Wellness Council of Central Iowa
Leading Iowa employers to enhanced organizational health.

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What is Well Workplace? Well Workplace is a strategic process to create an organizational culture that encourages and supports employee health.  Established in 1991 by the Wellness Councils of America, Well Workplace standards are progressive, from providing a foundation for organizational change and lifestyle improvement at the Bronze level, to achieving program integration and cultural change at the Gold level.  A worksite health promotion program is much more than on-site aerobic classes and lunch-n-learns on low fat cooking. While activities to increase awareness and educate employees are important, providing a supportive environment is crucial to sustaining lifestyle behavior change.  Well Workplace focuses on efforts to change the workplace culture through management support, data collection, establishing goals and objectives, evaluating, developing supportive policies, requesting employee feedback, corporate involvement in the community and appropriate programming for increasing awareness, educating and changing behaviors. Why Should Your Organization Participate? To establish a healthier work environment and healthier employees. To reduce risk and improve the health of employees and their families. To enhance a positive corporate image. To gain a competitive edge in recruiting new employees. To provide corporate leadership and support to improve the health of your community and its workforce. To receive recognition for achieving excellence in health promotion. To be recognized nationally as a member of WELCOA's roster of "America's Healthiest Companies." Well Workplace University To assist organizations in developing a Well Workplace, The Wellness Council of Central Iowa offers Well Workplace University to provide participants with the tools and knowledge to develop a successful worksite health promotion program. Iowa Well Workplace Companies Lead the Way Click here to see how five Iowa Well Workplaces make wellness pay off!  To view this page you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free from Adobe.  Well Workplace Companies Click here to read what they're saying about us! PLATINUM The Principal Financial Group GOLD ARAG Group Central Iowa Health System City of Ames Des Moines University - Osteopathic Medical Center Mercy Medical Center - North Iowa Mercy Medical Center-Clinton Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. Townsend Engineering Company Wellmark, Inc SILVER EMC Insurance Companies Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company Guthrie County Hospital Hy-Vee, Inc. Madison County Health Care Systems Mercy  Medical Center - Des Moines BRONZE Briggs Corporation Drake University Great River Medical Center Mary Greeley Medical Center Mercy Medical Center - Sioux City Perishable Distributors of Iowa, Ltd. Pure Fishing America West Des Moines School  District   WELL CITY USA The philosophy of Well City USA is to have worksites, individually and collectively take steps to continually improve the health of employees, retirees, and their families. Benefits for the community include corporate leadership and support to improve the health of the community and its workforce and a competitive edge in recruiting new businesses and in revitalizing the current business climate. Benefits of Well Workplace/Well City USA for employers include improved employee health, morale and productivity, enhanced positive corporate image, competitive edge in recruiting new employees and national recognition of achievement. Individual employees benefit from reduced risk and improved health as a result of health promotion programs at the workplace and the opportunity to make life-saving choices in a supportive environment. More than 300 organizations nationwide have been designated Well Workplaces (31 in Iowa). However, only 6 cities have achieved Well City USA status: Jacksonville, Florida; Omaha, Nebraska; Lincoln, Nebraska; Kearney, Nebraska;  Chattanooga, Tennessee and Hobart, Indiana. The Wellness Council of Central Iowa is working to make Des Moines (Polk County) a Well City USA by 2002. Click here to bring up a form to request information on Well Workplace or Well City USA.