Workplace Wellness Awards 2023 Winners

Dollar General: Dollar General's Outstanding Total Rewards

Training & Development Programs

Dollar General doesn’t skimp when investing in employees

Going beyond basic benefits, the retailer offers assistance for employees hit by natural disasters, helps them earn commercial driver’s licenses and more. It’s the winner of Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards: Outstanding Total Rewards Programs.

The nation’s largest retailer by store count, Dollar General has more than 185,000 employees and prides itself on providing opportunities for growth to all of them.

Taking a multidimensional approach to employee success, Dollar General starts by offering a broad range of benefits to help employees lead healthy lives at work and home: medical, prescription, telemedicine, dental and vision plans; flexible spending accounts; disability insurance; healthy lifestyle and disease management programs; discounts for products and services; parental leave; adoption assistance; life insurance; and a variety of supplemental health and welfare programs.

Other steps the company takes to provide for its workforce:

Dollar General’s Employee Assistance Program provides access to mental health, legal and financial counseling services.
The Employee Assistance Foundation provides funding for help when employees are faced with loss of a loved one, or damage to their home due to natural disaster or fire. During 2022, the foundation awarded nearly $2 million to employees in need.
In 2022 Dollar General launched SMFlex, a new scheduling program that allows store managers more flexibility in determining their weekly schedule and better balances their professional and personal obligations.
To help employees and their families improve their financial knowledge and secure their financial futures, Dollar General offers financial counseling services, financial literacy training courses and 401(k) participation eligibility.
For its supply chain and retail team, the company launched a commercial driver’s license program that offers store and distribution center employees the opportunity to earn their license and join Dollar General’s Private Fleet network. Drivers can earn up to $100,000 a year, along with bonus opportunities and competitive benefits eligibility on Day One.
In 2022 Dollar General launched a new educational benefits platform, allowing employees to access higher education without facing financial barriers. Full-time employees receive access to employer-paid, full-tuition-covered degree programs at select universities. In addition, the company offers employees and their immediate families access to Sophia Learning, an online, on-demand, self-paced learning platform providing general education courses to help employees start their education journey and pursue professional development.

Dollar General’s commitment to wellness and engagement continues to make a meaningful impact on the well-being and livelihood of its employees. Congratulations for its continuing effort.

Northwell Health

2024 Open Enrollment

Northwell Health excels in employee benefits communication

Amidst the complexities of annual Open Enrollment (OE), Northwell Health’s internal communications team worked with benefits subject matter experts to orchestrate a comprehensive omnichannel campaign aimed at assisting more than 50,000 team members in navigating benefits changes and making informed decisions. Their efforts secured them Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards in the Wellness Initiatives and Programs category for Employee Benefits.

Northwell Health’s primary objective was to ensure a positive OE experience by providing clear explanations and easily accessible resources, facilitating informed healthcare decisions for its employees. Additionally, the initiative aimed to showcase Northwell’s commitment to actively listening to employee feedback for continuous improvement.

Northwell’s strategy included introducing significant benefits changes for 2024, notably a new medical plan third-party administrator (TPA) and a revamped provider network for enhanced nationwide coverage. These changes necessitated meticulous coordination because employees were required to navigate between multiple contact numbers, claims portals and provider search platforms.

Moreover, the team dedicated substantial efforts to understanding employee impact and articulating changes in everyday language through comprehensive communication materials.

Executing a multi-faceted approach, Northwell utilized various channels, including HR and leadership messages, FAQs, newsletters, the intranet, transition web pages, digital assets, videos, text messages and targeted emails. These efforts ensured widespread dissemination of information tailored to different audience segments.

The success of the organization’s initiative is evident in its engagement metrics. More than 20,000 team members accessed the benefits intranet pages, with a notable spike in traffic upon launch. Additionally, high open rates and click rates were recorded for OE newsletters, indicating robust employee engagement. Videos produced by Northwell garnered substantial views, further showing the effectiveness of their communication strategy.

Congratulations to Northwell Health!

The Cigna Group

Global Wellness Challenge

Cigna’s wellness approach spurs employee engagement

Amid the landscape of workplace wellness initiatives, Cigna Group has secured Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Award in the Wellness Initiatives and Programs category for Employee Engagement. Its success lies in a strategic blend of inclusive challenges, innovative tactics and a commitment to fostering employee vitality.

The annual Global Wellness Challenge (GWC) is central to Cigna’s employee wellness approach. This six-week endeavor entices employees and their families worldwide to partake in various wellbeing activities. From fitness pursuits to social engagements, the organization incentivizes participation with prizes, wellbeing incentives and charitable donations. Evolving from a fitness-centric endeavor, GWC now encompasses mental health, social connections and volunteerism, nurturing a holistic impact on employee wellbeing.

In 2023, the challenge theme “Small Steps, Big Strides” emphasized manageable actions yielding substantial health dividends. By promoting activities like exercise, meditation and community engagement, Cigna aims to inspire re-engagement in personal health journeys while fostering teamwork and collaboration.

Aligning with its mission to “improve the health and vitality of those we serve,” Cigna employed an array of strategies. Enhancements to the program platform and mobile app expanded engagement while innovative communication tactics drove enrollment and completion rates. Leveraging team captains and integrating charity donations further increased participation.

Over time, GWC got some enhancements, like adding trackable categories like volunteering alongside weekly themed activities, reinforcing the message of small actions and yielded significant results. Upgrades to the user experience through app revamps and new features resulted in a fourfold increase in video views.

With more than 28,000 participants tracking nearly 61 million wellness minutes, Cigna witnessed an 8.1% surge in engagement. Participants reported a Net Promoter Score of 53, which underscores the program’s impact on employee satisfaction and wellbeing.

Congratulations to The Cigna Group for its exemplary approach to workplace wellness.

Bank of America

Bank of America’s employee wellness strategy sets industry standard

Bank of America’s dedication to cultivating a supportive workplace culture has earned a win in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards in the Financial Wellness category. The bank’s strategic approach revolves around fostering a Great Place to Work ethos, essential to its overarching Responsible Growth framework. Through comprehensive benefits tailored to empower its global workforce, Bank of America demonstrates a commitment to the holistic wellbeing of its employees.

At the core of Bank of America’s wellness initiatives lies an integrated benefits strategy, focusing on three key pillars: physical, emotional and financial wellness. With a workforce exceeding 210,000 globally, including around 170,000 in the U.S., the bank’s Global Benefits Team crafts programs to cater to diverse needs, ensuring maximum value and impact.

Underpinning its physical wellness programs is a commitment to providing access to quality healthcare while promoting healthy lifestyle habits. Notable achievements include maintaining consistent medical premiums for lower-earning teammates for over a decade, alongside initiatives such as no-cost preventive care medications and near-site primary care clinics, ensuring convenient healthcare access.

In addressing emotional wellness, Bank of America offers robust support systems, including free, unlimited telephonic counseling and specialized assistance programs for significant life events. These initiatives aim to provide comprehensive support for managing stress and mental health challenges.

The organization’s efforts in financial wellness also stand out. From a significant increase in minimum hourly wage to comprehensive retirement savings plans and financial assistance programs covering childcare, education and emergency support, the bank demonstrates a commitment to improving the financial wellbeing of its employees.

Bank of America’s initiatives are not merely token gestures but are backed by concrete metrics. The bank’s Employee Engagement Survey, with more than 170,000 participants in 2022, reflects a decade-long trend of increasing satisfaction, a testament to the effectiveness of its wellness programs. This commitment to employee wellbeing underscores the bank’s status as a leader in fostering a supportive workplace environment.

