Manatee County Government
Tampa Bay Business Journal names Manatee County Government the Healthiest Employer in the Region
MANATEE COUNTY, FL (Sept. 20, 2011) – The Tampa Bay Business Journal has named Manatee County Government the healthiest employer in the region.
The Manatee YourChoice health plan was named tops in the region from among hundreds of employers from seven counties during the Journal’s 2011 Healthiest Employer awards Thursday. The Journal works with HealthiestEmployers.com, an Indianapolis-based research firm focused on corporate wellness. The firm used proprietary technology, wellness experts, physicians, professors, employers and human resource professionals to select the winners.
Finalists were ranked in six categories including Culture & Leadership Commitment; Foundational Components; Strategic Planning; Communications and Marketing; Programming and Interventions; Reporting and Analysis. To be considered for the award, Manatee County submitted a detailed questionnaire about its wellness and health management program.
According to HealthiestEmployers.com, Manatee County received a score of 85 percent which “…demonstrates superior wellness programming, relative to peers in your market.”
“This award truly validates what we’ve been doing since 2005,” said Manatee County Health Benefits Manager Kim Stroud. “It validates the efforts of department directors, supervisors and staff that make decisions everyday to engage in healthy activities or to promote healthy activities every day.”
Stroud said the health plan not only benefits employees by promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, tobacco cessation and stress management; it also contributes to employee productivity and decreases absenteeism.
Manatee YourChoice was also named first place in the category of employers larger than 1,500 employees, a group that included finalists such as the City of Tampa; Hillsborough and Pinellas county governments, TECO Energy and Verizon Wireless.
The award comes only weeks after Manatee Board of County Commission formally endorsed Manatee County’s “Culture of Health,” a resolution that touts a number of healthy measures Manatee County Government has taken to improve the wellness of its employees.