10.2. SR 03-04-2019
Request for Action
To Item Number
Mayor and City Council 10.2
Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by
Work Session March 4, 2019 Lauren Wipper, Human Resources Manager
Item Description Reviewed by
Discuss Health Rewards Program Cal Portner, City Administrator
Reviewed by
Action Requested
Discussion
Background/Discussion
The city began offering employee wellness programs in 2005 through funding provided by our former
insurance co-op, Resource Training and Solutions (RTS). In 2006, ERMU partnered with the city. In 2007,
state statute gave cities the ability to provide wellness and employee recognition programs using city funds.
The city left RTS in 2008 and began funding the program using money received from the tobacco settlement
with BlueCross BlueShield. Once the tobacco funds were spent, the city began funding the program through
insurance reserve.
After leaving RTS, the Wellness Committee relied on ERMU for the purchase of employee incentives as
ERMU’s funds were still provided by RTS. Last year, ERMU asked to leave the committee to provide
wellness opportunities to their employees on their own. This left the city without the ability to provide
incentives to employees for participation in wellness programs. We would like to update the policy to allow
the purchase of incentives going forward.
Incentives purchased in the past were health and wellness related and frequently tied directly to the event.
For example, the winner of the disc golf challenge received a set of discs, we provided lawn games to
winners of the lawn game triathlon. We have also provided state park passes, gift certificates for Clearwater
Outfitters to take a trip down the river, Yeti-like water bottles, and team incentives like wristbands to
identify teams in a challenge.
Financial Impact
The committee would continue to operate on the same funding formula as identified in the policy; there
would be no increase with allowing the committee to purchase incentives. The budget for 2019 is $1,656
and comes from insurance reserve. The committee does an exceptional job providing wellness learning
opportunities and events on a very limited budget.
Attachments
Draft Health Rewards Program Policy Update
The Elk River Vision
A welcoming community with revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional
service, and community engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity
CITY OF ELK RIVER
HEALTH REWARDS PROGRAM POLICY
Purpose of Policy
Encourage employees to live healthy lifestyles by providing health and wellness learning
opportunities. Healthy employees will reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, help control
medical costs and insurance premiums, and reduce incidents of illness and injuries.
Health Rewards Program Committee
Committee members shall be comprised of employee volunteers from a variety of departments of
the city. The committee is responsible for providing appropriate health and wellness
opportunities for all city employees.
Events Provided
The Committee may provide different events from year to year. Events shall be related to health
and wellness, meet public purpose expenditure guidelines and be deemed appropriate by the city
administrator. To support employee engagement, incentives may be provided for participation
and for exceptional performance of event objectives. Examples of incentives include water
bottles, wristbands, kettlebells, Frisbees, a personal trainer session, rental of recreation equipment,
state park pass, and may cost up to $100 for an exceptional performance incentive. Employees
who are working their regular job during the scheduled time of the event may use up to one hour
of paid time to attend the event. Events that are intended to be attended on the employee’s own
time will be advertised as such.
Funding
Each year, the budget for providing health and wellness events shall be calculated as follows:
$500 funding base/planning funds
$9.25 per employee that is covered by medical insurance
As long as funds are available, this budgetFunds for the Health Rewards Program shall come out
of the money received by the City from the BlueCross BlueShield tobacco settlement.insurance
reserve fund.
Health Rewards Program Policy
Policy History
Adopted by: On (date) Item #
City Council May 19, 2008 3.10
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