Suffolk Public Schools at a glance
Suffolk Public Schools (SPS) is in Suffolk, VA and consists of both rural and urban settings. SPS has 2,100 employees positioned throughout 26 buildings across 430 square miles, divided into seven boroughs.
A client since 2015, SPS discovered that appreciation is what best fuels their program growth. Their employees thrive when SPS hosts appreciation events and spends time with their staff, in person.
Program Goals
- Ensure all staff members are included and engaged in the program
- All members are taken care of, and wellness stays top of mind
- Continue to make wellness exciting, personal, and inclusive
About their program
SPS’s goal is dedicated to ensuring their program is inclusive and respectful of technology literacy. Additionally, they know the value of member feedback and believe in surveying them. Foundationally, they believe in building a program that allows for all employees to participate, regardless of their job role. Additionally, their program is considerate of employee’s comfort level and literacy when it comes to using technology.
SPS held focus groups and discovered there was work to do to engage their all levels of paid staff, especially their lowered tiered staff. Their staff want to be supported but had lower health literacy.
In result, SPS taught these staff to use Chromebooks, hosted Snack & Learn to participate in wellness, or F2F events.
SPS also believes in employee insight. It’s important for them to survey their employees to learn what they value and what is important to them. For example, SPS discovered that appreciation helps grow their program best and their members thrive when they’re provided appreciation events and spend time with staff, in person.
Solution: Goal-driven program sparks engagement among employees
Initially starting with a simple device-based challenge activity with 200 staff in 2014, SPS’s program evolved to a web-based partnership with Viverae. Through acquisitions, SPS then moved to the Simply Well platform.
Today, SPS’s goal-driven programming led to more than half of their staff being engaged in their Employee Wellness Program, powered by Personify Health. They’ve since partnered with LabCorp Biometrics, hosted Corporate Challenges and large group wellness events, created a strong Wellness Champions network—all founded upon a four-level point system withsecret levels and incentives that encouraged growth in participation.
Wellness Champions Network
SPS has 26 Wellness Champions in their network to help with program enrollment, engagement, and earning incentives. Champions also hosted and promoted events to help foster program participation with the lower tier of paid staff, onsite screenings, and wellness fairs.
Pharmacy
SPS is introducing an onsite pharmacy and pharmacist to make fulfilling prescriptions easier for their staff. SPS negotiated better pricing to offer their staff prescriptions at a lower rate. They also reward staff with Personify Health voucher codes for using the pharmacy.
Challenges
SPS believes in the power of healthy competition and supporting members’ personal journeys. They also have a strong belief in increasing activity and enjoying the great outdoors. They run two yearly Challenges, including a Destination Theme Challenge (like Explore the Mediterranean) and Summer & Outdoor-related Habit Challenge, like Sun Safety. They also reward with 200-point voucher codes to participants at the start of the new school year.
Rewards and Incentives
SPS’s program promotes a healthy lifestyle with an Annual Points and Levels Game with text and custom rewards. Rewardable activities include completing biometric screenings, completing health risk assessment, and reaching Level 4 to earn $200 cash in paycheck. Custom Rewards are focused on getting outside or giving back to the community, including Fishing Excursion, State Park Visit, Suffolk Historic Walk, Blood Drive, CPR and more.
Results: Members develop positive daily habits and feel SPS cares about their wellbeing
With the goal of building an inclusive health and wellbeing program, SPS’s program supports all staff members. From a in-app Challenges to a strong in-person presence, SPS continues to keep health and wellbeing top of mind. They ramp up engagement with their strong rewards which incentive members to engage, making wellness exciting, personal, and inclusive.
“This is a program that keeps an honest account of your progress and offers a lot of assistance to keep you going.”