrgent Care instead of a primary caredoctor. We had to focus our messagingto those employees,” explained Stokes.The district has also branded “WellnessWednesday,” one day a week to encourageemployees to get out and be active.Education and creating a healthy environmentare two keys to success for cities.Chamber of Commerce Labor, Immigration,and Employee Benefits ResearchPolicy Manager Michael Billet summarized,saying, “The U.S. Chamber ofCommerce’s event on workplace andcommunity wellness highlighted theunique partnerships between the businesscommunity and non-profit organizationsto improve health in communities acrossSee WELLNESS on page 23usmayors.orgPage 22 U.S. MAYOR April 29, 2013