How long has your team been working as a collaborative Buckeye Wellness Innovator group?
Less than one year
Approximately how many people are in your department, unit, building, or college?
150 individuals
Regarding your department or unit's wellness efforts, which of the nine dimensions of wellness has your team addressed?
- Physical
- Emotional
- Financial
- Social
- Intellectual
- Creative
- Spiritual
Describe one successful activity that your team has planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
During Employee Wellness Month, we have hosted Fun Fridays, which have been a popular event with our employees. For a couple of hours on each Friday, we had a room available where people could get away from their desks for a few minutes, offering healthy snacks, infused waters, puzzles, coloring, kinetic sand, origami, and other fun, creative activities. We wanted to offer an outlet for employees to focus on multiple dimensions of wellness while relieving stress, encouraging creativity, and strengthening social interaction among colleagues without having to physically leave the office.
Describe another successful activity that your team planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
We have also offered a quarterly Wellness Cart, where we delivered fresh fruits, Kind Bars, and infused waters to our staff. Rather than holding an event that would require employees to leave their workspaces, we decided to bring a healthy snack directly to their desks. We provided nutrition fact sheets about the various fruits that we offered, including instructions and health benefits of exotic fruits such as rambutan and baby bananas. Our employees appreciated the friendly face-to-face interaction, the healthy afternoon pick-me-up, and the take-home nutrition information that they could share with their families and friends.
If your team has kept track of participation rates for your activities, what is your approximate average attendance?
Our attendance varies, but depending on the activity it could range from 10 people for a Fun Friday, all the way up to 30 for a department wellness walk.
How does your team communicate wellness events and resources to your colleagues?
Email, word of mouth, posting fliers, wellness wall, staff meetings, partnering with YP4H
Describe how a manager or supervisor in your unit/department/building/college has shown support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team.
When we plan events in OHR, our managers and supervisors are instrumental in increasing our employee participation by reminding their employees about upcoming wellness events and encouraging them to attend.
What has your lead administrator/dean/vice president/department chair specifically done to show support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team?
The entire leadership team in OHR has been extremely supportive of all of our efforts. Many of our senior leaders have led wellness walks to destinations across campus, made healthy dishes for potlucks, and set an example by participating in various wellness events that we have hosted. We are truly appreciative of their continued support and for making our efforts visible to our colleagues.
Please share how your team has overcome barriers to engaging your colleagues and/or students in your wellness efforts.
Because of the nature of our work environment, it is often difficult for our employees to get away from their desks to attend events. With the Wellness Cart, we brought the fun right to our employees' desks, and Fun Fridays allowed a space for people to spend as much or as little time as they felt they could spare. We are really trying to think outside the box in order to bring wellness programming to our colleagues in a way that works best for them.
If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator team, what would your dream be?
In alignment with the Wellness Strategic Plan to become the healthiest university in the world, we strive to optimize the highest levels of wellness for our staff, recognizing that employees with higher levels of wellness are more engaged and productive. We connect our employees with resources such as the EAP, OSU Health Plan, and YP4H. We also advocate for individual health by hosting biometric health screenings and flu shot events. We will continue to connect our employees with these helpful resources and serve as advocates for their health so they can continue to be productive, engaged employees. One thing that we have always wanted to provide for our employees is a dedicated space to relax and decompress during the workday. Ideally, this space would be a quiet, calming, stress-free escape that included comfortable chairs, creative activities, soft music, aromatherapy, and a generally relaxing atmosphere. It would be very comforting for our employees to know that they had somewhere to "get away" for a quiet respite during a chaotic day.
Office of Human Resources
How long has your team been working as a collaborative Buckeye Wellness Innovator group?
Less than one year
Approximately how many people are in your department, unit, building, or college?
150 individuals
Regarding your department or unit's wellness efforts, which of the nine dimensions of wellness has your team addressed?
- Physical
- Emotional
- Financial
- Social
- Intellectual
- Creative
- Spiritual
Describe one successful activity that your team has planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
During Employee Wellness Month, we have hosted Fun Fridays, which have been a popular event with our employees. For a couple of hours on each Friday, we had a room available where people could get away from their desks for a few minutes, offering healthy snacks, infused waters, puzzles, coloring, kinetic sand, origami, and other fun, creative activities. We wanted to offer an outlet for employees to focus on multiple dimensions of wellness while relieving stress, encouraging creativity, and strengthening social interaction among colleagues without having to physically leave the office.
Describe another successful activity that your team planned around the nine dimensions of wellness.
We have also offered a quarterly Wellness Cart, where we delivered fresh fruits, Kind Bars, and infused waters to our staff. Rather than holding an event that would require employees to leave their workspaces, we decided to bring a healthy snack directly to their desks. We provided nutrition fact sheets about the various fruits that we offered, including instructions and health benefits of exotic fruits such as rambutan and baby bananas. Our employees appreciated the friendly face-to-face interaction, the healthy afternoon pick-me-up, and the take-home nutrition information that they could share with their families and friends.
If your team has kept track of participation rates for your activities, what is your approximate average attendance?
Our attendance varies, but depending on the activity it could range from 10 people for a Fun Friday, all the way up to 30 for a department wellness walk.
How does your team communicate wellness events and resources to your colleagues?
Email, word of mouth, posting fliers, wellness wall, staff meetings, partnering with YP4H
Describe how a manager or supervisor in your unit/department/building/college has shown support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team.
When we plan events in OHR, our managers and supervisors are instrumental in increasing our employee participation by reminding their employees about upcoming wellness events and encouraging them to attend.
What has your lead administrator/dean/vice president/department chair specifically done to show support for your Buckeye Wellness Innovator team?
The entire leadership team in OHR has been extremely supportive of all of our efforts. Many of our senior leaders have led wellness walks to destinations across campus, made healthy dishes for potlucks, and set an example by participating in various wellness events that we have hosted. We are truly appreciative of their continued support and for making our efforts visible to our colleagues.
Please share how your team has overcome barriers to engaging your colleagues and/or students in your wellness efforts.
Because of the nature of our work environment, it is often difficult for our employees to get away from their desks to attend events. With the Wellness Cart, we brought the fun right to our employees' desks, and Fun Fridays allowed a space for people to spend as much or as little time as they felt they could spare. We are really trying to think outside the box in order to bring wellness programming to our colleagues in a way that works best for them.
If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator team, what would your dream be?
In alignment with the Wellness Strategic Plan to become the healthiest university in the world, we strive to optimize the highest levels of wellness for our staff, recognizing that employees with higher levels of wellness are more engaged and productive. We connect our employees with resources such as the EAP, OSU Health Plan, and YP4H. We also advocate for individual health by hosting biometric health screenings and flu shot events. We will continue to connect our employees with these helpful resources and serve as advocates for their health so they can continue to be productive, engaged employees. One thing that we have always wanted to provide for our employees is a dedicated space to relax and decompress during the workday. Ideally, this space would be a quiet, calming, stress-free escape that included comfortable chairs, creative activities, soft music, aromatherapy, and a generally relaxing atmosphere. It would be very comforting for our employees to know that they had somewhere to "get away" for a quiet respite during a chaotic day.
