Many who have tried it will tell you that initiating a wellness program is not the easiest sell to an employee population. Just ask Dianne Howard: “People don’t like being told what to do,” she says, and she saw quite a bit of resistance. That’s normal enough for a private company, but Howard’s position, as director of risk and benefits management for Florida’s Palm Beach County school district, comes with extra challenges.
“We’re a public entity, so noise gathers,” Howard says. “It doesn’t just come to me and my staff. It goes to me, to my boss and maybe to our school board. You just want to be able to defend your position, get it well-communicated and get the unions on board to help you communicate. We told them: If it works and we keep our rates down, maybe we won’t need rate increases every year. And for 2014 we’re not going to need a rate increase.”
