Page 288 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Employee Well-Being C275

healthy lifestyles with few risk factors are significantly more pro-
ductive in the workplace than people with high numbers of health
risk factors.” 12

:
Think Your Business Is Too Small to Get into Wellness?
Think Again.
As we’ve stated frequently, being a large employer doesn’t
necessarily hinder the ability of an employer to create pro-
grams that support the development of an engaged work-
force. We tip our hats to a handful of resourceful employers
in the south-central Michigan town of Jackson, who, in spite
of the auto industry decline and a more generally unhealthy
population, are pressing ahead with a well-care effort fo-
cused on small businesses. An article in the New York Times
summarizes their unique approach, one that doesn’t require
governmental support, allows policy-making flexibility
among participating employers, and has attracted a num-
ber of small businesses that may not have otherwise gotten
involved in a well-care effort:

With fewer employees to rely on, small businesses
are particularly vulnerable when workers take sick
days or function poorly on the job. “If our employ-
ees are not healthy and alert, they can’t do things
like designing projects,” said Mike Shirkey, owner of
Orbitform Group, a machine tool company in Jack-
son with 55 employees.

An engineering graduate of the University of Michigan,
Mr. Shirkey compares the wellness program with the “mea-
sure and improve” approach that he applies to manufactur-
ing. Two years ago, Mr. Shirkey helped persuade other busi-
ness owners in Jackson to join a CEO Roundtable, a forum
and self-help group for top executives that is trying to ad-