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January 8, 2024
MENASHA – Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI), an engineering, construction, manufacturing and clean energy company, has once again been recognized as one of the 2023 Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America.
The Menasha-based company has been named to the list eight years running – this year moving from No. 89 to No. 70 nationwide.
The Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America list is released annually by Healthiest Employers, an awards program created to recognize companies that proactively shape the health of their employees.
According to the Healthiest Employers’ website (healthiestemployers.com), companies are recognized based on their commitment to workplace wellness and health and benefits offerings, and are ranked on categories, such as culture and leadership commitment, strategic planning, communications, programming, reporting and analytics.
FTI operates with three divisions under its umbrella: Faith Technologies, EnTech Solutions and Excellerate.
“Faith Technologies is our electrical contractor business, EnTech Solutions is our clean energy division and Excellerate is our manufacturing division,” Wellness Program Director Alyssa Kwasny said.
In addition to its recent recognition by Healthiest Employers, Kwasny said FTI is also:
Recognized as a Gold Level Workplace through the Wellness Council of AmericaGiven a Gold-level Workforce Well-being Scorecard by the American Heart AssociationRecognized on several regional 2023 Healthiest Employers listings, including in Wisconsin, Tennessee and Georgia.
“Employee safety and well-being are our top priorities as an organization,” she said. “FTI has had a wellness program (EmpowerYOU) in place for about 20 years now, so it’s been embedded in our culture for quite some time.”
Though Kwasny said the longevity of FTI’s EmpowerYOU Wellness program is not its strongest attribute – rather, it’s the commitment to listening to its employees and consistently tailoring the program to their needs.
“Our wellness program is always evolving,” she said. “We continue to make enhancements to our programs by looking at the health risks of our employees and what kind of support they need and want.”
Kwasny said it isn’t just one thing that helped FTI move up in the ranks on the Healthiest Employers list.
“We’re always looking to make our programs better, year after year, to best support the overall wellbeing of our employees and their families,” she said. “And that’s key.”
Alyssa Kwasny
One of the ways FTI stays continuously in tune with what its employees need, Kwasny said, is through annual surveys, which seek feedback on the program and overall workplace culture.
“We just did a recent wellness survey, and we asked if our team members would agree that FTI’s culture supports overall health and wellbeing,” she said. “96% of our respondents believe that it does, and about 90% also believe that their peers support one another when it comes to health and wellbeing. Our employees truly care for one another, and you can see that in a lot of the things we do, especially with our Culture of Care.”
Culture of Care
Kwasny said FTI’s Culture of Care is a new aspect of its wellness program – which was introduced due to employee feedback.
“Our Culture of Care is a program that we launched in 2021,” she said. “Our 2020 wellness survey showed that about 60% of our respondents wanted more mental health resources from the organization,” Kwasny said.
Kwasny said FTI recognizes the importance of whole person health and tries to change the conversation around mental health.
“Mental health concerns affect so many individuals, especially in our industry…” she said. “We prioritize showing our employees that it’s okay to not be okay and that our workplace can support them as a full person, especially when it comes to their mental health.”
Kwasny said FTI’s Culture of Care helps support “the development of respectful and empathetic employees.”
“(It) fosters that supportive, caring and safe environment for our employees, especially without having to be afraid of being bullied or harassed and trying to support that positive and stigma-free environment,” she said.
Kwasny said each FTI employee is also encouraged to pledge their commitment to supporting a healthy workplace culture.
“One of the biggest benefits that we rolled out is called ‘Time to Recharge,’ which (allows) employees (to) use two hours of paid time off every month to focus on their mind, body and soul – or they can use it toward health care or professional health services, or any type of training,” she said. “We offer mental health training for our program as well – but we encourage all of our leaders and employees to take that mental health training so they can use that time to do that.”
Since its inception, Kwasny said 92% of team members have taken advantage of the “Time to Recharge” benefit, totaling more than 90,000 hours.
“We also have Culture of Care champions, as we call them, and those are peers that are supporting our Culture of Care and want to be that listening ear and support for our team members,” she said. “So, they’ve gone through their own mental health training and active-listening training to ensure that they can convey that support and listening to the staff and refer them to the right resources, if and when they need it when it comes to their mental health.”
Kwasny said she partnered with Mettie Spess, owner of A World Without Suicide, for the mental health training.
“Spess provided live mental health training when we first rolled this out, as well as additional on-demand training as needed,” Kwasny said.
Interactive app
FTI’s EmpowerYOU Wellness program, Kwasny said, also encourages employees to take care of their physical health through an interactive app.
“We partner with a wellness platform that allows our team members and their spouses to be able to access our wellness program from anywhere – so they can access that on a mobile device or via an app platform,” she said.
Kwasny said this allows employees to build healthy habits across all areas of well-being.
“The more they participate in that program and participate in healthy behaviors, they’re able to earn different incentives,” she said. “Those who are on FTI’s health insurance plan can earn points toward receiving a health insurance premium incentive for the following year. We also offer cash rewards for all employees and offices, regardless of insurance coverage. The more employees participate in that program and the more points they get, the more rewards they earn.”
The wellness platform, Kwasny said includes healthy habit tracking and education as it relates to nutrition and physical activity.
“There are healthy recipes out there, and our employees can challenge their peers…” she said. “We see a higher than average participation and engagement in that program, and I think that’s because the program is personalized to each individual, which allows them to build those healthy habits and focus on those areas that matter most to them when it comes to their wellbeing.”
Through its “Time to Recharge” initiative, Alyssa Kwasny said FTI employees have the opportunity to take two hours of paid time off every month to focus on their health and well-being. Submitted Photo
Kwasny said FTI encourages its team members to complete biometric health screenings every year, to support overall health and well-being.
“That’s been a big focus of ours over the last few years and bringing those screenings back after the COVID-19 pandemic – ensuring that our team members are visiting with their physicians,” she said. “We also bring those screenings onsite to make it easy for people to get that screening done and be aware of their health numbers and their health risks.”
The benefits of these screenings and other aspects of FTI’s wellness program, Kwasny said, are tangible.
“When we look all across the board over the last 12 months… the prevalence of chronic conditions has decreased, the percentage of at-risk members has decreased, total medical claims costs have decreased and our total prescription costs have also decreased – which goes to show all of our efforts across the board are for a worthwhile program,” she said.
Retirement, financial literacy
Rounding out FTI employee’s overall well-being, Kwasny said the company also contributes to their team members’ retirement and overall financial literacy.
“We utilize a retirement and 401 provider, Empower Retirement, which has different financial wellness offerings,” she said. “They have different educational videos and budget calculators… We also have a wellness platform partner that we utilize, and they have different financial wellness tools and educational resources available on-demand, which our employees have access to.”
Employee success = organization success
Overall, Kwasny said FTI’s culture of wellness helps improve not only the lives of individual employees but also the organization’s success as a whole.
“Wellness has many benefits for our culture and the success of our organization,” she said. “Our overall goal with our wellness program is to improve the lives of our people, and a good wellness program takes time and a strong wellness culture to help people live healthier lives and feel better.”
Kwasny said as a fast-growing company, “we continually have employees joining our workforce, which brings new and different risks to our organization.”
“So, we have to continue to evolve our wellness plan and change as those risks become known,” she said. “But we’re always evolving, always changing and always trying to look at the needs and wants of our employees and making those changes based on the feedback of our employees.”
