Well City Milwaukee has earned Milwaukee its second Well City USA Award, making it the only city in the nation to receive the designation from the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) twice.
Well City Milwaukee is a collaboration between more than 40 Milwaukee-area businesses and organizations to deliver comprehensive, award-winning wellness programs to 130,000 employees in the greater Milwaukee area. It was launched in 2007 by five leading partners: The City of Milwaukee, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee and the Wellness Council of Wisconsin.
Well City Milwaukee will recognize the employers who collaborated to win the city’s second Well City USA designation at the Well City Milwaukee celebration event on Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Italian Conference Center, located at 631 E. Chicago St. in Milwaukee. Ryan Picarella, president of the Wellness Council of America, will keynote the celebration event, speak about the future of worksite wellness in the United States, and present the Well City USA Award to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
The celebration will also showcase innovative ideas for workplace wellness programming, many of which are offered by the more than 40 local employers involved in the initiative. The event presenting sponsor is Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, with supporting sponsors UnitedHealthcare and Novo Nordisk.
Participating employers today – some of which were part of the first Well City initiative in 2007 – employ 28 percent of Milwaukee’s workforce and have successfully implemented all seven benchmarks of best-in-class worksite wellness programs as outlined by WELCOA. These efforts have earned them national Well Workplace Awards for their respective organizations during the past three years.
“Those companies who have continued to follow the benchmarks since the first Well City Milwaukee initiative in 2007 are now measuring results in lowered health risks and reduced healthcare costs,” said Jessica Raddemann, executive director of the Wellness Council of Wisconsin. “It is impressive to see so many employers in Milwaukee join forces on behalf of the health of their employees and families.”
One of those employers is Robert W. Baird & Co., a founding sponsor and long-standing supporter of Well City Milwaukee. “We value the well-being of each associate,” said Paul Purcell, chairman and chief executive officer.
“In order for us to perform at the highest level for our clients, it’s important we stay healthy and invest in wellness at Baird.”
In 2010, Milwaukee became the largest city in the nation to earn the Well City USA Award through a collaboration of 34 employers. Since then, four other Wisconsin communities have followed Milwaukee’s lead to earn a Well City USA Award – Racine, Fox Cities, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac – and the number of participating employers has continued to increase.
