MCW receives Gold Workplace Award for its wellness program

Dec. 10, 2012 College News - The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has received the Gold Well Workplace Award from the Wellness Council of America for its commitment to the health and well-being of its employees through the Wellness at Work Program. This honor recognizes MCW as one of “America’s Healthiest Companies.”

The Well Workplace levels of achievement include Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.  The Gold-level honor is awarded to companies that have successfully built comprehensive worksite wellness initiatives and are demonstrating concrete results. Receipt of this award validates MCW’s health promotion efforts, helps us to communicate our vision that employee wellness is an integral part of MCW’s core vision and mission, and it demonstrates MCW’s commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of our employees.

The work of our valued team of department-based Wellness Champions was featured throughout the application for the great support they provide to the MCW Wellness at Work Program. Their ongoing efforts to promote and encourage program participation was a key reason for our success. Congratulations to each of them for their contributions! 

The Well Workplace Awards initiative is driven by a rigorous set of criteria outlined in WELCOA’s seven benchmarks to a result-oriented Well Workplace.  The seven benchmarks include:

1. Capturing senior level support

2. Creating cohesive wellness teams

3. Collecting data to drive health efforts

4. Creation of a thorough operating plan

5. Choosing appropriate interventions

6. Creating a supportive environment

7. Consistently evaluating outcomes

WELCOA Well Workplace awards are issued for a three-year period of time, after which recertification is necessary.  Earlier this year, a team of three representatives from our Benefits and HR departments worked together to prepare the very arduous application, a project which took about six months to complete.