The City of Bakersfield, California, has a diverse economy as the highest oil-producing county and the fourth most productive agriculture county in the United States. Due to the economy, along with its considerable cultural and economic diversity, the City of Bakersfield faces many challenges to the health of their employees and community.
The City has previously participated in some grassroots efforts to improve the health of their employees and the community they serve — but with no real strategy or meaningful impact. This prompted the City to submit an entry for the Cities for Workforce Health wellness grant to gain more support. In 2016, they were one of five Southern California cities to be selected out of more than 100 applicants for the wellness grant in partnership with the Cities for Workforce Health and Kaiser Permanente.
With the support of a workforce health consultant from HERO Scorecard Preferred Provider Kaiser Permanente and the Cities for Workforce Health grant in its pocket, the City began its journey toward a comprehensive and meaningful strategy for its employees. The first step recommended by the consultant was to complete the HERO Health and Well-being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration With Mercer© (HERO Scorecard) to help guide their efforts and provide credibility around the plan that was presented to City of Bakersfield leadership.
The City’s HERO Scorecard results confirmed the need for deeper leadership engagement and a culture that supports those efforts. Despite the valuable data the City receives from its health carriers, the City also needed to hear from its employees. The next step was deploying a citywide employee interest survey. Approximately 25% of the population was surveyed, with representation from all departments. The City also identified more than 40 employees who were willing to volunteer their time on a wellness committee or in a wellness champion role.
The City recently presented the HERO Scorecard results, coupled with the employee interest survey results, to City leadership to gain buy-in for next steps and support of the overall program goals. City leadership understood the need for deeper engagement and fully supported the next step of putting a wellness team together with representation from all departments. As of today, the City is solidifying those efforts and planning to move forward with a strong strategy team, using the best practices identified in the HERO Scorecard
Source: 2016 HERO Scorecard Progress Report
