The Resource Center again named Healthiest Employer in Western NY

For the eighth time in the past nine years, The Resource Center has been crowned one of the healthiest employers in Western New York thanks to our STARS employee wellness program.

The Resource Center was one of five businesses honored with a first-place designation in the “Western New York’s Healthiest Employers” competition. TRC finished atop the Extra Large division (for companies with 500 to 1,499 employees). Other categories were Small (companies with 15 to 99 employees), Medium (100-249 employees), Large (250-499 employees), and Jumbo (more than 1,500 employees).

This marks the fifth straight year TRC has claimed first place in its division. TRC also won its category in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and was a finalist in each of the two years it did not win (2015 and 2019).

The annual competition was sponsored by Buffalo Business First, Independent Health, Wegmans, Springbuk, and Walsh Duffield. TRC officials were thrilled the agency has again won the competition.

“We are so proud of our Wellness Team and the work they do every day to support our workforce to be healthy,” said Heather C. Brown, who oversees the STARS Program and TRC’s clinical services. “The program combines so many factors that engage team members to reach for their goals in a customized way that best fits their lifestyle. TRC is so fortunate to have this as part of our benefits package.”

The key to The Resource Center’s success is its STARS program. In place since 2013, the program provides a variety of wellness options for TRC employees. TRC is a not-for-profit organization that is committed to focusing on the health of its employees, and its STARS team comes up with creative ideas to keep staff engaged. The fact The Resource Center operates its own wellness program gives TRC a leg up over companies that contract with external vendors to operate their wellness programs.

TRC also scores highly by virtue of collaborating with other organizations locally and regionally. These include Chautauqua Bright Spots, Chautauqua Health Network, Live Well Western New York, Population Health Collaborative, Prevention Works, Roswell Park, Slow Roll Buffalo, and Tobacco-Free Western New York. In addition, TRC hosts several American Red Cross blood drives each year.

The STARS wellness program offers a personalized wellness plan based on a person’s self-reported satisfaction level along five life domains. STARS also features lunch-and-learn education and exercise get-togethers, discounts on health insurance premiums and weight-loss programs, and employees can participate in several group and individual challenges throughout the year. Through participation in those challenges and other activities, STARS enrollees earn incentive points that can be redeemed for prizes. All employees are able to participate in STARS regardless of health insurance.

STARS participants annually undergo a biometric blood analysis. While individual results are confidential and shared only with the employee, the STARS team receives a report summarizing the combined results of everyone who undergoes the testing. Those data enable the STARS team to assess how well program enrollees are performing as a group, and the results help form the program’s goals for the coming year.

Having won the regional competition, The Resource Center is eligible for consideration in the “Healthiest 100 Employers in America” competition. Those results will be announced in October. Last year, TRC was named the 35^th healthiest workplace in America, marking the eighth straight year TRC was recognized in that competition.

Members of the STARS Wellness Team (from left, Jon DeSantis, Donna Trusso and Heather Courtney) pose with their first-place trophy from this year’s Western NY Healthiest Employers competition.