Prior to joining CSAC last fall, I spent over a decade working for a nutrition education organization where I witnessed the heralded birth of our own workplace wellness program. When an organization employing a dozen registered dietitians and health advocates struggled to keep its employees engaged in wellness, I realized I was about to witness something great when I started learning more about Mendocino County’s Working on Wellness Program.

Maybe it is the gorgeous surroundings, an ingrained competitive spirit or an irresistible desire to save money. Nevertheless, Mendocino County’s Working on Wellness program (known locally as MCWOW) is thriving when many employer-based health promotion programs have floundered.

Dating back to 1995, Mendocino County has long had an employee wellness program as part of its self-funded insurance plan. However, to curtail increasing medical claims costs, the County decided in 2011 to take a more aggressive approach to engage employees in the adoption of healthier lifestyles.

“Mendocino County Working on Wellness has been tremendously successful, not just in improving the lives of our employees and their families, but to increasing productivity, creating a healthier work environment and also employees who are happier,” said Carmel Angelo, Chief Executive Officer of Mendocino County. “It’s an investment that helps improve the health of all 1,200 of our employees by giving them incentives to take action.”