Congratulations to Bank of America for its well-deserved recognition in championing employee wellness.

Goodwill of North Georgia

2023 Open Enrollment

Goodwill of North Georgia tackles open enrollment

When open enrollment season came around, two teams collaborated to inform and motivate employees to make the right choices. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing, Wellness Initiatives/Programs: HR and Communications Collaboration.

Fall is the season of shorter days, autumn colors, holidays and open enrollment for healthcare coverage. Informing, educating and motivating employees to sign up for benefits is an annual challenge for Goodwill, with a workforce of approximately 3,000 team members across a wide range of ages, ethnicities and education levels, dispersed in more than 100 locations across 45 U.S. counties.

The most commonly selected plan had undergone significant changes, and health insurance costs were set to increase across the board. At Goodwill of North Georgia, the human resources and marketing team banded together to ensure its workforce knew all their benefit options for 2023 so they could make the best selections for themselves and their families.

The outreach strategy was built on clear, consistent and well-developed communication through a variety of channels. Tactics included:

Email campaign: Team members received an email each week with reminders, reference materials and information about specific benefit options.
Team member app: Reminders and plan benefits were shared weekly via the Goodwill team member app, the Hub.
User-friendly resources: The marketing team edited, revised and, when necessary, recreated open enrollment materials, including videos, plan scenario documents and in-home mailers, to make them easier to understand.
All-hands town hall: The marketing and HR teams co-hosted an all-hands town hall meeting to explain plan benefits and changes and answer team members’ questions live. The town hall was also recorded and shared via email and app for future reference.
In-person support: HR team members visited all Goodwill locations during the open enrollment period to provide one-on-one support for team members to help them navigate the open enrollment process. Marketing supported these efforts by providing reference materials to use during these meetings.

Plans for the two-month outreach campaign were finalized one month before the open enrollment, centering on an ongoing cadence of continued communication biweekly for the first month and then weekly once open enrollment began. The teams met regularly to ensure that the schedule was maintained, discuss necessary changes, plan for the virtual and one-on-one meetings and share feedback.

The campaign was successful — not only did the number of team members selecting benefits hold steady, but more team members enrolled in benefits plans than the previous year, despite the price increase. Additionally, employee satisfaction with the benefits plan increased significantly despite the increase in cost.

Congratulations to Goodwill of North Georgia for a successful campaign.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson Learn

Johnson & Johnson makes learning a strategic imperative

J&J’s new learning platform helped thousands of employees explore new development opportunities, making it one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing, Wellness Initiatives/Programs: Learning and Development.

In 2023, Johnson & Johnson’s CEO declared that the company needed to embody a culture of learning to stay forward-thinking, competitive and innovative. The result was “J&J Learn,” a centralized learning and development plan that connected employees with the skills, mentors and personalized content needed to grow in their current roles, chart a path to the role of their dreams, and thrive at every step in between.

The program starts with employees and managers accessing reflection exercises and a skills assessment that supports career and development conversations. With this base, employees can decide on areas to explore and access the content that adds to their learning and development. Content on leadership, DE&I, wellbeing, professional and digital skills is available to every employee and more material is added continuously to keep content fresh and relevant.

J&J Learn was built with consumer-grade technology that’s easy for employees to use and provides them with important insights. It integrates material from more than 100 learning organizations across the company, along with J&J’s leadership development programs, its Human Performance Institute and more, becoming a single source for employees’ learning and development needs. Employees can also sign up to be mentors or post gigs to support the growth and development of their colleagues.

To truly emphasize J&J’s commitment to its learning culture, the CEO declared Sept. 29, 2023, Global Learning Day. All 150,000 global employees received eight hours of paid time to explore new areas of career interest and skill development that aligned with their personal and professional goals. Results included:

More than 109,000 total learning completions.
Employees spent approximately 70,000 total hours learning on the J&J Learn platform.
23,000 employees completed all reflection exercises, helping them better identify and understand their professional interests.

Since its launch, the Learning home page has received 260,000 visits, channeling traffic to various capabilities across the ecosystem.

Congratulations to Johnson & Johnson for its commitment to employee learning.

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment North America

For M&C Saatchi, employees’ mental health is a team affair

Its ‘Mental Health First Aiders’ works with leadership to provide support and resources for employees. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organization (up to 1,000 employees), and Wellness Initiatives/Programs: Mental Health Initiatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic vividly illustrated the challenges and stresses employees experience. For M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment North America, this prompted a push to make mental health programming a core focus with its Mental Health First Aiders Committee. Formed in 2021, the committee has grown into a community that informs M&C’s policies, benefits and cultural programming.

The committee is a peer support group of mental health advocates who share knowledge, provide practical assistance, connect people to resources and deliver workplace wellness programming. Each member undergoes a six-week Mental Health First Aider certification training to learn how to serve their colleagues with knowledge and empathy.

Almost 27% of M&C’s staff have become certified Mental Health First Aiders since 2021. In partnership with M&C’s executive team, the committee offers a blend of weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual services and benefits to promote healthy dialogue and deliver support to the workforce.

One example: The Wellbeing Collection in M&C’s headquarters office space. It’s a carefully curated collection of books focused on wellbeing, updated every quarter. Staff are welcome to borrow any of these resources and are open to recommendations on what to add to the collection.

Private Zoom sessions with two Mental Health Committee members are open to all staff when needed — during Mental Health Awareness Month, for instance, and around the stressful holiday period. There’s also quarterly community-requested programming, with some gatherings aimed at service-oriented community-building while others focus on community learning, from dog park meetups to personal finance training.

M&C’s #wellness-wednesdays Slack channel is available for employees to share, educate, inspire, recommend or celebrate anything related to mental health, self-care, wellbeing and wellness. It’s open to everything from thoughtful long form reads to pet photos.

Perhaps one of the staff’s favorite perks is being able to bring their dogs to the office and/or hang with their co-workers’ canine companions. Ninety percent of the employees say that a dog-friendly office helps them manage stress better.

Kudos to M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment for its commitment to employees’ mental wellbeing.

NYU Langone Health

Colorectal Cancer Screening Initiative

NYU Langone persuades employees to get crucial colorectal screenings

A pilot project offered transportation, time off for procedures, access to a nurse practitioner to answer questions, and more. It’s a winner in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards for Physical Wellness.

It was a collaboration between the Human Resources department at NYU Langone Health, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Perlmutter Cancer Center, and Local 1199: a pilot initiative to increase awareness and accessibility of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among employees aged 45 and older.

The team identified potential barriers to screening, planned incentives, and developed content for educational videos and other materials aimed at NYU Langone employees. As an incentive, for example, the HR Department offered reimbursement for one sick or vacation day when used for a colonoscopy, as well as transportation for those in need of it to and from the screening.

A dedicated nurse practitioner was available by email or phone to answer questions, discuss screening options, and coordinate direct-access colonoscopies in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Long Island when clinically appropriate. Other screening options were also offered for people at average risk; employees could also contact their own health professionals directly, at NYU Langone or elsewhere, to schedule a screening.

NYU Langone’s employee wellness portal featured practical information for employees, making it a one-stop shop for access to custom videos, information on colon cancer, colonoscopy prep, time reimbursement forms, and information on how to contact the dedicated nurse practitioner and schedule free transportation for the procedure.

The campaign launched in July 2022. Information about CRC screenings was sent to employees via QR code on a mailed postcard and via email, along with an article posted on NYU Langone’s intranet. The initiative was also actively promoted by Local 1199 union leadership, who encouraged their members to get screened themselves.

