The employees at Helwig Carbon Products in Milwaukee have their own company cafeteria on a site, a rarity it seems more and more these days. But if anyone wants to eat a doughnut (甜甜圈), it's going to cost twice as much as what they might pay for the sweet at the local grocery store. That's because Helwig Carbon Products has a wellness program, and it is one of many local companies trying to show employees how to eat healthier.
"We're really trying to persuade people to eat healthier," said Cheryl Brah, human resources director at Helwig Carbon Products. "A piece of fruit is 25 cents; a doughnut is $1.50 — and we still have people who buy doughnuts. People complain — but we really try to put our efforts toward the middle-of-the-line people who might lean more toward the wellness side, eventually."
This effort isn't just happening at Helwig Carbon. There has been a city-wide movement of 44 local companies who added or evolved their health and wellness programs to their company culture, and because of it Milwaukee is now nationally recognized for a large number of businesses with wellness programs.
It all started several years ago, when a program called Well City Milwaukee teamed up with 44 local businesses that collectively represent a workforce of 130,000 employees. Well City Milwaukee provided healthy practices guidelines for businesses. In exchange, it surveyed the employees to find out what their health needs and risks were and what activities they found interesting. Well City then set a very high bar for companies to meet a lot of expectations to be considered a top wellness program.
Companies needed a commitment from the CEO; to form a wellness team; to collect information from the employees in surveys and health assessments; to come up with an operating plan; to create a supportive environment; to self-evaluate their efforts; and finally, to choose their best approaches. That meant coming up with activities, better nutrition education, and motivational programs like getting people to quit smoking, getting people in for medical self-care and working on stress management.
