Expanding on ‘wellness’ paves path to future
Expanding on wellness’ paves path to future
Her title alone tells you something different is happening at Allied Signal. Pam Witting, MA, MSW, the newly named health and productivity leader, is charged with "looking at everything in the company that has to do with health and productivity." Witting works out of the Phoenix site of Morristown, NJ-based Allied Signal, a global aerospace and automotive chemical company. The firm employs 10,000 workers in three business units in the Phoenix area.
"We’re expanding the word wellness,’" she adds. "This is the next thing in health promotion. The company is looking more at how we do in terms of health impacts on overall productivity.
"They see me as a leader in figuring that out," Witting continues. "The challenge given to me is to establish strategic goals and objectives, and measure the success of those goals and objectives on productivity and dollars avoided or saved."
With upper management officially approving the importance of having healthy, productive employees, Witting began work on a long-range plan that will seek positive outcomes in the next three to five years. She began by setting up a cross-functional team, "aligning, strategizing, and visioning." Her team includes safety leaders, people from benefits, the medical department, wellness, employee communications, and human resources.
Admittedly a "work in progress," the plan already includes an overall mission — to help Allied Signal in the reduction of direct and indirect costs related to disease and injury — and these major goals:
• to assist Allied Signal in increasing productivity savings through an integrated absence management program (short- and long-term disability, workers’ comp, and Family Medical Leave Act process management);
• to become the benchmark medical facility for Allied (the Phoenix division has four medical clinics);
• to improve Allied Signal associate satisfaction through a high standard of "customer" service — service, that is, to the associates themselves.
"We want to create easier access to our two wellness centers and four health centers," Witting explains. "If you don’t have good access to health services, people aren’t going to use them. That links back directly to productivity." The plan is further refined into what Witting calls "overarching strategies." For each of these strategies, several "action steps" have been or will be identified. Here are some:
1. Overarching Strategy: Preventive Manage ment. This is aimed at the early identification of individuals who are at risk for disease and/or injury, either physical or mental. The purpose of this strategy is to educate associates on appropriate use of the health care system and to improve customer satisfaction.
Action steps for the strategy include:
• Develop an HRA (Health Risk Appraisal) program with the purpose of early disease injury detection and identification of those individuals at risk for disease and/or injury.
• Provide a personal training program for associates that will reduce and maintain low-risk status. Allied dubbed this program "Reach Your Peak."
• Increase participation in existing health education classes and workshops through marketing and creating easy access. Among the keys to easy access, says Witting, is a structure of integrated services among all major departments. "Another key is a 1-800 number we provide that associates can use for virtually anything that happens in their lives — from elder care, to the colors of lipstick they can find in the city they’re in, to finding a lost parent."
2. Overarching Strategy: Disease Management. This is the next stage of the wellness continuum, designed to minimize the impact of risk factors that have already been identified. It is designed to target those having the greatest impact on the Allied Signal employee population.
Action steps:
• Provide a work conditioning program for those associates with acute and/or chronic cardiovascular or orthopedic problems.
• To establish a follow-up process for associates with three or more risk factors in partnership with health plans.
3. Overarching Strategy: Total Quality Management. This is aimed at not only linking health and productivity, but at positively impacting overall quality at Allied Signal through the implementation of wellness-based strategies.
Action steps:
• Develop a "6 Sigma" measurement system Allied chose to measure the impact of the health and productivity strategies on medical costs.
• Achieve a world-class rating for customer satisfaction.
Having previously been with such forward-thinking companies as Coors and Steelcase, Witting is comfortable in this leading-edge wellness environment. She’s also convinced that this is the direction in which her colleagues should head to ensure their future growth and success.
"Allied sees my role as more than just that of a wellness director," she notes. "I would think if we want to progress in this field we need to think along these lines."
[For more information, contact: Pam Witting, Allied Signal, 3131 E. Airlane, MS: 401-29, Phoenix, AZ 85034. Telephone: (602) 231-4537. E-mail: pam.witting@allied signal.com.]
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