The pilot project’s communications campaign ended in April 2023, but NYU Langone continued the reimbursed day off and transportation service incentives through June 2023.

Although it’s impossible to track exactly how many NYU Langone employees underwent screening as a result of the campaign, from July 2022 to June 2023, the designated nurse practitioner documented 403 interactions with employees and coordinated 95 direct-access colonoscopy procedures. The transportation service was used 109 times, and 578 employees used the reimbursed day off.

Congrats to NYU Langone Health for steering its employees to a potentially life-saving procedure.

PAN Communications

Professional Wellness at PAN

PAN is all about developing its employees for the future

With dedicated mentors, shared staffing and a broad-based onboarding program, PAN Communications is committed to employees’ success. It’s a winner in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards, Wellness Initiatives/Programs: Professional Wellness.

PAN Communications is committed to mentorship, information sharing and forging a collaborative approach to deliver winning campaigns to its clients. Every employee at PAN has an equal opportunity for growth and development in an environment where there is no competition for advancement. With this approach, everyone is on their own timeline and can focus solely on their own performance and goals.

In PAN’s dedicated career coach model, every employee has someone committed to helping them learn, grow and advance their career. Career coaches meet biweekly with their dedicated team members to discuss their accounts, performance, goals, staffing preferences and career trajectory. Every employee is also paired with a vice president who oversees their own team of career coaches.

There’s also a shared staffing model: Employees learn from multiple individuals with varied experiences across their teams, allowing them to collaborate with people from different backgrounds and skill sets. Managers take on the role of trainer and coach, ensuring that the skills and knowledge they’ve accumulated throughout the years are paid forward to the people who follow them.

The agency-wide PANU training program trains employees on topics including crisis communications, broadcast media relations, content optimization, trend-jacking and paid media. PAN also offers quarterly one-to-one mentorship workshops to increase individual expertise based on employees’ skills and interests in career topics such as media relations, content development and social media.

Each new hire is assigned a dedicated career coach, peer mentor, HR business partner and an in-house learning and development manager for onboarding. The HR and client relations teams entirely program the new hires’ first several weeks, training them on PAN’s tools, processes and client teams. Newcomers are also given a “new hire ramp,” letting them start working with a smaller client account load and slowly work their way up to a full client roster over their first 90 days.

In the most recent agency-wide engagement survey, PAN’s employees rated it 9.32 out of 10 for training and development, 9.41 for overall job satisfaction and 9.29 for overall agency satisfaction.

Congrats to PAN for its dedication to its employees’ careers and wellbeing.

Project Lifesaver International

Project Lifesaver Program

Project Lifesaver: Finding those who wander

The nonprofit group’s training and technology have reunited thousands of missing people with cognitive disabilities. It’s a winner in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards: Social Wellbeing.

Project Lifesaver International is dedicated to protecting and safely recovering individuals with cognitive disorders who have wandered off from a safe environment — people with Alzheimer’s disease, those on the autism spectrum and people with other cognitive conditions who wander from their homes.

A community-based nonprofit organization, Project Lifesaver was the first organization to apply tracking technology for the search and rescue of individuals with cognitive disorders. It provides law enforcement, fire/rescue and other first responders with comprehensive education, training and technology.

Based on its experience in the search and rescue of wanderers for the last 25 years, Project Lifesaver provides valuable insight and information for the development of policy and sound practices for search, rescue and recovery of at-risk wanderers. It has helped develop materials and training programs to educate doctors, caregivers, school administrators, first responders, search personnel and — most importantly — the families with loved ones at risk.

Project Lifesaver is a subject matter expert and advisor on the wandering issue for many organizations, including Leaders Engaged on Alzheimer’s Disease (LEAD), the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and more. What makes its approach unique is the education and training it provides, which include locating techniques & technology, partnering with local first responders and educating public safety agencies on the latest information.

In addition, Project LifeSaver trains first responders on how to approach the “at risk” individual with an understanding of their symptoms and behaviors, then gain their trust and put them at ease so they can help.

Its success is clear: Project Lifesaver’s member agencies have rescued nearly 5,000 at-risk individuals. The program is now in more than 1,700 agencies covering all 50 states and throughout all of the Canadian Provinces.

Congratulations to Project Lifesaver for providing this vital service.

Food Lion

Healthy Foundations

Food Lion makes a game out of navigating benefits

For its 82,000 associates, the grocery chain created a game to show what’s available to help them thrive. It’s Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards: Strategic HR.

Grocery chain Food Lion offers comprehensive healthcare and wellbeing programs to its associates, but many were unaware of everything that was available. The Healthy Foundations program began as an initiative to ensure every associate knew and understood everything Food Lion was offering — no small task for an organization with 82,000 associates across 10 states.

The first step for the human resources strategy team was organizing benefits information into a framework that aligned with the company’s brand, strategy and culture. Healthy Foundations rested on four pillars of well-being: financial management, health and wellness, career and education, and community. Once benefits were sorted under each pillar, the team moved on to the next phase: gamification.

In an interactive card game, eight fictional personas represent Food Lion associates in corporate and retail positions. The real associates playing the game use the eight personas along with cards listing benefit offerings: disability, health care, mental health resources, educational offerings and community resources. Associates match benefits cards with their fictional personas and discuss why each benefit would be an appropriate resource for the persona’s needs.

The program was piloted in December 2022 with a group of retail associates across different departments, ages, tenures and interests. After the in-store pilot, the retail operations support team ran the preliminary program in January 2023. The rollout continued once these 100 Food Lion retail leaders completed the activity. In March 2023, Healthy Foundations rolled out to every store, with the team collecting feedback and incorporating it into successive versions of the game.

Evaluating the success of Healthy Foundations involved tracking the use of partner platforms like the employee assistance program, the My Rewards Every Day benefits portal, the Neuroflow mental health app and the Food Lion intranet page hosting the Healthy Foundations benefits organized by pillar. Results showed a significant increase in EAP use in 2023 compared to the previous year, an increase of more than 130% increase in counseling and consultation sessions, an 18% increase in associates completing a confidential, virtual health assessment over the previous year and other positive numbers.

Congratulations to Food Lion for turning benefits information into a fun and rewarding game.

1Milk2Sugars Communications

Work-Life Balance

‘Sugars’ thrive thanks to 1Milk2Sugars’ commitment

The agency offers a host of perks and benefits, including a four-day work week, access to Canada’s largest network of health-care providers, an annual wellness retreat and more, making it a winner in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards: Work-Life Balance.

Canada’s 1Milk2Sugars calls its employees “the Sugars.” The bilingual agency specializing in influencer relations, content marketing and media relations is committed to creating a culture where the Sugars can thrive in their careers and personal lives alike.

To that end, at the start of 2023, 1Milk2Sugars began gathering employee feedback to identify key areas for improvement related to work-life balance. They centered on three major areas:

Clarity on career paths and development.
Support employees in setting workplace boundaries.
Supporting employees in detaching from work after hours and on holidays.

The feedback laid the groundwork for promoting greater employee engagement and retention. Strategies included implementing a four-day workweek to offer employees greater balance, offering an additional week of paid vacation over the December holidays, defining clear working hour expectations with the right to set boundaries and disconnect during off-hours, setting goals to minimize excessive overtime and address workload concerns and more.

