Health Links (HL): Why is the health and safety of your employees important to you?

Town of Breckenridge (TOB): We live in a very active community. It's not uncommon to see half of the office at the Recreation Center during lunch! But, at the Town of Breckenridge, we're committed to the holistic health and wellness of our employees.

HL: What does your workplace health and safety program look like? Do you offer both components to employees?

TOB: Our wellness program focuses not just on the athletic wellness of our employees but their holistic health: safety, work/life balance, financial health, and social wellness. We want our employees to feel that they are living full and balanced lives!

We offer biometric testing that financially incentivizes employees for healthy results. We provide "Lunch and Learns" on topics like stress management, nutrition, ergonomics, back pain, planning for retirement, and even bike safety. Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers emotional and social well-being by providing a hotline to a support system, three face-to-face visits with a local counselor for employees and family members, and legal services.

HL: How will/do you know your program is successful?

TOB: First, the Town has great support from the top down with its wellness program. Our mayor rides his bike almost every day during the spring, summer, and fall, and we periodically offer our residents an opportunity to join him on a ride. Our Town Council and Administration deeply support the program and lead active lives in our community. 

Second, we have reached several of our wellness program goals. In January, we will be providing both full-time and part-time employees with free annual passes to our Recreation Center, Nordic Center, and Ice Arena. We have also branded our 'MindBodyBreck' wellness program with great input from our employees. Finally, we have been hard at work developing consistency for the program and have had great turnout at some of our events!

A main indicator of our success, however, was that over 90% of our eligible employees participated in our biometric health testing!

HL: What obstacles did you have to overcome to get your program started? How did you overcome them?

TOB:  Consistency was a struggle but with the help of Health Links and developing a Wellness Team, we have been able to provide consistent programming for our employees. We believe that the new branding of our program will help employees to remember the initiative and make them excited to participate. 

HL: Does your health and safety program help give back to your community?

TOB: The Town of Breckenridge works closely with the Summit Foundation to support non-profits and individuals within our community. We provide the Trail Running Ascent series across Town that is very popular with our community. The Town participates in a Heart Walk, the 9 News Health Fair, and continually maintains and grooms our trail system so that our community can be active year-round!

HL: What tip/advice would you give to a business that is considering starting a workplace health and safety program?

TOB: Wellness depends on a great employee culture. The Town supports wellness during the work day, whether that's a lunch hike or ski, a trip to the gym for yoga, or a bike ride. We provide healthy vending options, deliver 'Celebrate Health' food baskets, and host healthy potluck lunches for our employees to join in on. We strive to build a culture of wellness by participating in trail building across departments and by having town clean-up days. We provide town bikes for commuting, bike to work days, and stand up desks. We believe that promoting a culture of wellness that employees embrace as their own is the best method for developing a healthy workplace.