A longtime commitment to employee wellness

More than 75 years ago, Kaiser Permanente’s innovative prepaid health care program began with an idea — What if we helped prevent disease and encouraged wellness among the workers building the Grand Coulee Dam and in the World War II shipyards?

Much of our ongoing focus on workforce wellness is rooted in that history, including joint efforts with our labor partners to make workforce wellness a priority. Tens of thousands of our employees and physicians take advantage of the ever-increasing number of wellness programs we offer every year. These programs provide easy and fun ways to help people move more, eat better, improve their mental well-being, and practice self-care.

Recognition of our focus on employee wellness

For the fifth year in a row, our investment in building a culture of health has earned us gold-level recognition in the American Heart Association’s Workplace Health Achievement Index. Our score placed us near the top — at the 94th percentile out of more than 800 participating companies. This award reflects our commitment to comprehensive, leadership-championed well-being policies and programs.

This is also the 10th consecutive year that the National Business Group on Health has honored Kaiser Permanente for having one of the best workforce health and well-being programs in the nation by awarding us our seventh Platinum-level Best Employers: Excellence in Health and Well-Being award. NBGH is a network of employers, including 74 Fortune 100 companies, and is devoted to representing large employers’ perspectives on health policy issues and optimizing workforce strategy. Kaiser Permanente is one of only 18 U.S. employers to achieve the Platinum-level distinction for connecting workforce well-being and key business outcomes and for implementing a strategy with demonstrated results across several dimensions of well-being, including financial, emotional, social, and community well-being.

“We are proud to be nationally recognized for our commitment to our employees’ overall health and well-being,” said Christian Meisner, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Kaiser Permanente. “Our approach at Kaiser Permanente is to build a culture of health by regularly engaging with employees to learn more about what they want for the health of their mind, body, and spirit, and ensuring they have the holistic resources they need to live healthier lives.”

Our commitment to workforce health has a direct impact on the health and well-being of our employees, which in turn allows our employees to consistently provide our members and the communities we serve with the high-quality care and service they expect from Kaiser Permanente.