Other initiatives executed in 2023 include:

Premium Calm app subscription: Calm is an app for sleep and meditation designed to provide a mental break, a soothing sound or a peaceful night’s rest. It’s provided at no cost to all Sugars.
Perkopolis: Canada’s largest employee perks provider provides employer-preferred pricing from big wellness brands.
Monday mentor meetups: These address career guidance and development, time and stress management, goal setting and accountability, emotional support and wellbeing.
Annual $500 wellness budget: These address career guidance and development, time and stress management, goal setting and accountability, emotional support and wellbeing.

There’s also the company’s all-inclusive annual retreat. In 2023 1Milk2Sugars hosted its staff on a four-day, all-inclusive retreat to the Dominican Republic. In addition to boosting morale and motivation, the retreat focused on wellness activities like Pilates and morning walk/run coaching, fostering a positive and engaged atmosphere that enhanced team building and reinforced company culture.

1Milk2Sugars has experienced zero voluntary turnover since May 2023. The four-day workweek was a definite success, with 80% of Sugars surveyed saying it improves employee morale and satisfaction.

Congrats to 1Milk2Sugars for its commitment to wellness.

Steph Lund

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment

CEO Steph Lund leads workplace wellness transformation at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment

Steph Lund, CEO of M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment North America, has been recognized as a transformative leader in workplace wellness, earning a CEO/Presidents of the Year award from Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards. Lund’s commitment to prioritizing mental health awareness and support within her agency has significantly improved employee wellbeing and retention.

Steph Lund’s dedication to fostering a culture of wellbeing is evident in her multifaceted approach. She is a certified mental health first aider and actively engages in various mental health initiatives both within and outside the agency. Under her leadership, the agency has partnered with Five Ways Consultancy to provide mental health certification to all interested staff, with 27% of employees completing the program to date.

Recognizing the importance of open communication, Lund implemented the agency’s first company-wide survey focused exclusively on workplace wellbeing. This initiative resulted in actionable insights, informing policies and programming aimed at improving staff satisfaction and mental health support. The survey yielded impressive results, with 92% of respondents expressing increased energy and satisfaction with the company’s offerings.

Beyond surveys, Lund spearheaded diverse initiatives such as workshops on communication and holistic healing practices like reiki and meditation. She also collaborated with global networks to address sensitive topics like bereavement, providing resources and support workshops for staff navigating loss and uncertainty.

Lund’s strategic leadership has not only enhanced employee wellbeing but also contributed to tangible outcomes, including the highest retention rates in three years and consecutive wins for “Best Places to Work.” Beyond her commitment to fostering a healthy workplace culture, she actively contributes to industry discussions on workplace wellness and serves as a mentor for operational excellence.

Congratulations to Steph Lund for her outstanding leadership and dedication to workplace wellness!

Carlos Sánchez-Luis

AstraZeneca

Transforming workplace culture: Carlos Sánchez-Luis leads AstraZeneca’s success

Carlos Sánchez-Luis, Area Vice President LatAm & CP Brazil at AstraZeneca, has been honored with Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards in the CEO/Presidents of the Year category. His distinguished leadership style, combining medical expertise with business acumen, has spearheaded transformative initiatives, earning accolades for AstraZeneca’s workplace culture.

Carlos Sánchez-Luis champions a culture of empowerment and collaboration, emphasizing closeness to his team, active listening and trust. Recognizing the pivotal role of organizational culture in global objectives, he has implemented strategies prioritizing employee wellbeing and work-life balance, creating a workforce committed to patient support.

Under Sánchez-Luis’s guidance, initiatives like “The Power Is Within You” have empowered employees to contribute positively to the company’s success. Feedback from the PULSE employee engagement survey catalyzed the formation of cross-functional teams addressing areas for improvement. Notably, the Wellness & Fun Workstream — championing fun, autonomy and empathy — has driven significant enhancements in employee satisfaction.

Through Sánchez-Luis’s leadership, AstraZeneca Latin America achieved remarkable results within six months, including 97% employee participation and notable improvements across categories. These achievements propelled Latin America to become the fastest-growing region among emerging markets, garnering international recognition.

Furthermore, AstraZeneca’s commitment to sustainability, diversity and workplace culture has been celebrated with numerous awards across Latin America. Noteworthy achievements include “Great Place to Work” certifications and recognition for gender equality initiatives.

Sánchez-Luis’s vision extends beyond accolades; he has implemented impactful programs like the LatAm Parental Leave Programme, fostering inclusivity and support within the organization. His empathetic leadership and dedication to employee development have cemented AstraZeneca’s status of organizational excellence in Latin America.

Congratulations to Carlos Sánchez-Luis for his leadership and dedication to fostering a thriving workplace culture at AstraZeneca.

Gianna Driver

Exabeam

Gianna Driver takes care of the many dimensions of wellness at Exabeam

Driver coordinates the company’s diverse employee resources groups, champions salary transparency, promotes ‘Thank You Days’ and more. Gianna Driver is an HR Leader of the Year in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards.

As chief human resources officer at Exabeam, Gianna Driver manages the strategy and processes related to building, investing in and supporting top talent at the cybersecurity firm. With nearly 20 years of experience, Driver is responsible for designing the company’s talent strategy, driving corporate culture and implementing its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

A major part of her role is helping lead the Exabeam CommUNITY Council, which sponsors a growing number of employee resource groups (ERGs) designed to create a sense of community and belonging at Exabeam — particularly for individuals in marginalized groups and employee allies. In the past year, Exabeam has created ERGs for neurodiverse employees (EX&ND), Latinx employees (Somos); and Waves for Pan-Asian employees. These joined existing ERGs like ExaGals, BAE for Black Employees and a Veterans ERG.

Driver strives to address all aspects of employees’ wellbeing: emotional, physical, mental, spiritual and financial. That means advocating for pay transparency, competitive salaries, mental health benefits, unlimited paid time off and adding “Thank You Days” as additional time off for the entire company each month. In 2023, she organized several events to boost office morale, including in-office guided meditation sessions, sound baths, ice cream socials, food truck gatherings and frequent lighthearted Zoom socials to encourage community-building and forge personal connections.

Outside her professional role, Driver is a supporter of SHE-CAN, a nonprofit dedicated to nurturing female leadership in post-conflict countries through education, mentorship and leadership training. Additionally, she advocates for La Casa de las Madres, an organization committed to ending violence against women and children. Also, she sits on the board of Project Pearls, a nonprofit committed to alleviating hunger in marginalized communities in the Philippines.

Driver is also a speaker and is frequently quoted in the media on HR and workplace trends, elevating her as a prominent voice in the HR industry. Her insights have been featured in publications like Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Insider, The Wall Street Journal and more.

Congratulations to Gianna Driver for her commitment to wellness.

Shannon Estreller

EvolveMKD

Shannon Estreller expands her HR team to champion transparency, diversity and more

At EvolveMKD, Shannon Estreller overhauled recruitment and onboarding, enhanced DE&I awareness, led volunteer efforts and more, making her an HR Leader of the Year in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards.

Shannon Estreller’s career began in the entertainment industry, but she was such a natural fit for helping the people she worked with that she gravitated to HR roles as time went by. EvolveMKD brought Estreller in 1 1/2 years ago to lead the expansion of its HR team, with a priority on its employees. As director of people, Estreller hosts regular one-on-ones and quarterly business reviews that keep the entire team informed.

