Employee Health and Wellness
Our focus on health and wellness extends to helping our employees build healthier bodies and minds. In fact, Heinz was selected as a Silver winner for the 2009 Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles Awards sponsored by the non-profit National Business Group on Health. The awards recognize more than 50 U.S. employers for their continuing efforts to promote healthful work environments and encourage workers to live healthier lifestyles.
Because we know that good habits begin at home, Heinz is committed to helping our employees live healthier lives. In the UK, Heinz teamed up with the British Heart Foundation to offer Well@Work, a program that offers healthy food for lunch and health checks including blood pressure and cholesterol screenings. For U.S. employees, Heinz subsidizes costs for health and fitness club memberships and sponsors lunch-and-learn classes on a variety of health topics. Other U.S. efforts during the past two fiscal years included:
- Digital signage and communications directed to employees’ homes and work stations
- A monthly global health and wellness newsletter distributed internally to employees to share the latest scientific trends
- Weight management/obesity awareness seminars offered to brand teams globally to encourage inclusion in our overall strategy
- Free on-site flu shots
- Smoking cessation programs with free treatment medications
- Biometric screenings (provided at 50% of Heinz factories in the U.S.)
- Diabetes workshops, counseling and free medication
- Health fairs
- Fresh fruit deliveries to encourage healthful eating
- Lifestyle health coaching
- On-site nursing professionals at each factory
What made you want to contact a Lifestyle Health Coach?
Jeb: Well, I’m a big man, but I’ve always been healthy and had normal test results. My doctor even said, “If I wasn’t looking at you, based on your test results, I’d say you’re the picture of good health.” But, two years ago I started feeling bad. I’d heard that Heinz provides Lifestyle Health Coaching, so I completed the My Lifestyle Profile to qualify for a coach. I wanted to lose weight and feel good again.
Pilot Program Gives Heinz Moms and Their Babies a Healthier Start
When Joan Bentz, the professional health care coordinator at Heinz’s Frozen Food manufacturing facility in Ontario, Oregon, was asked to find continuous improvement projects in her area, she identified that the factory’s healthcare costs for 2007 for complicated newborn care was the highest expense. She also discovered that many expectant mothers were not going to the doctor for consistent prenatal care throughout their pregnancy.
With corporate health partners, a plan was developed to promote healthy moms and babies by educating pregnant women on healthy lifestyles, encouraging regular physician visits, setting up a nurse health coach for each mother and removing other barriers to receiving care.
A pre-delivery packet featuring education material focusing on pregnancy-related health tips, prenatal classes, medical leave options and the toll-free hotline for their nurse health coach was distributed. The post-delivery packet includes brochures about adjusting to a new baby, postpartum depression, infant immunization and developmental milestones. It educates parents about enrolling their new baby in the Company’s health insurance plan. The program includes care through the mother’s six-week postpartum doctor’s visit to ensure that she is healthy and ready to return to work.
The program, which began in April 2009, has already enrolled more than 20 women. More importantly, each mom-to-be is receiving consistent maternity care that will hopefully ensure that she and her baby are healthy.
“By investing in preventative medical care up front, we believe it will reduce our long-term healthcare costs and create healthier, happier families,” Bentz said. “We have received a phenomenal response from our employees, who are so appreciative of the efforts Heinz is making to help ensure that they and their babies are healthy. This is one of the most rewarding initiatives I’ve ever been involved with, and I’m so proud that Heinz is making such a tremendous difference in the lives of our employees and their families.”
Weight-Loss Teams
Weight loss is one of the biggest challenges confronting individuals who want to change their habits and live healthier. Heinz has helped employees shed unwanted pounds by supporting and encouraging weight loss competitions and programs. For example, weight-loss teams were formed at our Heinz North America and World Headquarters offices in 2009. The 159 participants on these teams lost a total of nearly 1,500 pounds during the competition. As a result of this contest, many factory locations are now executing similar weight-loss programs.
Lifestyle Health Coaches
Another way Heinz promotes wellness is to provide Lifestyle Health Coaches. These coaches provide encouragement and guidance to employees who want to make positive lifestyle changes and offer personal tips on creating food diaries, counting calories, exercising and more. Heinz Lifestyle Coaches have helped hundreds of Heinz employees live healthier lives.
As a Company that has made healthful foods for 140 years, nutrition science is paramount. At Heinz, we harness the latest science and our proven expertise to offer consumers new or improved products and varieties with great taste and enhanced health benefits. Our commitment to nutrition science and health and wellness is steadfast, as is our commitment to making pure, healthful and delicious foods that nourish people.
What made you want to contact a Lifestyle Health Coach?
Eric: I completed the My Lifestyle Profile and found out that I had some health issues that needed to be addressed. My cholesterol was high and I was overweight, both of which were causing personal strife. That’s when I realized something needed to be done.
