Prioritizing Employee Wellness

Exostar recently received Cigna Healthcare’s 2023 Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation.  To determine recipients, Cigna evaluates organizations based on the core components of their wellbeing programs, including leadership and culture, program foundations and execution, and policies and accommodations.  They seek to identify and acknowledge those who demonstrate commitment and set the standard of excellence for organizational health and vitality.

For 2023, Cigna recognized Exostar at the Silver level of its Healthy Workforce Designation program.  This follows Exostar’s placement in 2022 at the Bronze level of the program.  We rose to a higher level because we not only maintained our strong health engagement foundation, but we also dedicated more resources to support our multi-dimensional approach to wellness, we expanded our wellness programming and incentives, and we achieved a higher degree of employee participation in wellness initiatives.  In fact, Exostar made such significant progress that Cigna selected us to attend their Client Engagement Academy to share success stories and brainstorm on additional opportunities.  Only 20 companies in the Mid-Atlantic got this invitation.

Winning the Healthy Workforce Designation for the second year in a row means a great deal to us, for reasons that extend beyond the award itself to what it represents. Quite simply, we place the health of our employees at the top of our priority list. When we consider employee health, we strive for a holistic, 360-degree perspective. We constantly and continuously seek and explore new ways to take care of everyone’s physical, mental, and financial wellness.

How does that translate into practice? Consider these examples:

• We offer webinars on a wide range of topics, such as nutrition, burn out, and stress management.
• We conduct online classes (for instance, yoga) and individual and team fitness challenges to encourage self-improvement and build camaraderie.
• We communicate regularly with employees about the healthcare benefits available to them.
• We encourage and reward proactive, preventative care (physicals, cancer screenings, and well women’s visits).
• We provide paid time off for employees to volunteer for causes meaningful to them.

We view wellness as an ongoing journey, not a short-term, check-the-box destination.  On the Exostar side, in addition to partnering with companies like Cigna, we look to create and execute engaging activities and discuss current topics that resonate with and reach all our employees.  On the employee side, we want our people to push themselves outside their comfort zones and boundaries not just for the work they do for the company, but for the work they need to do on and for themselves.  No matter how large or small the step may be, take it, embrace it, and celebrate the victories.

Prioritizing employee wellness stands at the heart of Exostar’s culture.  Not all companies can make that claim.  Cigna understands, which explains why they have given us their Healthy Workforce Designation two years running.  Winning the award certainly pleases us, but contributing to the improved health and wellbeing of our employees truly thrills us.