With an emphasis on growth and transparency, Estreller is committed to fostering talent, promoting diversity and inclusion, and enhancing employee satisfaction. Some of her 2023 initiatives and achievements include:

Recruitment: She streamlined the recruitment process by developing an interview guide and scorecard for consistent and effective candidate assessment.
Onboarding: Estreller’s overhaul of EvolveMKD’s onboarding process achieved a satisfaction rating of 9.8 out of 10 from new hires.
Performance reviews: Redefining the performance review process, Estreller aligned it with EvolveMKD’s core values, fostering employee growth and development.
Communication: She supports a culture of open communication and trust with weekly office hours, monthly all-agency meetings and quarterly business reviews.
Professional development and training: Estreller has created monthly staff training sessions with industry professionals and a future leader training series tailored to the needs of professionals in their early careers.

Estreller also leads DE&I initiatives to shape the company’s culture and foster a sense of belonging, including Black History Month Jeopardy! in February, a panel for Women’s History Month in March, Passover and seder meal traditions in March, Career Day with America Needs You in May and decompression breaks during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

Estreller reviews benefits and policies annually to ensure they stay inclusive. In 2023, the company implemented reimbursement for pet wellness and life events. She also established total rewards statements, showing how EvolveMKD invests in its employees and ensures their salaries remain competitive and equitable.

Her team is also in charge of EvolveMKD’s Quarterly Days of Service, where a team spends a day volunteering their time and energy for a worthy organization. This past year, teams volunteered with Safe Horizon, helping revamp homes/shelters and packing kits with essentials for victims of violence and abuse. They also spent a day with God’s Love We Deliver, helping to prepare meals for those in need in the greater New York City area.

For all this and more, congratulations to EvolveMKD’s Shannon Estreller.

Christy Pambianchi

Intel Corporation

Christy Pambianchi: Fueling employee wellbeing to help transform Intel

In a tumultuous year. Pambianchi delivered bad and good news while also supporting a commitment to employee wellness throughout Intel. She’s an HR Leader of the Year in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards.

As chief people officer at Intel, Christy Pambianchi serves two customers: the people of Intel and Intel itself. For her, that means showing up to deliver difficult messages to Intel’s 130,000 employees while also expanding employee wellness programs, deepening development opportunities and recruiting the talent to fuel Intel’s goals.

Employees went through highs and lows as Intel navigated geopolitical and economic turbulence in recent years, from the “One Intel” quest to regain industry leadership to targeted layoffs and cuts to pay and benefits (now being restored). Pambianchi didn’t hide from employees, standing with CEO Pat Gelsinger in all-company meetings to announce workforce reductions, temporary cuts to pay, bonuses and some benefits — and later announcing their restoration and related thank-you stock awards.

Her focus on employee well-being matches her commitment to Intel’s long-term company health. In the last 12 months, Intel has committed to continuing “Wellness Time,” which allows employees to step away from work to recharge and come back feeling refreshed and empowered to advance Intel’s business goals. Regular employees have 12 hours of Wellness Time per half year. It has also expanded the impact of Global Mental Wellness Month with specially themed articles in the Circuit+ intranet, digital signage in factories and offices, and visible executive involvement.

Under Pambianchi’s guidance, Intel increased the grant amounts in its Hardship and Emergency Relief for Employees program, which provides immediate, short-term relief assistance to eligible employees. Grants up to $2,500 are available for natural disasters or personal hardship and added up to $3,000 for the 2023 Israel crisis.

In addition, Intel’s Vitality Program gives all employees easy access to personalized guidance and motivation. The program’s four pillars — movement, mindset, recovery and nutrition — inform services such as group fitness classes (on-site and virtual), one-on-one wellness and nutrition coaching, full access to the Headspace app and on-site fitness centers.

The programs Pambianchi has championed reflect her commitment to both Intel’s company and Intel’s employees. Congratulations to Christy Pambianchi for her work.

Kara Ruchti

Kalahari Resorts

Kara Ruchti leads wellness communication and employee wellbeing at Kalahari Resorts

Ruchti launched the ‘Be Well’ wellness program and spearheaded the launch and implementation of the MyKalahari employee app (developed by Speakap, a leading employee experience platform) helping employees find the wellness content they need. She’s an HR Leader of the Year in Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Awards.

As director of corporate culture and retention at Kalahari Resorts, Kara Ruchti leads a team of eight people across four locations who support associates’ wellbeing and communications throughout the company’s properties.

Her journey in championing wellness communication at Kalahari Resorts began in 2021 when Ruchti and her bosses agreed that associates’ wellness should be a priority. This commitment culminated in the successful launch of the Be Well: A Kalahari Wellness Program in January 2021, an initiative that included offerings like Wellness Days, PTO, spa vouchers, counseling services and fitness partnerships, all designed to address various dimensions of wellbeing.

In developing the Be Well initiative, Ruchti and her team integrated wellness resources, event updates and information into the MyKalahari employee app, adopted in 2021. The app allows associates to easily access physical wellness, mental wellbeing, career development, financial fitness and work-life balance content. The team also used the app to raise awareness about the Kalahari Cares Fund, which supports associates facing hardships.

Ruchti and her team have promoted and hosted a wide variety of wellness events and activities, like monthly wellness luncheons, ongoing incentives and prizes for participating in wellness initiatives that include mental, career and financial wellness, ensuring a well-rounded approach to employee well-being. In August, they also hold special events like Wellness Fairs at all Kalahari properties and “Wellness Month”, encouraging associates to share wellness photos and join fitness events.

Her approach to all these programs is rooted in a detailed understanding of the organization’s needs, the diversity of its associates and the limitations of previous communication methods. Ruchti actively led and advocated for the Be Well program, emphasizing its importance and demonstrating her commitment to associates’ wellbeing. She customized wellness initiatives to meet associates’ individual needs, addressing physical wellness, mental wellbeing, career development, communication, financial fitness and work-life balance.

The MyKalahari app and the Be Well initiative have increased associates’ awareness and engagement in wellness activities and resources across the many dimensions of wellbeing, including physical, mental, career, communication, financial and work-life balance.

Congratulations to Kara Ruchti on her work.

Agero

Agero’s iron-clad wellness program prioritizes movement and action

From its Iron Wrecker fitness competition to its commitment to mental well-being, Agero is a winner as one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (More than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

For Agero, a white-label provider of digital driver assistance services, workplace well-being is the foundation of the employee experience at the organization. Its wellness strategy for employees is based on four pillars:

Create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
Support employees’ mental, physical, and financial well-being.
Empower employees to shape the company’s wellness efforts.
Measure employee well-being in multiple dimensions.

Eight associate-led resource groups are supported and funded by Agero leadership, including the Health and Wellness Associate Resource Group, which hosts a semi-annual Iron Wrecker fitness event that brings employees together for a fun, team vs. team competition that emphasizes mental and physical health. Employees can do any physical or wellness-based activity, and participate in a scavenger hunt, to earn points for their teams, encouraging health and community.

Agero’s intranet, the HUB, features a dedicated “Power Station” site that provides a gathering place for activities, resources, and initiatives that support health and well-being. A related Slack channel, dubbed #power-station, encourages employees to contribute daily inspiration and provides a consistent place for connection.

Recognizing the importance of supporting mental health both at work and at home, Agero partners with LifeSpeak to provide mental health and resilience resources for its workforce. LifeSpeak’s platform offers an article, video, and blog library built by Agero in partnership with LifeSpeak that employees and their families can access as needed. Additionally, Agero partners with Health Advocate to provide live Safe Space Forums with a professional counselor.

Work-life harmony is a priority for Agero. The company’s flexible work model allows employees to work wherever they feel most productive — in the office, at home, or a mix of both. It offers six “Corporate Wellness Days” in addition to 10 paid holidays to provide a collective pause for employees to unplug and recharge. In addition to competitive pay, 401(k) employee match, and financial courses through LinkedIn Learning and Lunch & Learns, employees can share their knowledge and ask questions with external experts.

