Incentive - July 2008 - (Page 23)

COVER STORY paths laid out in the building and should use it; an online Health outside through the leafy campus, Care University provides inforor stop into the employee cafetemation on nearly any health care ria and see that the food is not topic, and the doctors, nurses and only fresh and well-prepared, but nutritionists staffing on-site clinics that the already subsidized prices at seven Pitney Bowes campuses are lower for the many healthy do the same. items on offer than for the fatty or In 2002, Pitney Bowes decided fried ones. This is a company to try cutting or eliminating the where the chairman ordered cost of managing its top-three candy bars taken away from the drivers of health care costs: diacheckout line and put on the botbetes, asthma and cardiovascular tom rack of a shelf—available, disease, Pawlicki says. While some but decidedly not in the impulsecompanies are firing smokers, Pitpurchase-friendly spot that superney Bowes made drug co-paymarkets, delis and just about any ments cheaper, offered free supretailer that sells food have found port programs like smoking cessaso lucrative over the years. tion—complete with free But that sort of thing only Nicorette gum—and Weight scratches the surface, argues Dr. Watchers. “Consultants said our Brent Pawlecki, the corporate costs would go through the roof,” medical director and an occupaDr. Pawlicki recalls. In fact, he tional medicine specialist. The says, “we cut our costs by eight company has built what it calls a percent for the treatment of “culture of health” that, he says, employees living with diabetes, “helps employees live in a healthy way to maintain their health and prevent disease.” There are many aspects to this program, but at its core is a philosophy of using the carrot rather than the stick. Attitudes like presenteeism—coming in when you’re sick, ineffective Pitney Bowes employees take their charitable work very seriously and contagious, to and saved sixteen percent for look as if you’re a dedicated those with asthma. Additional employee—are discouraged; benefits were realized when you Health Risk Assessment surveys factor in absenteeism, productivity and participation in healthy activand disability claims, as well as the ities like an exercise program are overall health of our employees.” backed by incentives in the form The driver of all this, says Torof dollars in a Health Savings sone, is that Pitney Bowes “does Account; an on-site gym costs just not look at health care as a cost of enough to make employees feel administration but as an investthat they’re paying for it and A great example of how one person can do more with corporate support comes from Pitney Bowes CRM Administrator Paul Retter, above, whose primary focus as a volunteer is with Junior Achievement, which brings middle and high school students into companies to learn about the workplace. The students then have to create a company, market and sell a product and then report on it. But, the program also requires a community-involvement event. So when the Stamford Urban League contacted Pitney Bowes for help distributing the children’s books it had collected after receiving a grant to get reading materials to in-home day care and community centers, he turned to the Junior Achievement team, which happened to be meeting that night. The students bagged the books for distribution and decorated the bags, and Retter was able to apply to a Pitney Bowes program that provides small grants to employees to support their charitable work. A few hundred dollars 1 Employee Company Community covered expenses like bags, transportation and pizza for the kids who spent an evening preparing the books. Literacy and education is the major focus for Pitney Bowes’ philanthropic endeavors, says Juanita James, Pitney Bowes’ corporate communications officer. Within that field, the company focuses specifically on programs designed to close the achievement gap and improve workplace preparedness of underprivileged children. James herself is a founding board member and development chairpersonfor Stamford’s chapter of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), which distributes books free to children. In fact, Pitney Bowes also works with RIF to provide books to school libraries throughout the area, says Carol Rasco, president of the Stamford RIF chapter. Which isn’t to say that literacy is the only focus of Pitney Bowes’ volunteerism. Groups ranging from the Special Olympics and United Way to Habitat for Humanity and the Red Cross also benefit from Pitney Bowes’ efforts. —LJ incentivemag.com | July 2008 | Incentive | 23 http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - July 2008

Incentive - July 2008 Contents Editor’s Note: Accentuate the Positive In The News Cover Story: Three Profiles in Good Corporate Citizenship Case Study Incentive Interview Senior Secrets To Thine Own Self be True Incentive Primer Motivation@Work Travel News: Where To Go and What To Do Take the Spa Home Not the Only Game in Town Here and Now Writing and Desktop Gifts Watches and Clocks Gift Cards: Health and Wellness Incentives Good Health Is Not Its Own Incentive Advertiser Index Last Word

Incentive - July 2008

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