The Resource Center again honored as one of WNY’s healthiest employers

For the sixth time in the past seven years, The Resource Center has been crowned one of the healthiest employers in Western New York

The Resource Center was one of four businesses honored with a first-place designation in the “Western New York’s Healthiest Employers” competition.  TRC finished atop the Large division (for companies with 501 to 1,600 employees).  Other categories were Small (200 employees or fewer), Medium (201-500 employees) and Extra Large (more than 1,600 employees).

The annual competition was sponsored by Buffalo Business First, Independent Health, Wegmans, Best Self Behavioral Health, Springbuk, and Walsh Duffield Companies, Inc.  This marks the third 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 (2019 and 2015).

TRC officials were thrilled the agency had again won the competition.

“The STARS team continues to shine bright as they bring yet another award back to TRC,” said Heather C. Brown, Assistant Executive Director of Program Operations, who oversees the STARS Program and TRC’s clinical services.  “We are so proud to be recognized again this year among the healthiest employers in our region.”

The key to The Resource Center’s success is its STARS employee wellness program.  In place since 2013, the program provides a variety of wellness options for TRC employees.  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 Health Network, Hope Chautauqua Bright Spots, Live Well Western New York, Population Health Collaborative, Prevention Works, Roswell Park, and Tobacco-Free Chautauqua Cattaraugus Allegany.  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.  Though only employees who participate in TRC’s health plan are eligible to enroll in STARS, The Resource Center allows all employees to undergo health coaching.

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.

“This program, available to all TRC employees, truly differentiates us as an employer of choice,” said Brown.  She encourages TRC employees who are not connected to STARS to give the program a try.

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 55^th healthiest workplace in America, marking the sixth straight year TRC had been recognized in that competition.

As a result of its strong performances over the years, The Resource Center recently was included among the first 20 businesses nation-wide to be inducted into the Healthiest Employers Hall of Fame.

Members of the STARS Wellness Team (from left, Health Coach Jon DeSantis, Manager Donna Trusso and Health Coach Heather Courtney) pose with the first-place trophy.