By: Alexis Rosamilia, HR Generalist
LandDesign is in the business of creating places that matter, places that contribute to peoples’ health and happiness. One of our priorities in HR is to design a wellness program that contributes to and facilitates the health and well-being of all our colleagues. For the third year in a row, LandDesign has been recognized by Charlotte Business Journal’s Healthiest Employers of Greater Charlotte for our commitment to wellness and our above (national) average wellness initiatives. With our wellness score exceeding the national average, LandDesign was awarded 4th place in the mid-size business category (100-499 employees).
LandDesign continues to strive to be an employer of choice. This is not something that is achieved only by our wellness program (hey, it helps), but by our culture, benefits, growth opportunities…and the list goes on.
Wellness is more than just exercise and diet, it’s everything that contributes to our daily happiness. At LandDesign, we incorporate the social, emotional, financial, physical and nutritional components that people need to be well-rounded and content with their lifestyle. A successful wellness program begins with listening to the most important asset: the employee. We listen to their needs and their feedback. Our approach is simple – go directly to the source (our employees) and ask them what they want. What type of program would benefit them the most? And most importantly, what do they want to learn and takeaway from such programming? After all, a wellness program can only be as successful as the people it supports.
There are many components that make up our program but I’ll highlight two of the more prominent ones. The first one being to foster social connectivity within our culture. It can be intimidating to find yourself in a new place with new people. But how great does it feel when you find the person sitting next to you values the same things you do? We give our employees the autonomy and the resources to promote and participate in various activities inside and outside the office. Why? Because it encourages them to get together and establish non-working relationships with each other. We have bike riders who ride together, runners who run together, musicians who play together, foodies who lunch together, adventurers who explore together, humanitarians who volunteer together, and that’s only to name a few.
Our second prominent program (and new this year) is our physical fitness benefit, Peerfit. Peerfit is a “one stop shop” for local fitness classes in our areas and allows our employees to customize how they want to stay active. Peerfit even allows employees to invite one another to classes through its website or app – because let’s be real, it is so much nicer to have a friend sitting next to you as you’re about to embark on a 15-mile sweaty, spinning journey. Each month, employees receive enough credits to cover, on average, 4-5 fitness classes per month. These credits are paid for by LandDesign. Our employees have access to Peerfit’s network of 5,000 fitness studios and gyms across the US and can participate in fitness ranging from open gyms to Crossfit, yoga to boxing and everything in between.
It goes without saying, but you cannot have a successful wellness program without the support of the leadership team. We are extremely thankful to have a leadership team that embodies wellness in their own daily lives and finds the value in promoting and participating in wellness initiatives throughout the firm. All of our wellness initiatives are 100% funded by LandDesign.
We have come to a point in time where employees are seeking more than just a competitive salary. They are seeking flexibility of a job, positive work culture, supportive management, social connectivity, a robust benefits package, community engagement and other great initiatives that we are able to provide. At the end of the day, we work for a company that values wellness and understands that it is not simply a physical component, but rather a balance of physical, social, emotional, financial and nutritional components. Feeling connected to ourselves, our culture, our team and our work is what we aim to cultivate within our wellness programming.