Agero’s wellness program is a collective effort, with employees playing a central role. Congratulations to Agero.

Bacardi

Bacardi is devoted to the wellbeing of its ‘Primos’

From the Calm meditation app to its global steering committee, Bacardi strives to support its employees on their journey through life. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (more than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

Family-owned since 1862, Bacardi remains dedicated to the wellbeing of the 9,000 “Primos” who make up its workforce. A team of senior leaders and vice presidents across functions and around the world listens and responds, creating an approach and a vision designed to support Primos on their journey to a joyful life.

Bacardi’s strategy rests on a core priority: “taking care of ourselves and each other.” Its 2022 focus was “Setting the Foundation,” with resources such as meditation app Calm, which uses soundscapes, music and resources to help with sleep, movement and mindfulness.

The company launched Calm to all Primos and their families; since the launch, 34% of the Primos have signed up against an industry benchmark of 16.3%, and 73% are consistently engaged with Calm, with an average of 14.3 sessions per week.

The company also revitalized its EAP, Bacardi Assist, which is tailored for Bacardi and available to all 9,500 Primos and their families for emotional and practical support on an anonymous basis that is completely confidential and available at all hours, year-round.

From 2023 to 24, the focus is “Building Awareness.” Bacardi created the Global Well-Being Steering Committee, a team of more than 50 wellbeing ambassadors across functions and regions. Their role is to cascade global resources into their markets based on their unique needs and challenges and provide recommendations and input to ensure their efforts stay relevant and meaningful.

In collaboration with behavior change experts, psychologists and mental health first aiders, Bacardi is piloting a series of workshops for all Primos to increase their awareness of the importance of mental health and the role they can play in recognizing when people need the right kind of support.

For 2024 and beyond, Bacardi’s focus is on building skills and enabling sustainable behavior change. Its goal is to embed wellbeing into its systems and give all Primos the confidence to talk meaningfully about their wellbeing, bringing empathy and building trust throughout the company.

Kudos to Bacardi for its work.

Bank of America

Bank of America hits the triad of employee support

Physical, emotional and financial health are all on the table for employees at the bank, making it one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (more than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

A core tenet of Bank of America’s framework of “Responsible Growth” is investing in its teammates around the world. The bank’s broad suite of competitive benefits is designed to provide employees — and their families — the flexibility they need to grow and thrive.

Bank of America’s global benefits team is responsible for designing, executing and refining the programs aimed at the diverse needs of its 210,000-member worldwide workforce (with 170,000 in the U.S.). Each benefits team member is aligned to one of three pillars focused on driving value and impact:

Physical

The bank’s physical wellness programs aim to provide teammates with access to quality medical care and resources for maintaining their physical wellbeing. Its competitive, affordable health plans include incentives that encourage healthy lifestyle habits and prevent the development of chronic health conditions. The bank has kept medical premiums the same for employees earning less than $50K per year for 11 straight years.

Emotional

The company’s emotional wellness offerings aim to support employees through day-to-day stress and anxiety and more serious mental health issues. Support programs include:

Employee Assistance Program: This program provides free, 24/7 unlimited telephonic counseling for teammates and household family members and 12 no-cost face-to-face (in-person or virtual) confidential counseling sessions per issue per year for each teammate and family member, with onsite EAP specialists at key locations across the U.S.
Life Event Services: An internal, specialized team provides personalized connections to resources and experts for assistance with significant life events, such as natural disasters, terminal illness, survivor support and more.
Sabbaticals: Sabbaticals recognize teammates reaching specific service anniversaries by providing them with up to six weeks of paid time off to support their emotional wellbeing.

Financial

Financial wellness has a strong connection to physical and emotional wellness, so the bank provides a suite of services to help teammates navigate complex financial topics like retirement, childcare, education and more:

Bank of America increased its U.S. minimum hourly wage to $23 in 2023 and is committed to taking it up to $25 by 2025.
Eligible U.S. employees are automatically enrolled in the 401(k) plan to help them save for retirement. Based on service and eligibility, the bank makes an annual contribution of two to three percent regardless of teammate contribution, as well as a matching contribution of up to five percent of eligible pay on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
A family planning reimbursement program allows U.S. employees to choose reimbursement for eligible adoption, fertility and/or surrogacy expenses, up to a collective $20K lifetime maximum over their bank career.

For nearly two decades, the bank’s employee engagement survey has gathered ideas and feedback, with more than 170,000 participating in 2022. The bank’s Employee Engagement Index score reflects a strong trend — increasing 10% during the last decade.

Congratulations to Bank of America.

BMO

BMO built on its wellness efforts after the pandemic

The financial services giant offers a wealth of options and services, from mental health to tutoring for employees’ children. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (more than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

Financial service provider BMO launched its wellness program during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on providing a healthier work-life balance for its workforce. As the world becomes even more complex and uncertain these days, wellness at BMO today is focused on three strategic levers:

Strengthening the employee value proposition to make BMO a place where top talent wants to work and thrive.
Reimagining the BMO culture to provide greater work-life balance, foster wellbeing and maximize productivity.
Training leaders and managers to lead with empathy and compassion.

BMO’s key wellness delivery vendor, TELUS Health, administers the employee assistance program, providing 24/7 access to confidential counseling support, consultation services and referrals to community resources. Through its partnership with TELUS Health, BMO has invested in:

CareNow: This platform for interactive digital content focuses on helping people make positive behavior changes related to specific needs, such as anxiety, stress, depression and more.
Backup child and elder care: BMO offers 10 days of backup childcare per year and six visits of backup elder care services per year.
Total wellbeing assessments: These provide a health score to help employees understand their strengths and opportunities.
Virtual tutoring: The program focuses on building confidence and improving academic outcomes in students K-12.
Headspace: This provides science-based, digital mental health tools for mindfulness, meditation, sleep, focus, fitness and kids and parenting. BMO employees can add four additional users of their choosing for free.
Career counseling and career hub: One-on-one career counseling to empower BMO employees to plan meaningful careers.

In 2023, BMO launched the “Employee Mental Health Care Guide,” highlighting the resources available to help employees and family members prioritize mental health. The guides provide employees with tips on how to check in on themselves, ask for support and practice self-care. It also provides an overview of paid time off and leaves of absence policies and an outline of BMO’s mental health benefits and wellness resources.

Congrats to BMO for its work.

Intel

Intel supports its workforce with its cutting-edge technology

The tech company offers access to a multitude of tools and apps to help its employees navigate their wellness challenges, making it one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (more than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

In the wake of all the upheaval in the world, tech giant Intel’s human resources teams have intensified their focus on employee wellness, making programs and benefits more meaningful, more visible and easier to access.

One of the company’s most comprehensive initiatives in 2023 has been devoted to cultivating a mentally healthy workforce. One tactic is improving access to such services as the mobile app Modern Health (an online sleep improvement program), the myStrength platform for managing stress, depression, substance abuse and much more.

The effort called for new investments, especially themed articles in Intel’s Circuit+ intranet, digital signage in its factories and offices and visible executive involvement.

