TM - August 2007 - (Page 43) This program is important to The Field Museum because it’s our way of giving back to our employees — it’s our way of saying, “We value you as a person.” We realized about a year ago that many of our front-line employees were facing some health issues. We had workers with heart disease and diabetes, and a couple of our employees had strokes. Instead of saying, “Try to do this on your own,” as an institution, we thought it would be beneficial to partner with our employees and do it collectively. Some employees, particularly the front-line employees, would not be able to afford a gym membership. So, we built a fitness center here so they no longer had to go out and try to join a health club. We have several staff members who wouldn’t normally have a chance to communicate with each other because we have scientific staff, exhibition staff, business staff and front-line employees. When you build this type of program, you have more collaboration and more synergy. The morale, the enthusiasm around the program, centralizes those employees. They come together around a common issue: their better health. So, from our perspective, when you give back to the employees, they in turn become better workers and improve the organization as a whole. TM: White: Why did The Field Museum decide to implement a wellness program? addition to that, we decided that it would also be nice to partner with our vending machine supplier. In the middle of the afternoon, we know that people get a temptation for something sweet, so we wanted to try to minimize that effect by having Healthy Choice Vending installed. These vending machines offer health bars, low-fat snacks, water and Gatorade to ensure that healthier items are available to people throughout the day. Once we had the nutrition covered, we wanted to keep educating people to build a solid foundation for a healthy lifestyle. We have partnered with Chicago Public Health Commissioner Terry Mason, who has agreed to come in to speak to our staff on a quarterly basis. In April, we had Dr. Paul Crawford, an adjunct professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, come into the institution to speak about chronic kidney disease. These seminars have been so wonderful — several of our employees have even stopped smoking. As you’re hearing about heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease, you realize how important it is to cut back on smoking and make better food choices. Because we are an institution committed to conservation, we also send out information, letting people know how important it is to bike to work. We also participate in walking programs. In 2006, our staff participated in the Walk Across Illinois challenge, and in May, we partnered with the American Heart Association for the Walking at Work program. More than 100 of our employees have pledged to walk 10,000 steps a day. Sixty-six of our staff members also participated in the annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge, which is a race held in downtown Chicago. Last year, we began The Biggest Loser, a program similar to the television weight-loss challenge. Fifty of our staff members participated in two separate eight-week programs. Once they lost weight, we realized it was vital for us to begin to do more than the weight-loss challenge. So, we built a fitness center. We also recognized that it would be wonderful for employees to not only have an opportunity to come in and work out on the machines with their colleagues but to also have the chance to participate in some aerobics, Pilates or strength-training activities, as well. So, in addition to the fitness center, we are working on developing some more-formalized classes that employees can participate in as a group on their lunchtime or after work. We also wanted to make sure we were taking a holistic approach to wellness. So, the next step for us was focusing on nutrition. On Monday mornings, our employees are greeted with apples and bananas at all of our entrances. That’s just a small way of saying, “Start your day out on a healthy note.” In TM: White: What are the main features of the wellness program? Productivity is fabulous. When employees feel good, they’re motivated, and the collaboration is better because they’re working as a collective unit. But more importantly, when you educate people on food options and choices, they recognize that if they grab french fries, they’re going to feel sluggish. We’re helping them recognize that if they’re going to be here for an extended period of time, they should do some things to increase their energy level — when your energy level is up, you feel better, and you respond to the visitors better. We receive feedback constantly regarding how excited, enthusiastic and pleasant the employees are. We receive this positive feedback because the employees appear to be happy as they’re performing their jobs, and our visitors can see the collaboration among the team members See Insight, page 45 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com TM: White: How does this program help improve performance and productivity? 43 August 2007 http://www.TalentMgt.com
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