Putting resources into the prevention side “completes the circle of health, wellness and the environment."
Wellness programs may have little support from many unions, but at Daimler Chrysler, they have big champions in the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW).
They also have long-term commitment from the Windsor, Ont.-headquartered auto manufacturer, in the form of $1 million over three years, as set out in the collective agreement. There are 60,000 beneficiaries of the programs, including Daimler Chrysler employees, their dependants and retirees.
Lyle Hargrove, director of the CAW health and safety training fund, has long been a believer in health promotion initiatives.
When he first tried to get the CAW involved in wellness programs, he already had considerable credibility with the union leadership on this issue. Putting resources into the prevention side “completes the circle of health, wellness and the environment. Because we’ve done a lot of work on the safety side and in the last few years we’ve started to get into the environment,” said Hargrove.
Still, he had to assure others in the union that confidentiality would be maintained, and that other employee benefits such as access to counsellors and substance abuse representatives would not suffer.
Rick Thrasher, senior manager of benefits, hourly compensation and medical utilization at Daimler Chrysler, said prior to union involvement, wellness initiatives were limited.
“We wanted to be more proactive in the way we were delivering health information to our folks, as opposed to being reactive and trying to control the growth of the cost of delivery of health benefits,” said Thrasher.
Given that 90 per cent of the workforce belonged to a union, “for a program to be successful, you had to have union buy-in.” So from the first day, the initiative was designed as a joint program, with support from the senior ranks at both the union and the company.
Getting the $1-million commitment into the collective agreement at Daimler Chrysler was relatively easy, thanks to the healthy labour relations at the company, said Hargrove.
The collaboration garnered the union and the company a gold trophy at the National Quality Institute’s Canada Awards for Excellence. Kathryn Cestnick, vice-president of the Toronto-based not-for-profit that promotes healthy workplaces, said one major reason for the award was that the collaboration was formalized at all levels.
A steering committee, with representatives from both the national and local union, as well as company representatives, meets a couple of times a year to set the direction for the next six to 12 months.
Then, at the local plant or office level, joint wellness committees determine the exact format and venue with which to carry out the goals.
Program selection depends “on the type of the workforce and the type of the work they do,” said Thrasher. “The committees at our financial offices would have a different approach than those at the assembly plants. What we did was take the bigger concepts, hand them off to the local committees and gave them the support to run with those and figure out what’s best for their location.”
Some areas organized a walking campaign; others a post-holiday campaign to reinforce New Year resolutions. Last summer, the company took part in the Rotary Club’s Children’s Safety Village, where workers came out to teach their children about street safety.
What’s also unique is that instead of wellness consultants, the program involves a not-for-profit community partner — the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
“They had as their mandate educating the population, and they had put together a program to educate people at the workplace,” said Thrasher.
Thrasher acknowledged that when the program got underway three years ago, there was worker apprehension. “Our goal in the first year was to get the concept out there and overcome suspicion. We had the support of the CAW so we knew it was a matter of getting the message out.”
The second year saw a few more educational campaigns, and now, in the third year, the steering committee is targeting specific health conditions that are high among the cost drivers.
“We’re starting now to look at our drug program to identify people who have asthmatic conditions. And although the company doesn’t have access to who they are, our drug carrier does. Through the carrier we’re going to start sending out information specific to asthma,” said Thrasher.
Targeted campaigns may have several effects. “One is to improve the lifestyle of the people, because we can tell by their drug utilization that people are taking the wrong drugs.” It should also result in fewer health benefit costs and reduced absenteeism, said Thrasher.
Thrasher stressed that the overall mandate is “to improve the wellness of our employees, their dependants and our retirees. We didn’t go down that road and say, ‘And reduce costs for the company.’ We think that’s an automatic off-shoot.”
They also have long-term commitment from the Windsor, Ont.-headquartered auto manufacturer, in the form of $1 million over three years, as set out in the collective agreement. There are 60,000 beneficiaries of the programs, including Daimler Chrysler employees, their dependants and retirees.
Lyle Hargrove, director of the CAW health and safety training fund, has long been a believer in health promotion initiatives.
When he first tried to get the CAW involved in wellness programs, he already had considerable credibility with the union leadership on this issue. Putting resources into the prevention side “completes the circle of health, wellness and the environment. Because we’ve done a lot of work on the safety side and in the last few years we’ve started to get into the environment,” said Hargrove.
Still, he had to assure others in the union that confidentiality would be maintained, and that other employee benefits such as access to counsellors and substance abuse representatives would not suffer.
Rick Thrasher, senior manager of benefits, hourly compensation and medical utilization at Daimler Chrysler, said prior to union involvement, wellness initiatives were limited.
“We wanted to be more proactive in the way we were delivering health information to our folks, as opposed to being reactive and trying to control the growth of the cost of delivery of health benefits,” said Thrasher.
Given that 90 per cent of the workforce belonged to a union, “for a program to be successful, you had to have union buy-in.” So from the first day, the initiative was designed as a joint program, with support from the senior ranks at both the union and the company.
Getting the $1-million commitment into the collective agreement at Daimler Chrysler was relatively easy, thanks to the healthy labour relations at the company, said Hargrove.
The collaboration garnered the union and the company a gold trophy at the National Quality Institute’s Canada Awards for Excellence. Kathryn Cestnick, vice-president of the Toronto-based not-for-profit that promotes healthy workplaces, said one major reason for the award was that the collaboration was formalized at all levels.
A steering committee, with representatives from both the national and local union, as well as company representatives, meets a couple of times a year to set the direction for the next six to 12 months.
Then, at the local plant or office level, joint wellness committees determine the exact format and venue with which to carry out the goals.
Program selection depends “on the type of the workforce and the type of the work they do,” said Thrasher. “The committees at our financial offices would have a different approach than those at the assembly plants. What we did was take the bigger concepts, hand them off to the local committees and gave them the support to run with those and figure out what’s best for their location.”
Some areas organized a walking campaign; others a post-holiday campaign to reinforce New Year resolutions. Last summer, the company took part in the Rotary Club’s Children’s Safety Village, where workers came out to teach their children about street safety.
What’s also unique is that instead of wellness consultants, the program involves a not-for-profit community partner — the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
“They had as their mandate educating the population, and they had put together a program to educate people at the workplace,” said Thrasher.
Thrasher acknowledged that when the program got underway three years ago, there was worker apprehension. “Our goal in the first year was to get the concept out there and overcome suspicion. We had the support of the CAW so we knew it was a matter of getting the message out.”
The second year saw a few more educational campaigns, and now, in the third year, the steering committee is targeting specific health conditions that are high among the cost drivers.
“We’re starting now to look at our drug program to identify people who have asthmatic conditions. And although the company doesn’t have access to who they are, our drug carrier does. Through the carrier we’re going to start sending out information specific to asthma,” said Thrasher.
Targeted campaigns may have several effects. “One is to improve the lifestyle of the people, because we can tell by their drug utilization that people are taking the wrong drugs.” It should also result in fewer health benefit costs and reduced absenteeism, said Thrasher.
Thrasher stressed that the overall mandate is “to improve the wellness of our employees, their dependants and our retirees. We didn’t go down that road and say, ‘And reduce costs for the company.’ We think that’s an automatic off-shoot.”
