Thursday, June 16, 2011

It's Good To Be Well

Reprinted from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce's Wellness Council of Indiana.

What Does Wellness Have to do With Recruiting?
By Steve Fero, partner and owner, Career Solutions Group

Even in an economic downturn, top performers still have their choice of employers. So, how do you position your company to attract these high producing potential employees? Aligning wellness initiatives with your recruiting strategy can send the right message – that your organization embraces an environment of high performance.

Based upon my 20 years of recruiting experience, there are several organizational characteristics that high producers and high-performing managers look for in a prospective employer. First, these high achievers expect an environment that embraces challenge, innovation and creativity. Second, they look for evidence of a company commitment to employee professional growth and learning. Third, high performers must see that they are surrounded by an organization that promotes peak productivity.

Of course, they will also expect a competitive compensation and progressive benefits package. Professional motivators of high performers systematically align with the key components of a comprehensive and consistent wellness initiative that can define your company’s organizational culture and environment.

Organizational absenteeism is a big red flag to prospective high performers and managers. Not knowing who will be on their team from day to day is a serious concern and stress creator. While they may be more than willing to pick up the slack for those out of the office due to illness, a high incidence of absenteeism due to illness can drive away key employees and potential recruits. By promoting healthy habits that reduce health risks and decrease absenteeism, you will see your top performers produce at a high level and likely raise the performance of those around them too.

Great employees expect to be in top form each day. They typically stay physically active and eat better to ensure every productive minute is spent on being the best they can be. How can you create an environment to help your employees stay in top form? First, take a look at your policies. If your work environment has developed HR policies that create roadblocks rather than promote healthy habits, your employees will ultimately decrease productivity.

High-performer stress can have its roots in a business strategy that does not incorporate the basic elements of a wellness concept. When policies and the organizational environment do not support high performance, managers will become stressed and high performers will, over time, become frustrated and leave. Aligning wellness concepts with your business strategy will help prevent high performers’ energy from being sapped and stifled. Ignoring the importance of aligning a culture of wellness with recruiting, on the other hand, will result in hiring second-tier candidates and likely higher health care costs.

How can you make sure that your environment and established hiring practices are enticing to a top producer? Many employer best practices already include the basic concepts of a cost-effective wellness strategy or plan. Since Indiana continues to rank near the bottom of every national health and wellness ranking, it is extremely important to highlight or spotlight the “well things” that your organization historically does well.

Celebrate and communicate these “well cultural” attributes throughout your organization. Your employees will become your sounding board for improving and promoting your wellness culture. Working with a recruiting process expert up front to develop a recruiting strategy that aligns your wellness culture with your message to recruits will help ensure success in attaining your business goals and desired outcomes.

Focus your recruiting strategy on the characteristics that great recruits seek. Do not promote or make false claims about the wellness of your employee population, but focus on some easy-to-implement wellness strategies that fit within your company culture.

An executive recruiting firm since 1995, Career Solutions Group provides corporate recruiting strategy, national corporate recruiting, executive search, custom recruiting and talent acquisition strategy services primarily to Indiana-headquartered companies with up to 500 employees. Steve Fero can be contacted at (317) 466-9740 or sfero@careersolutionsindy.com.

5 comments:

  1. 3rd Kiwanis Kids Triathlon & 5K- August 28th @ Ft Ben YMCA - Open to all kids 7-18 & their parents, proceeds benefiting our foundation and foster care programs. 8AM check-in. 9AM race start.
    http://kiwanisfamilytriathlon.com

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  2. Kiwanian Aaron York, CEO Emeritus of York's Quality Air, will be cooking FREE PIZZA for all participants and volunteers on Sunday. Aaron will start serving his famous breakfast pizzas (delicious) at 7AM next to the YMCA Annex and switch over to lunch pizzas as the triathletes finish the race.
    Come to the 3rd Kiwanis Kids Triathlon & 5K- August 28th @ Ft Ben YMCA - Open to all kids 7-18 & their parents, proceeds benefiting our foundation and foster care programs.
    http://kiwanisfamilytriathlon.com

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  3. The Indianapolis Colts and the NFL Play 60 Foundation are third year sponsors of the Kiwanis Kids Triathlon at the Fort Benjamin Harrison YMCA. The NFL's commitment to developing healthy kids and healthy lifestyles fits great with the Kiwanis Club of Indianapolis' passion for improving the lives of children in the Indianapolis area.

    A rise in the obesity rates among today’s youth as well as the decline of physical education programs in schools across the country have prompted the NFL to take a leadership role in the movement to get youngsters physically fit. NFL PLAY 60 was officially launched in October of 2007 to help increase the health of young fans by encouraging them to be active for at least 60 minutes a day.

    NFL PLAY 60 brings together the NFL’s long-standing commitment to health and fitness with an impressive roster of national partners, all working to make the next generation active and healthy. In addition to its national reach through PSAs and online programs, NFL PLAY 60 also is implemented at the grassroots level through the NFL’s in-school and team-based programs including the NFL PLAY 60 Challenge.

    NFL® Play 60 is the National Football League’s "Movement for an Active and Healthy Generation." It encourages kids to play in school, after school and to join team-based programs as a way to tackle the serious issue of childhood obesity.

    Parents, educators and childcare staff can visit the NFL Play 60 websiteto find tips from NFL teams and players for engaging kids in games, exercise and healthy lifestyle activities.
    http://kiwanisfamilytriathlon.com

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  4. Change A Child's Life With Fitness - IN Department of Child Services & Kiwanis Fostering Families

    Gail Waldron-Bray, Regional Foster Care Supervisor for Marion County Department of Child Services says every Foster Care Member in Marion County has been sent information about the Kiwanis Kids Triathlon & 5K and she has spoken to a few directly who are interested. She said the event posters are all over the building and expect some employees to participate too. Gail will be setting up a table in our Health Fair area for DCS to try to recruit new parents and families to foster care.

    While the majority of our participants will not be from foster care families on Sunday morning, it is these few kids that we have the opportunity to make the greatest impact with. Imagine the personal pride and sense of accomplishment of a child in foster care able to tell his schoolmates that he completed a TRIATHLON (and has dog tags and a t-shirt to prove it!).

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  5. For the third straight year, The IMG Foundation is a sponsor of the Kiwanis Kids Triathlon. The IMG Foundation was started by International Medical Group to support organizations that focus on children, health care, and education. So it's easy to see why The IMG Foundation and the Kiwanis Club of Indianapolis' Fostering Families Committee Kiwanis Kids Triathlon & 5K is such a good fit.

    On September 8th of this year, The IMG Foundation will be hosting its 8th Annual IMG Foundation Golf Outing at Highland Country Club in Indianapolis. Entry is $1,500 per foursome. In addition to complimentary food and drink, golfers will be challenging for a spot on the Fred Snively Memorial Trophy and a Hole in One Challenge with a custom chopper from LA Cycles and an automobile from Terry Lee Honda on the line.

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