Winter Park-based Children’s Home Society of Florida is the state’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization serving children and families through social services, adoption, fostering and more.
Person answering questions: Lisa Hall, wellness program manager
Health initiative you added that employees most enjoy: The Peerfit Fitness program. Employees are able to get free classes at gyms all across the state of Florida. They are able to work out at yoga or pilates studios, bootcamps, Crossfit or OrangeTheory Fitness without joining a gym.
What’s your most awesome wellness initiative? Paid time off and the raffle for the Disney weekend getaway. We also try and give out at least one FitBit with our fitness program.
Your least popular wellness initiative and why it didn’t work: We changed the annual Thanksgiving potluck to a healthy salad lunch served with traditional turkey. We got rid of all the unhealthy side dishes. Although some were not happy with the change, others really appreciated and enjoyed it. They’re getting used to it.
What’s the next step for your wellness program? We launched a “Self Care University” on our intranet site. These pages combine all of the employee offerings into one easy-to-find area. The pages are complete with information on self-care, nutrition, fitness, secondary trauma, employee assistance programs and more. We also included pages on mindfulness, laughter and even a book club site.
How you keep people from dropping out: We try to offer a variety of programs that appeal to different groups, such as online and social programs, while the next program will be simple data collection on paper. We consistently keep things fresh and appealing. And we survey our employees each year to find out what they want.
Key lessons learned: People have different needs and ways they respond. When someone is ready to change, they need compassion and guidance, but the motivation needs to come from within them. Wellness professionals can only guide them from there. And small steps lead to big changes.
Advice to others on starting a wellness program: Get executive buy-in and support. To create a culture of wellness, remember that people will do what they see. Set an example and encourage executives to be an example, as well. Enlist passionate and fun wellness champions.
What’s in your work fridge right now? Brown bag lunches in lunch coolers with the CHS logo, plus coffee and water
Favorite spot to grab a healthy lunch: The local grocery store to order platters of wraps or buy ingredients for salads
By the numbers
2007 Year wellness program founded
77% Wellness program participation rate
Originally posted by The Orlando Business Journal