The initiative also provided:

Wellness Time: Regular employees receive 12 hours of wellness time per half year to step away from work, recharge and refresh and return feeling empowered to advance Intel’s business objectives.
Employee Assistance Plan: The EAP provides free, confidential counseling for employees and their eligible dependents to help address any personal challenges they face during difficult times.
Included Health: Through the Included Health program, employees and eligible dependents in the U.S. have access to one-on-one concierge service for ongoing care needs, as well as personalized navigation for LGBTQ+ affirming care.
Financial wellness. Intel offers a 401(k) with a company match, auto-enrollment and an auto-increase program, along with free financial consultations, monthly workshops, self-help modules and custom learning sessions for the company’s employee resource groups.

In addition, the Intel Vitality Program gives all employees access to personalized guidance and motivation resources. Key services include:

Group fitness classes (onsite and virtual).
On-demand fitness classes, workshops and webinars.
One-on-one wellness and nutrition coaching.
Free and full access to mindfulness and meditation app Headspace.
Global wellness challenges.
Access to onsite fitness centers.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, 34% of Intel employees had participated in the Vitality Program, working toward the 2023 goal of 40%.

For all these efforts and more, kudos to Intel.

Koch Industries

Koch Industries: Taking the lead in mental and physical wellbeing

Koch partnered up to provide mental health support while also offering physical wellness opportunities. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (more than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

In 2018, Koch Industries created Koch Wellbeing, a comprehensive program addressing the total well-being of its employees and their families with a variety of resources focused on whole health and employee engagement.

After an increase in mental health claims following the COVID-19 pandemic, Koch brought in a new mental health and EAP vendor in January 2023. Spring Health, available to all Koch employees and their family members, provides counseling, life coaching, medication management, care navigation and an on-demand library of self-guided mental wellness exercises. Participants can take a short self-assessment and receive recommendations for programs based on their answers.

Since the program launched, 17% of Koch’s employee population has enrolled. Sixty-eight percent completed an assessment to find the best care, and 35% scheduled an appointment. Best of all, 66% have reported improvement in their symptoms and increased productivity.

At the same time, Koch also seeks to cultivate employee engagement and social wellbeing, for example, with the Conquer the Campus 5K and one-mile Kids Fun Run at its Wichita, Kansas headquarters. This event was free and open to all employees and their families. More than 850 employees and family members registered to participate, raising a total of $5,000 for The Wichita Family Crisis Center.

Similarly, in September, Koch hosted a Health Expo at its Georgia-Pacific headquarters, its first since before COVID-19 struck. Approximately 500 employees attended to learn about benefit resource programs, as well as local wellness vendors in the local Atlanta area. Plus, Team Georgia-Pacific/Koch participated in the Kaiser Run Walk Roll 5K race in Atlanta; almost 100 team members participated.

In the near future, Koch plans to implement programs for digestive health, neurological health and broad virtual primary care. These programs will reinforce its commitment to employees and their family members while continuing to align its benefits offerings with its wellbeing strategy.

Congratulations to Koch Industries for a job well done.

Lincoln Financial Group

Lincoln Financial encourages employees to ‘Be Well’

There’s health coaching, diabetes screenings, gym discounts, stress management and much more for employees of the financial services enterprise. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Large Organization (more than 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

For Be Well, Lincoln Financial Group’s wellbeing program, the company invests in a range of programs supporting health, wellness and financial wellbeing. The communication strategy behind Be Well relies on consistency to keep its offerings relevant in employees’ minds, along with the Be Well Guide and the Your Total Rewards Guide, showing the full range of resources available to support employees’ physical, emotional, social and financial wellbeing.

Lincoln regularly highlights the resources available at no cost to employees, including health coaching, anxiety/depression specialists, counseling, mindfulness and cognitive gaming tools, tobacco cessation programs, financial coaching and more. Monthly posts to Lincoln’s intranet addressed topics like nutrition, stress management and preventive health.

The company also offers webinars on heart health, resilience, compassion fatigue, back health, coping with anxiety, financial wellness and more, where Lincoln employees earn wellness points for attending. Home mailers remind employees and their families about wellness discounts, emotional wellbeing resources, gym discounts, financial coaching, etc., along with quarterly wellness emails and weekly communications during the company’s wellness campaigns, which include:

Show Us Your Red: With this program, employees raise awareness for heart disease in women by wearing red and participating in a photo contest.
Wear Blue: Similarly, employees wear blue and post a selfie to raise awareness about men’s health.
Stress management: The September campaign includes live and recorded webinars on stress management, including self-care strategies, resources to support employees and promotion of the company’s digital mindfulness tool.
Health screenings and flu shots: Multiple no-cost options including onsite events in several offices.
Musculoskeletal health: The campaign supports employees who experience musculoskeletal pain.

The enterprise also offers biannual monthlong physical activity challenges; employees can join teams, build healthy habits, earn wellness points and win prizes. In addition, there are healthy habit challenges: Weeklong campaigns on topics like rewiring stereotypes, noticing how emotions affect decisions, lowering household electric bills and more.

Health coaches offer one-on-one appointments, webinars, platform demos, a diabetes prevention program, health education content, walking clubs, blood pressure checks, cooking demos, centering exercises and more.

Finally, in 2023, Lincoln launched a free digital exercise therapy program designed to address back and joint pain, adding surgical centers to provide enrolled members access to best-in-class surgeons nationwide, offering Transform Oncology to increasing support in employees’ cancer journeys and more.

Congratulations to Lincoln Financial Group for everything it does.

Array Behavioral Care

Nectar is at the heart of Array Behavioral Care’s commitment to wellness

Employees earn rewards for getting flu shots and recommending their favorite books; a Peloton program helps them keep physically fit. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organizations (up to 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

Telepsychiatry service provider Array Behavioral Care prioritizes its employees’ mental health and wellbeing. That includes offering a wide range of wellness benefits: biannual clinician town halls, quarterly all-hands meetings, active Microsoft Teams channels and the “Array Round-Up” newsletter highlighting monthly activities and more.

As part of its commitment to creating and sustaining a healthy workplace for employees, Array launched Nectar in 2023. It’s a rewards and recognition platform designed to encourage employees to recognize their peers for exemplifying Array’s core values. Managers can also recognize their employees for excellent job performance, peer support or other achievements. Challenges and activities allow employees to earn points by participating in a self-directed training class, getting their flu shot, suggesting a favorite book and more. Employees can then spend their points, called “nectarines,” on company swag, gift cards and other items.

There’s also a corporate wellness program with Peloton, encouraging employees to join in weekly meditation sessions and virtual group fitness classes with their peers, along with themed, monthly challenges. Array offers a free annual Calm app subscription to employees and a robust EAP program with various health and wellness tools to support work-life balance, paid counseling sessions and free financial and legal consultations.

On the career side, Array’s learning management system, Relias, offers a variety of classes for both professional and personal development. Employees work with their managers to build individual development plans and work toward advancement opportunities. The company also offers regular live training workshops; a continuing education committee plans clinician-led community events with CME (continuing medical education credit) opportunities.

Array’s DE&I committee includes members across all levels throughout the organization, overseeing culture and connectedness. The chief medical officer serves as the executive sponsor, with the company’s medical directors of engagement serving as co-chairs. A mix of senior leaders, managers and individual contributors work to ensure a physically and psychologically safe work environment for everyone. Employee-led affinity groups celebrate Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Mental Health Month and Pride Month, just to name a few.

Kudos to Array Behavioral Care for paying attention to its employees’ total wellbeing.

Caliber Corporate Advisers

Caliber takes commitment to employees to new heights

The firm has a full-time culture manager, a monthly wellness stipend and more, including a NYC get-together for the full company. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organization (up to 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

For the past 13 years, Caliber Corporate Advisors has been providing strategy and tactical execution of PR, content, social media and digital advertising to financial services and related professional customers. As Caliber has grown, its wellness-driven culture has been central to its overall mission.

