Haws Corp. finds benefits in health, wellness efforts

Although employees of Haws Corp.will participate in "Go Red for Women" events at the company's headquarters and manufacturing facility at Sparks on Friday, that barely scratches the surface of health-and-wellness programs at Haws.

The manufacturer of indoor and outdoor water fountains and similar equipment pours on the health programs everything from seminars to ping-pong tables throughout the year.

The commitment, says President Sallie Haws, reflects the company's belief that it needs to take care of its employees in exchange for their productivity.

While Haws executives acknowledge that it's difficult to track the financial benefits of an extensive health-and-wellness program, they believe that recruitment of good workers is simplified by the program.

They say, too, the health programs are a necessity as the Haws is one of the dwindling number of companies that provide full company- paid health coverage to its 125 employees at Sparks.

(Worldwide,Haws employs about 175.)

"It's very expensive," says Janet Hurst, the company's human resources manager."If we're going to offer it,we want to make sure our people do their part."

Among the health-oriented programs at the company:

* A lap club, in which employees spend their breaks walking through the building or its parking lots.

Three laps outdoors equal a mile.

* The purchase of blenders for each of its break rooms to encourage employees to whip up healthy protein shakes during breaks.

* Pool and ping-pong tables in break rooms.Highly competitive ping-pong games, Hurst says, have proven surprisingly successful in getting desk workers away from their computers.

That, in turn, helps reduce the chances of repetitive-stress injuries.

* An annual health-screening fair at the company's office.

It typically draws about 50 percent participation,Hurst says including one employee who learned that she was beginning to develop diabetes.

* Flu-shot clinics that usually draw half or more of the Haws employees.

* Lunch-and-learn seminars on subjects such as healthy cooking.

Equally important,Haws executives say, is the company's commitment to programs to reduce the stress in its employees' lives.

"The whole person walks in the door to work every day," says Hurst."You aren't just your job."

The company offers flexible scheduling and time off for employees needing to spend time with their families.

It provides LifeWorks, a Web-based employee assistance program with information about issues ranging from fitness to mental health.

And it conducts an annual half-day "bring your children to work" event.

"That's an extremely valuable tool,"Hurst says."The employees love it."

But it's not enough, she says, to simply put programs in place and assume that employees will participate.Hurst fires out a monthly reminder to the Haws staff.

The biggest payback for the company, Hurst says,may be the help the health-andwellness effort provides to its recruiting efforts.

These days, she says, even 20-year-old applicants are likely to ask about benefits even before they ask about pay.

A good health plan helps win their allegiance.

Company-sponsored sports teams, meanwhile, help build morale which reduces turnover while also encouraging health.

But the biggest payback the costs that the partially self-insured company saves when its employees stay healthy are impossible to know.

"If we prevent one heart attack,we will get it all back," says Hurst.

Seeing red Workplaces throughout the region on Friday will participate in "Go Red for Women," an event designed to draw attention to the No.

1 killer of women heart disease.

Residents of northern Nevada are encouraged by the American Heart Association to wear red on that day.

And local landmarks such as the Reno Hilton will be bathed in red light throughout the month.

The goal, says Karen Rudd, corporate events director of the American Heart Association in Reno, is to convince women to visit their doctors regularly, learn their cholesterol and blood-pressure numbers and take steps to safeguard their health.