Great Workplaces For Your Mental Health in 2015

Generally speaking, A workplace wellness program is one encompassing the creation of a “culture of health” within the workplace. Presently, adopting such a policy or initiative has become an indispensable strategy for the modern business and many employers are fast recognizing the value of having a healthy workplace, human as well as financial. workplace health programs improve productivity, increase employee satisfaction, demonstrate concern for employees, and improve morale in the workplace. From allowing  pets to playing soothing classical music at the office, below are companies that have been recognized by the American Psychological Association for their efforts to promote corporate well-being

 Beehive PR has 13 employees who represent clients like Verizon and the University of Minnesota’s academic medical center. CEO Lisa Hannum offers her team a range of wellness benefits, including 

- a life coach named Mary Anne O’Brien. Hannum uses O’Brien’s services herself. She installed both a gym and a quiet room in Beehive’s offices and she meditates in the quiet room for 20-30 minutes a day, starting at 7am. When she started her meditation practice three years ago she would text O’Brien every day and receive a supportive message in return, like “Being kind to yourself radiates out and touches others.” Another practice Hannum adopted from O’Brien: burning a candle in her office all day long. “The illumination and the light is a visual cue to me to stay focused on what matters,” she says. She also keeps a small chalkboard on her office door where she signals colleagues that she’s in the middle of a “power hour,” an intense 50-minute work session that ends with a 10-minute break. Other employee perks intended to boost wellness: anyone can work from home or a remote location as long as they meet clients’ needs, and to stave off burnout Hannum doesn’t want staffers working more than 45 hours a week. On summer Fridays the office closes at noon. Beehive also provides Mac Powerbooks, gifts its employees tablets and picks up $50 per month in mobile phone charges.

The firm makes a big deal of employee birthdays. On Brian Israel’s 40^th, his cubicle was decorated with NCAA and March madness paraphernalia and he got $40 worth of tickets to his favorite team, the Gonzaga Bulldogs.b“All of these things create a workplace that is both very supportive of our team, with a high level of engagement and accountability,” says Hannum.

LaSalle Network, The Chicago-based staffing and recruiting agency with 110 employees has taken some dramatic steps to help employees in distress, including supporting staffers who have gone through Alcoholics Anonymous giving them time off to attend meetings. In one instance, the parents of an alcoholic employee asked CEO Tom Gimbel to help them stage an intervention, arranging for the employee to leave the office and go to a location off-site. It worked and the employee has been sober since, though he moved on from LaSalle after two years. Gimbel arranges incentive trips for everyone who works at LaSalle, including receptionists. This year he took the whole firm to Miami and South Beach from a Friday morning to Sunday during the fourth quarter, covering all expenses including chartered fishing boats. For two years he took staffers for a weekend in Las Vegas. The firm also celebrates what it calls “rebirthdays” for each employee, marking the anniversary they joined the firm with 100 balloons, catered food, speeches and a happy hour. “I want to give people experiences they wouldn’t have otherwise,” he says.

Beach Cities Health District, a preventive care health agency with 100 employees, in Redondo Beach, CA. The organization offers fitness classes, subsidized personal training sessions and an onsite fitness center. Employees can work flexible hours where they put in longer days and get a three-day weekend every other week. One of the most unusual perks: Both children and dogs are welcome in the office. New mothers can bring in portable cribs and have their babies at their side while several employees bring their dogs every day, including Ozzie, a poodle mix belonging to Carrie Anne Blevins, the manager of Beach Cities’ childhood obesity program. Another unusual if more serious perk: the company gives a yearly seminar on end-of-life planning.

Hilltop Community Resources, a community services nonprofit in Grand Junction, CO, that offers everything from pre-natal counseling to assisted living centers for seniors, has wellness programs for employees that include a full-time nurse on staff and a wellness coordinator. The company’s health insurance is self-funded, so it has a policy that requires employees to see a general practitioner before going to a specialist, to cut down on unnecessary, expensive tests. One major perk for employees: If they see an in-network therapist or nutrition counselor, the co-pay is only $10 a session. The organization also sponsors wellness challenges, like a three-month-long weight-loss competition with CEO Mike Stahl, who lost 16 pounds and beat out his staffers. To promote work-life balance, Hilltop gives staffers who have been at the organization for 10 years a 30-day paid sabbatical.

Ask your employer if they offer a wellness or health promotion program. If not, suggest implementing one at your office! 

Article courtesy of Forbes.com