HERO COMMITTEE REPORT

HERO members, its collaborators and invited subject matter experts serve on committees formed to study health related topics of interest to employers. Following is a report on their work in progress.

Culture Committee (CC)

The CC was created to develop the value proposition for employers to invest in the assessment, planning, creation and maintenance of a culture that supports health and wellbeing within their organization. Its work encompasses providing guidance that includes effective strategies and tools for assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating all key aspects of an organization’s culture. The committee will propose future research needed to investigate the impact, value and effectiveness of a culture that supports health and wellbeing for the sustainability and health of individual employees of an organization and the organization itself.

An important part of their work includes developing a definition of a workplace culture that encourages good health. The definition the committee has created is: “A healthy workplace culture is one intentionally designed with elements and indicators that support health & wellbeing.” Elements of an organizational culture of health have been identified and are being vetted with the HERO membership. We would like to get your feedback as well. If you would like to participate in reviewing these elements of culture by May 23rd, click here.

Health, Performance & Productivity Committee (HPPC)

The relationship between the health of the workforce, its impact on worker performance and ultimately the impact of health on the performance and productivity of the organization has been identified as a key topic for HERO study. The HPPC was created to explore this relationship. To do so, the committee has formed three work streams:

• Research- what exists, where are the gaps in understanding, what research should be recommended
• Innovation- what are the innovations around health and performance
• Employer/Employee Value Proposition- what is the importance of health to both the individual in their work life and to the organization’s performance

An important step in the committee’s work is to understand the attitudes of business leaders about the importance of health to the success of their organization. To do so, the HPPC is launching a national survey of business leaders. You are invited to join us in this effort by sharing this survey with business leaders in your organization. Click here to see the survey.

Employer-Community Collaboration Committee (ECCC)

Employers have been generally supportive of community efforts to address issues of health. More recently, a growing number of business leaders are assuming a leadership role with other community stakeholders to improve the health of the communities where they are located along with the health of their workers. The ECCC has been formed to explore the reasons why employers may want to play active roles in community health initiatives, what activities make most sense for employers to participate in, and how to go about conducting such efforts.

To accomplish its charge, the ECCC has first completed an environmental scan to identify what is happening in this regard. This study has been commissioned by the Institute of Medicine and can be accessed by clicking here.

The environmental scan has helped the committee identify thought leaders in this effort. Sixty of these leaders gathered at HERO member organization HealthPartners for a day-long session in late April. Their purpose- to identify the important elements to building a strong business case for employers to encourage them to become involved in a leadership role in community health improvement. As part of this discussion, the group also identified the issues and barriers that must be overcome to be successful in this effort. This convening was made possible through a grant provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Now the ECCC is moving to its next phase of its work, the dissemination of the business case to encourage employers to assume a leadership role in community health initiatives. This will include the creation of a website that will present the business case for becoming involved, examples of success stories of employers’ involvement in community health across the country, and tools and resources to help employers in determining how to best use their resources to maximize impact on community health. Along with the website, members of the ECCC and the developing network of collaborators focused on this effort will be appearing at business gatherings to share this information and encourage employers to act.  We thank Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Medicine for supporting these efforts.