Most employers know that a healthy workforce is a key element to running a healthy business.
What separates one company’s culture from another’s, then, is how they use that knowledge. And in Dublin, major employers are going above and beyond to ensure their workers are of sound body and mind when they come into the office each day.
Cardinal Health
One might expect a pharmaceutical company to have a comprehensive employee health program, but at Cardinal Health, “comprehensive” doesn’t begin to describe it.
The company, Dublin’s largest employer, calls its overarching worker wellness program Healthy Lifestyles.
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Its high-deductible health plans that took effect at the beginning of the year are designed to help employees make better health care decisions, especially given that the company contributes more to the accounts of lower-paid employees as a balancing effect, says Kendell Sherrer, vice president of global benefits. It’s all part of an effort to ingrain good health in company culture, a major priority for CEO George Barrett, who has been in the position since 2009.
“All of our preventative care is covered at 100 percent,” Sherrer says. “These are things like your annual physical, mammograms, prostate exams, colonoscopies, flu shots, immunizations.”
Each employee can knock $1,200 per year off his or her medical premiums: $600 for abstaining from tobacco, $300 for taking a biometric screening and completing a health assessment, $150 for a spouse or domestic partner taking a health assessment, and $150 for participating in a healthy activity, such as taking a six-week exercise program or training for a 5K.
“We have weight loss programs (employees) can get into, smoking cessation programs, things like that,” Sherrer says.
Cardinal’s home base features an on-site primary care clinic and pharmacy for employees during business hours. The clinic, which offers care for employees and family members ages 2 and up, has a full-time doctor and a full-time nurse practitioner, as well as a full-time physical therapist and part-time behavioral health counselor. Cardinal’s own over-the-counter products can be purchased from the pharmacy at cost.
A fitness center for employees opens a few hours before the start of the work day and closes a few hours after it ends. It’s fully stocked with cardio equipment, locker rooms and rooms for classes – a new schedule of offerings, which are free, comes out each month – and personal training. The classes and training come courtesy of on-site fitness trainers.
A health fair with biometric screenings, health assessments and flu shots is held each year. Cardinal’s care provider, StayWell, captures all employee data and offers coaching and other services for conditions such as high blood pressure.
About 80 percent of employees received the most recent round of biometric screenings, Sherrer says. Overall health risk has been on a decline since StayWell started tracking the numbers three years ago.
The campus has a short walking path, too, but most employees who like to walk or run outside for exercise use the City’s paths and sidewalks. Employees are encouraged to use the paths for walking meetings, though. They’re also encouraged to have standing meetings, and the company may put treadmills in a conference room for indoor walking meetings.
Aramark caters both of Cardinal’s on-campus cafeterias. The salad bar is color-coded to indicate the relative nutritional value of each item; healthful entrées are offered each day, and sandwiches and cooked items come with nutritional information cards.
“If you’re getting a slice of pizza or a hot dog or a particular sandwich, you know what the nutritional make-up is – the calories and everything,” Sherrer says.
For Cardinal employees working at smaller offices without fitness centers – the company is headquartered and has 3,600 employees in Dublin, 34,000 in total – discounts at major fitness centers are made available.
Major beneficiaries of Cardinal’s program include a man whose abnormal blood work led to the discovery of a brain tumor and another who lost more than 400 pounds through weight loss programs, Sherrer says.
OCLC
As evidenced by the workout space on the lower level of its Kilgour building, OCLC has placed a priority on employee wellness since its 1967 founding – even before the company began building its headquarters in 1979.
Over the years, though, OCLC’s stance on health has evolved significantly. The 750-employee computer library center now has a robust program of incentives and assistance for employees interested in staying in good physical condition, a culture that pushes workers to do everything from quitting smoking to joining the softball team, and a full-fledged gym that positively dwarfs the old exercise space.
OCLC’s Health Connections initiative has numerous facets, but it all centers on helping employees maintain a good work-life balance, says Susan Marsico, director of employee benefits.
Biometric screenings, health assessments, health coaching, tobacco cessation, educational sessions and even a health library – part of the physical library on the fourth floor of the Kilgour building – are among offerings, some of which are available online or by phone as well. Financial incentives encourage workers to use the programs; employees and their spouses can earn $200 annually against their health premiums for meeting goals set by the biometric screenings and health assessments, as well as $50 per quarter for engaging in two specified exercise activities or programs during that time frame and another $200 annually for staying tobacco-free.
Further offerings range from weight management programs and nutritional analysis to flu shots and bike rentals. Regular health fairs bring in representatives from all of OCLC’s various health providers for screenings and educational opportunities.
“There have been times that the whole atrium has been filled with people at those events,” says Marsico.
East of the Kilgour building, in which the majority of OCLC Dublin employees work, is the Wellzone, a former warehouse that in 1996 was converted to a fitness center, as well as an event center and office space. In addition to the fitness room packed with weights and cardio equipment, the Wellzone – open 24/7 –contains a full-size basketball court and a racquetball court.
Though it doesn’t house exercise equipment like it used to, the old fitness facility in the Kligour building is still used for aerobics and other exercise classes. To make it easier for employees to commit the necessary time to exercise, the company affords them flexible scheduling of their working hours.
Walking paths, a softball diamond and a sand volleyball court provide outdoor fitness and recreation options. And because OCLC has offices across the country and around the world, those workers can get discounts on memberships to other gyms.
The company cafeteria has a wealth of healthful options, including a comprehensive salad bar, nutritious snack and beverage offerings, daily healthful meals and cards with nutritional information for entrees. The company also has a Farm to Family program that arranges for the delivery of fresh vegetables and fruit to employees.
“People really understand what their options are,” Marsico says.
OCLC has been tracking participation in its health assessments and biometric screenings since Health Connections was implemented in 2010. In that time, the health assessment number has increased from 41 to 65 percent, and biometric screenings have risen from 52 to 67 percent.
Among success stories, one employee lost 100 pounds over two years through the weight management program and has kept it off since 2012. Another lost 60 pounds and made big reductions in his cholesterol and blood glucose levels through the diabetes prevention program, and has since taken up running.
All Health Connections offerings extend to employees’ family members as well.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at hbealer@cityscenemediagroup.com.
