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Home » Fitness » Busey banking on fitness – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Photo by: Rick Danzl/The News-Gazette

From left, Busey employees Kelli Baker, Lyndsay Howell and Bryan Snodgrass work out at the company's 24-hour 'wellness center' at its office on Neil Street in downtown Champaign.

About a year ago, Busey converted part of the first floor of its downtown Champaign office to a gym, complete with treadmills, ellipticals, weights and motivational messages on the walls.

Busey Wealth Management Assistant Vice President Bryan Snodgrass uses it several times a week.

"It takes a little of the excuse away from not working out. I can't say I didn't want to drive across town because it's right here," Snodgrass said. "I've been able to cancel my gym membership elsewhere."

The 24-hour "wellness center" is part of Busey's overall employee wellness program, which CEO Van Dukeman said 85 percent of employees participate in, including him.

"I have fitness equipment at home that I use some, too. I work out a good five to six days a week. Probably half of that, I'm using it here," Dukeman said. "I like to do it. It does relieve stress."

For employees who don't work nearby, Busey will subsidize gym memberships.

"Last year, we subsidized about $20,000 of fitness memberships," Dukeman said.

Busey provides a nice incentive for its employees to participate: up to $1,000 contributed to their health savings account if they have health insurance with Busey. If they don't, they can earn cash payouts up to $700.

They can get this by earning points for completing different challenges, coaching opportunities and maintaining healthy behaviors, and then moving up four different levels.

Snodgrass recently completed a challenge for his team to walk a combined 3 million steps, but others focus on nutrition or mental health.

"One of the challenges that my team was affected by the most was to take a 10- or 15-minute recess," he said. "A huge group of people go walk around West Side Park or something. For them to be able to do that in the middle of the day and to be encouraged to do that, not many employers do that."

Other local companies have similar programs.

Employees at Christie Clinic can earn close to 75 percent off on their deductible and more than half off on their office copays for doctor visits.

"They just have to participate in a yearly physical with routine labs, and complete a health risk assessment, and then they participate in different opportunities for points," said Ladoshia Brewer, Christie Clinic's wellness coordinator.

This is the fourth year Christie has been doing this, and the program has grown every year.

"Almost half of our team members participate," Brewer said. "It's evolving every year as we get more user-friendly and provide better opportunities to meet the team members' schedules."

Carle Foundation Hospital also has a wellness program where employees earn points.

Carle has different challenges throughout the year, from a couch-to-5K challenge to a team step challenge. Employees can win different prizes and gift cards at the end of each challenge, and employees with more points can win more valuable prizes at the end of the year.

Employee wellness is a natural fit for a health organization, said Karen Stefaniak, wellness coordinator for Carle and Health Alliance, although the long hours can make it difficult.

"We do get good support from our administration," she said. But "it's a challenging environment because of the hours that some people work, with 12-hour shifts."

That being said, those who work in the hospital tend to do best on the step challenge.

"The people that work in the hospital are often the winners," Stefaniak said. "For people that are on their feet all day, it's a little bit easier."

None of these companies have looked too deeply into their data to see how effective the wellness programs have been. In theory, they're supposed to lead to healthier employees with fewer sick days and lower health insurance costs.

Anecdotally, they say the programs are worth it.

Busey hasn't seen some of the large health insurance increases others have seen.

"The health care companies, they know we're doing this and so I think it has lowered our costs," Dukeman said. "I hear about major bumps in health care costs. That hasn't happened to us."

It also reduces turnover and helps in recruiting new employees, he said.

"I think they're more engaged and motivated and happy," he said.

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Busey banking on fitness - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

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Home » Fitness » Busey banking on fitness – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette