Dickinson College
PAE-T2-5: Employee Wellness Program

The wellness program was established in 2006 to provide fitness and health education opportunities to all employees and their families. The initial goal in providing this programming was to increase the level of employee engagement while hoping to have employees take a more proactive approach to their wellbeing. However, since that time, the wellness offerings have been expanded to include a variety of activities within five core areas which include physical wellness, nutrition/weight management, preventative health screens, wellness education and smoking cessation. Human Resource Services focus has been on providing preventative programming to reduce the number of high risk incidents among the Dickinson community. While the current economic crisis presents financial challenges, it is necessary and prudent to hold the line on costs and reap the benefits of major programming efforts through wellness initiatives. The success that has been achieved can be attributed to a number of factors including our incentive-based programming as well as the convenience of the activities which take place at a variety of venues on campus. Since the inception of our wellness initiative, we have seen a significant reduction in our annual healthcare renewal rates.