The WCWI Leaderboard: 2019 Champion

Current Organization:  Hoffmaster Group, Inc.

Job Title: Sr. Executive Assistant

Industry: Manufacturing

Years in the Field: 20+

Organization size: Companywide - 1,300 employees, My Division (Foodservice) - 450

 

 

 

This nomination is quite an unexpected and an amazing honor!  I’ve always really enjoyed creating fun and healthy activities for employees, wherever I’ve worked.  I’ve also had the luxury of being empowered to do so by my supervisors!  Being nominated by my newest “partner in crime”, Jenny, and selected by your knowledgeable committee and staff, tells me that, regardless of formal education, a person can devote themselves to the health and wellbeing of their coworkers and be recognized for making a positive difference.  I feel so very blessed!

 

I’m going to echo our wellness team’s mission:  “To promote the health and wellness of employees through education and initiatives that support employees in making healthy lifestyle choices with their work and home lives; encourage habits of wellness; increase awareness of factors and resources contributing to wellbeing; and inspire and empower individuals to take responsibility for their own health.”  

 

Now, there are a lot of goals in that statement, but they are all intertwined and have been the basis of our (my) wellbeing strategy.  But my number one goal is to include FUN along the way – health benefits have a direct correlation with good old fashioned fun!  Who doesn’t like fun?

 

As the years have passed, I’ve noticed a shift in wellness activity participation.  People have busier lives than ever – adding to more stress at home and more stress at work, and less time to spend on themselves.  My vision would be that the healthy activities we all used to love and participate in definitely continue, but they need to become more compact and accessible – easily fitting into 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there.  And fitting into the place where people today are spending the vast majority of their time – work.

 

Oh goodness, it’s not just MY work that transforms.  It’s through a group of employees with different strength’s and abilities with a common desire to promote health and wellbeing to our employees.  When the work of this group has a positive effect, employees (and hopefully, their families) will experience a heightened feeling of wellbeing.  And with that generally comes more energy, a positive attitude, and better job performance…so many happy things!

 

No one has ever asked me that!  This may not technically be a slogan, but I think I’m going to go with a quote from Dr. Seuss…“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.”