City’s wellness program expanded

NEW LONDON – The wellness program policy for the city of New London has been expanded to include more than just fulltime and part-time city employees.
The expansion of the wellness program was approved by the New London Common Council at its March 18 meeting.
Finance Committee
At the March 5 New London Finance & Personnel Committee meeting, New London City Administrator Chad Hoerthtold the committee that the city’s wellness program was created in 2011 to encourage employees to be healthy.
“To reduce insurance claims, it produces less stress, higher morale, increased production, and things like that,” Hoerth said. “A lot of corporations and companies and businesses provide corporate wellness programs for their employees because they know that there’s a return on investment.”

The city’s health insurance premiums haven’t increased a lot recently, in part because the city’s employees do not submit a lot of claims, Hoerth said.
“I do think that having a healthier employee is a definite benefit to our (city’s) bottom line with our insurance rates,” Hoerth said.
Currently, the wellness program allows city employees access to the city pool, fitness center, and exercise programs at no cost. The program is available to fulltime city employees and their families. It is also available to part-time employees, but not their families.
Ald. John Hass said the council rejected a raise for council members last year, and including council members in the city’s wellness program could make up for some of that.
“This really isn’t a huge money thing to the city because it’s a facility that’s there,” Hass said. “And like you said, sharper minds for us are also better.”
Ald. BaLyndaCroy said she thinks the wellness program should be extended to all city employees, even seasonal employees.
Ald. John Faucher agreed, adding it could make those employees feel more welcome as employees.
“I don’t think it would break the bank to get those people involved in those various buildings,” Faucher said.
Croy and Faucher said it would also be a good idea to extend the benefit to those city employees who retire from city employment.
“To show some appreciation for the years of service that they did put in,” Croy said. “I mean, that’s a huge thing. We’ve got a lot of long-term employees who are going to retire from New London, and that’s just a nice way of saying thank you into retirement.”