MUSC Earns Working Well’s Overall Platinum Award for Third Year
The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is recognized by the South Carolina Hospital Association’s Working Well initiative for earning the Strategy for Wellbeing overall Platinum award for the third year in a row. This award symbolizes excellence in workplace wellbeing and support for optimal employee health. Strategy for Wellbeing is an interactive, automated online platform designed to help employers implement best practices in employee wellbeing. MUSC achieved this recognition by earning Platinum status in all nine Strategy for Wellbeing dimensions of wellbeing: Wellness Culture, Risk Assessment & Outreach, Nutrition & Food Environment, Physical Activity, Tobacco Free, Emotional & Mental Wellbeing, Financial Wellbeing, Incentives & Communication, and Evaluation.
The Strategy for Wellbeing Platinum designation recognizes MUSC’s commitment to creating a culture of wellbeing for their organization by making wellness part of their infrastructure and day-to-day operations, and implementing a comprehensive approach that focuses on policy, systems, benefits and environment to support optimal health.
“MUSC’s commitment not to just lead by example but model healthy behaviors through a supportive culture is evident in their successes. MUSC has set an example of innovation and effective implementation strategies to all South Carolina employers,” commented Jen Wright, Working Well Program Director.
“It is such an honor to receive this recognition,” says Dr. Susan Johnson, MUSC’s Health Promotion Director. Jen, Emily and the Working Well team have been long-term partners with us and have provided us with collaborative opportunities beyond our individual organizations. Co-presenting at national meetings, serving on statewide committees and boards, and supporting the Charleston Healthy Business Challenge are just a few examples of how our work is impacting worksite wellbeing in our communities, our state, and nationwide. I look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts in 2020, focusing on increasing outreach in our business communities and addressing workplace burnout through a Duke Endowment grant.”
Working Well helps employers develop a strategic plan to impact employee health and productivity by focusing on policy, systems and environmental changes, which are often low or no cost. Working Well aims to help employers create a sustainable culture of wellbeing by using effective, evidence-based best practices to create healthy work environments.
Research demonstrates that employees performing at optimal health can have a major impact on an employer’s bottom line by contributing to lower health care costs, less absenteeism, higher productivity and improved morale. Healthy employees perform better and are more productive and more engaged than their unhealthy peers.
“This award recognizes MUSC’s innovation and commitment to the health of their employees, students and the community they serve,” said Wright. “The team at MUSC understands that to continue to be successful in motivating lifestyle change, they must continue to enhance their employee wellness program and broaden their wellness programming to include new dimensions and areas of wellbeing. Their Imagine U employee wellbeing program includes over 100 challenges that allow employees to develop a plan to improve their personal health in four areas of wellbeing; nutrition/weight management, physical activity, preventative care and psychosocial health. All employees are eligible to participate, earn quarterly incentives and receive recognition for their efforts. To date, over 7500 employees have participated in the program and have completed an HRA.
The Office of Health Promotion recently established an Enterprise Wellness Advisory Council and an Executive Wellness Committee to support MUSC’s commitment to organizational and population health and to lead by example. They also are continuing to create a health-promoting environment by installing sunscreen dispensers on their campus and opened an outdoor community kitchen at their campus Urban Farm. Working Well congratulates their efforts to successfully expand their employee wellbeing program to include all nine dimensions of wellbeing and continue to provide innovative ways to motivate their employees’ behavior change.”
For information on how to improve your worksite’s environment to better support employee wellbeing, contact Emily O’Sullivan, Working Well Program Manager, at 803.454.6969 or eosullivan@scha.org.
Working Well was founded through the support of The Duke Endowment and is managed by the South Carolina Hospital Association. Working Well is an effort to improve population health across the state of South Carolina by establishing cultures of employee wellbeing where the healthy choice is the easy choice.