“Healthiest Maryland Businesses" - Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for taking the time to learn about Healthiest Maryland Businesses. If any of your questions are not answered below, please email us at dhmh.healthiestmaryland@maryland.gov.
What is Healthiest Maryland Business?
Healthiest Maryland Businesses is a statewide movement to create a culture of wellness—an environment that makes the healthiest choice the easiest choice. It is a “grasstops” social marketing campaign to engage leadership in promoting wellness within their sphere of influence. This initiative aims to raise awareness about the importance of a healthy workforce, recruit business leaders who will incorporate healthy policies into the workplace, publically recognize their commitment and success, and improve their bottom-line.
What is worksite wellness?
"Worksite Wellness" is a term used to describe efforts by businesses to improve the health of their employees with healthy programs and incentives. Initiatives support employees and their families to make healthier choices, help them reduce chronic disease and decrease healthcare costs. Many worksite wellness programs focus on proper nutrition, daily physical activity in and out of the workplace, smoking cessation, and preventive services.
What are the benefits?
A wellness program ensures that everyone wins - companies save on healthcare costs and absenteeism while benefiting from improved productivity and performance while employees and their families are healthier. A healthy business is a business that thrives because it has employee health management strategies in place. Healthier employee lifestyles should also extend into their family and community’s health.
Who should join?
Healthiest Maryland Businesses are Maryland organizations (corporations, small businesses, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, government organizations, etc.) with top leadership that are committed to improving the health of their employees. Some businesses already have comprehensive worksite wellness programs in place and others are taking the first steps towards improving worksite wellness.
What steps do I take to commit to Healthiest Maryland Business?
To become a Healthiest Maryland Business, we ask that you sign a commitment letter to create a healthy work environment and fill out the Healthiest Maryland Business Assessment survey provided by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Both are found at our website: http://dhmh.maryland.gov/healthiest/SitePages/Home.aspx. The survey is meant to help your organization assess the level of worksite wellness already in place at your organization. Do not worry if you are just getting started, we have resources available to help you develop or improve your program.
What is required of me if I join Healthiest Maryland Business?
Once you join, we ask that you help us in our vision to create a work environment for all Marylanders that promotes health and well-being. This includes recruiting additional businesses to join Healthiest Maryland and proudly displaying your Healthiest Maryland credentials to the public and future employees.
How much does it cost to join?
Joining Healthiest Maryland Business is free. We simply ask that you commit to our growing list of Healthiest Maryland Businesses who are leading by example in making health promotion and disease prevention an integral part of their business strategy.
Will there be any recognition of my commitment?
Your commitment to Healthiest Maryland Businesses will be advertised on our website, at press events, and you will be supplied with the Healthiest Maryland logo to display in the workplace. We take pride that we have so many businesses in the State of Maryland that are invested in their employee’s well-being, and want others to distinguish the many exemplary organizations that are improving the health of Marylanders.
What resources are available to me?
On the Healthiest Maryland Business website, we have a page dedicated to various resources that your organization can use as you implement or improve your employee worksite wellness program. The resources provide information about physical activity, smoking cessation, nutrition, and preventive screenings. Visit our website at :http://dhmh.maryland.gov/healthiest/SitePages/resources.aspx. The Healthiest Maryland Business partners may also provide technical assistance to participating businesses. For example, they may provide worksite wellness symposiums, educational webinars, and worksite wellness toolkits.
What happens after I join?
After committing to Healthiest Maryland Business, the next step for your organization is to take action! Complete your survey and start looking at the resources we have made available on our website. While the State of Maryland will not be collecting any data from individual businesses, the University of Maryland Baltimore County will be doing an external evaluation of Healthiest Maryland Business and may contact you for further assessments.
Is this a worksite wellness certification program?
No, this is not a certification program. This is a statewide recognition program to help bring awareness to businesses, employees, and communities about the importance of worksite wellness. The Healthiest Maryland Businesses are those leaders invested in improving their employee’s health and work environment. If you are already participating with other worksite wellness programs, we encourage you to join Healthiest Maryland Business.
Is there any evaluation of Healthiest Maryland Businesses?
While worksite wellness is a proven intervention, an evaluation is being completed by the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (MIPAR) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County by Dr. Judy Shinogle. The goal is to assess Healthiest Maryland Businesses, and the utilization and effectiveness of worksite wellness programs. This will be completed at the CEO, human resource, and employee level.