Caliber emphasizes employee learning and development, health and wellness and DE&I with a wide variety of initiatives and offerings:

A full-time culture manager spearheads efforts to instill Caliber’s cultural values into everything from hiring and employee training to internal communications and more.
A formal mentorship program supports junior employees’ professional growth by pairing them with a senior team member for regular coaching.
A DE&I committee ensures Caliber maintains its inclusive culture by influencing policies, marketing and learning.
An individual wellness benefit is included in Caliber’s compensation package: a monthly financial contribution toward each full-time employee’s preferred wellness option. Caliber partners with benefits platform ThrivePass to provide employees with a digital spending account refilled with a wellness stipend each month.
An internally developed learning and development initiative, Caliber College of Public Relations, educates new team members at all levels with basic and advanced courses led by team members.
LinkedIn Learning was added to Caliber’s suite of learning and development benefits, giving each team member access to the full library of courses.

In addition to these ongoing benefits, Caliber organized several events in 2023 to bolster its wellness offerings, including a companywide, in-person offsite for the first time since the pandemic. For three days in early November, the full team gathered in New York City to spend time and learn together in person — a watershed moment for a virtual agency, solidifying its culture and supporting its team.

Congratulations to Caliber for its commitment.

Clutch

Clutch’s growth spurs employee engagement outreach

Clutch’s headcount doubled in just a few years. It responded with enhanced benefits, quarterly events to boost DEI and more, making it one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organization (up to 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

B2B service provider Clutch doubled in headcount between 2019 and 2022. Rapid expansion can put pressure on everyone, but Clutch had a strategy to increase overall employee engagement each quarter.

It began with competitive employee benefits, an above-market 401(k) match program, generous parental leave and mental health hours and flexible holidays, plus professional development opportunities for both in-person and remote employees, community-building activities and more.

But one of the strongest pillars of employee wellbeing is job security, a scary topic for employees since the pandemic began. During the tech recession of 2023, though, Clutch didn’t lay off a single employee over budget constraints.

Clutch also takes pride in its four internal committees run by Clutch team members: the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Caregivers Network, the Events Committee and the Wellness Committee. These committees address employee wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion, the needs of parents and caregivers, and fostering relationships between employees.

Each committee holds at least one event a quarter; for example, the DE&I committee hosts monthly DE&I Lunch & Learn workshops, and the wellness committee has hosted a live meditation and art therapy session. Such events ensure that employees feel supported and have access to the resources and community they need.

Also, each quarter, Clutch hosts a series of companywide, in-person events developed around a specific theme: innovate (Q1), donate (Q2), collaborate (Q3) and appreciate (Q4). During these events, each department can engage with other groups, building camaraderie and a sense of community.

Cultivating a warm, friendly and inclusive environment in the physical Clutch office is also part of the engagement strategy. Headquartered in Dupont Circle, the Clutch office is equipped with comfortable offices, plenty of open social space, fully stocked fridges, quiet rooms and gender-neutral restrooms. Additionally, Clutch caters lunch one day a week and often offers breakfast as well.

Kudos to Clutch for its support of employee wellness.

G2

G2’s ‘Conscious Leadership’ takes employees to the peak of wellness

G2 prioritizes feedback on a closed loop, a generous view of wellness activities and a commitment to diversity, making it one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organization (up to 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

Software marketplace G2’s approach to employee wellness is rooted in two key concepts: Conscious Leadership and PEAK values:

Conscious Leadership: Conscious leadership is the philosophy that becoming a great leader requires responsibility and self-awareness, building a culture of “we” instead of “me.” Accomplishing this calls for employees to take care of themselves mentally, physically and spiritually.
PEAK values: PEAK stands for performance, entrepreneurship, authenticity and kindness. G2 builds these values into the employee experience and its total rewards program.

Conscious Leadership combined with PEAK values drive G2’s employee value proposition of “Reach Your PEAK,” a commitment to help employees around the world reach their peak potential by supporting both personal and professional wellness. In 2023, G2’s Employee Success team set out three top priorities to “Inspire Love”: Solicit feedback, create an inclusive and equitable environment for all employees, and improve diversity in teams and across leadership levels.

Feedback

G2 conducts an employee engagement survey every three months to measure employee sentiment. Managers perform “grow” interviews with employees on their yearly anniversaries to understand what keeps them at G2. Significantly, the company closes the loop on its efforts, acknowledging and replying to all feedback appropriately so employees feel heard and know their voices matter.

Inclusivity and equity

To build an inclusive and equitable environment, G2 expanded its Total Rewards program and launched a global employee wellness program that provides a monthly stipend for any wellness activity of choice — everything from cooking classes to gym memberships, sports lessons and museum passes.

Diversity

G2’s investment in DE&I includes expanding its network of employee resource groups (adding a ninth group in 2023), bringing in an external DE&I consultant and partnering with diverse recruiters to expand the hiring pipeline. This supports the emotional and mental wellbeing of employees by creating an inclusive workplace and celebrating the unique backgrounds and experiences of its talented global team.

In 2023, G2 recorded its highest scores for engagement and inclusion in company history, along with its highest Glass Door rating (4.5) to date. Kudos to G2 for its performance.

IZEA

IZEA welcomes everyone to its inclusive culture

The company provides benefits like parental leave and wellness challenges and even takes employees on a yearly cruise. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organization (up to 1,000 employees), Class of 2024.

Marketing technology company IZEA Worldwide’s goal is to foster an inclusive and flexible remote work environment that encourages open communication, wellness and work-life balance, even welcoming the “Zoom crashers” — pets and kids who sometimes make surprise appearances in online meetings.

IZEA’s leadership promotes workplace wellness in a number of ways:

Remote and flexible work environment: IZEAns are encouraged to care for their health and wellness. Remote and flexible work allows them to see a doctor when they need to and take care of themselves and their families.
Parental leave: IZEA provides 16 weeks of paid leave to team members or their legal partners giving birth, as well as surrogacy, adoption or placement of a foster child.
IZEACares Committee: The entire company participates in a charitable activity each quarter, such as its annual Adopt-a-Family donation drive. The committee meets regularly to plan employee engagement activities and initiatives.
Wellness initiatives: IZEA hosts one or two wellness challenges each year to encourage employee wellbeing. The challenge activities address eight dimensions of wellness: emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, occupational and social.
Lunch and learn: IZEA’s leadership hosts lunch-and-learn sessions to keep employees informed about company benefits and how to use them.
Company retreats: IZEA hosts two in-person company retreats per year for team bonding, communication and relaxation. They’re held in Orlando or on a cruise ship.
Brain Breaks: Employees take breaks to play trivia games or other activities, like a drawing game developed by one of the organization’s software engineers. The breaks give workers a boost so they can go back to work feeling refreshed and energized.
Professional development: IZEAns can use up to $1,000 in “Smarty Pants” funds each year to continue improving their skills and knowledge and feeling better prepared for their jobs.
Physical fitness: IZEA reimburses team members for the cost of their qualified fitness programs and events, up to $180 every six months.

Data from company rating firm Comparably shows that 100% of IZEA employees call their work experience positive. Congratulations to Izea for its commitment to wellness.

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment North America

For M&C Saatchi, employees’ mental health is a team affair

Its ‘Mental Health First Aiders’ works with leadership to provide support and resources for employees. It’s one of Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing: Small and Mid-Size Organization (up to 1,000 employees), and Wellness Initiatives/Programs: Mental Health Initiatives, Class of 2024.