February 2023 Spotlight

The Office of the Chief Wellness Officer is proud to recognize Buckeye Wellness Innovators (BWIs) who are actively creating a culture and environment of health and well-being in their workplace. Congratulations to the BWIs in the Office of Administration and Planning for being selected as February’s BWI spotlight.

The Office of Administration and Planning (A&P) is dedicated to the day-to-day operations of the university. Their six departments include the Department of Public Safety, Facilities Operations and Development, Transportation and Traffic Management, Planning, Architecture and Real Estate, UniPrint and WOSU. Combined, they have more than 1,000 staff.

Since the revival of the Buckeye Wellness Innovator program by Dr. Bernadette Melnyk in 2013, A&P has grown their BWI team from a few staff members to 25 across all six departments. They work collaboratively to improve the wellness culture for the entire office while also working to implement a variety of wellness activities and promoting university wellness services for their individual departments. 

Nicole Holman, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications in A&P, shares how their BWIs are embracing their role and implementing creative and inclusive ways for their staff to engage in wellness.

Q: The A&P BWI team has hosted and communicated a wide variety of health and wellness activities within the last few months. Would you like to share some ways the team is embracing the 10 dimensions of wellness and providing opportunities for staff to engage in activities?

Holman: “In support of physical wellness, in January 2023, we launched the Winter Wellness YP4H Step Challenge as a friendly step competition between A&P and the Office of Student Life. We also established an annual planning calendar to focus content and generate awareness of one dimension of wellness each month. Our A&P health and wellness page serves as a one stop shop to access A&P Buckeye Wellness Innovator contact information, departmental health and wellness highlights as well as links to university resources. Last fall, we held our first wellness retreat with A&P Buckeye Wellness Innovators and our A&P Diversity Council to provide an opportunity for collaboration and discussion about inclusive wellness. We have another retreat scheduled for March 2023.

Individual A&P departments also schedule activities that support multiple dimensions of wellness. Whether it’s hopping on the Buckeye Wellness blender bike to make healthy smoothies, participating in team standing or walking meetings, demonstrating proper breathing techniques, creating a wellness garden for staff to enjoy, hosting a zero waste lunch webinar, joining a community walk or run together and more, A&P BWIs bring creative ideas and energy to the table to tailor activities for their departmental needs.”

Q: Jay Kasey, the university’s Senior Vice President of Administration & Planning and your office’s executive leader said during a video interview for his University Wellness Leadership Award that, “I have an outstanding group of managers I work with who embrace wellness and health and the culture…throughout their departments.” How do leaders and managers support their staff’s health and well-being needs?

Holman: “Health and well-being is a priority in A&P and our leadership encourages staff to engage in a variety of programming that aligns with their interests and needs. Annual goals for wellness are also set each year. Managers and supervisors demonstrate support in a variety of ways, ranging from providing time on meeting agendas to discuss health and wellness to actively participating in events and activities to show interest and support.”

Q: With so many competing responsibilities and priorities while at work, it can be difficult to find time to plan how to best create wellness activities for staff. How does the A&P BWI team continue to come up with new or innovative ideas for wellness activities?

Holman: “We hold and record monthly, virtual A&P Buckeye Wellness Innovator meetings to share information about upcoming events, resources, ideas and to highlight the great work that is happening across A&P. Wellness means different things to different people so it’s important that we continue to collaborate with other innovators in A&P and across the university and help share the wealth information and resources that are available to all of us.”

Q: How has the team overcome barriers to engaging colleagues in your wellness efforts during the workday?

Holman: “Participation rates vary based on activities and scheduling and we’re always looking for new ways to engage staff, especially those in differing departments who work different shifts or days of the week and at different locations. We promote the Virgin Pulse app, particularly as part of step challenges, as it is a great way for staff to participate as part of a team, regardless of when or where they work.”

Q: If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator team, what would your dream be? 

Holman: “We’d love to ensure that all staff are aware of how to access resources they are looking for so that they can make decisions on what makes most sense for their needs. We’d also love to grow our network of A&P BWIs to help spread the word of wellness.”