Wellness Case Study: Derby Rec Achieves 90% Engagement

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How Derby Recreation Commission Builds a Culture of Wellness & Inspires Its Community with WellSteps

As a recognized wellness leader, Derby Recreation Commission sought to enhance employee wellbeing with a wellness program that could also inspire its community. This wellness case study highlights how WellSteps collaborates with the Commission to design a program that reinforces its community leadership, promotes employee health, and achieves an impressive 90% engagement rate.

Derby Recreation Commission Wellness Program Overview

Derby Recreation Commission is comprised of three facilities: Hubbard Arts Center, Oaklawn Activity Center and Derby Recreation Center, an 80,000-square-foot fitness and program facility serving the citizens of Derby, Kansas. In summary, the Rec Center offers various amenities and activities for all ages and skill levels, including basketball courts, cycle and program studios, racquetball courts, an indoor track, and an indoor pool.

Derby Recreation Commission has always prioritized wellness, with grassroots wellness campaigns dating back to its inception in the early 1980s. In 2012, the organization partnered with WellSteps to implement a wellness program aimed at enhancing team members’ quality of life while serving as a strategic tool for recruitment and retention.

“Historically, the Derby Recreation Commission has taken a forward-thinking approach with the deliberate goal of creating efficient systems and programs that align with industry best practices,” says Derby Recreation Commission Community Wellness Director Curtis Baxter. “In the 2011 to 2012 time frame, we realized that as a recreation leader in the state of Kansas, we needed to create a more formal wellness program for our team to enhance our quality of life and serve as a recruiting and retention tool.”

Since then, Derby Recreation Commission has been enrolled in the WellSteps Small Business Program, which features:

Online access and app for each employee (and significant other)
Rewards activity and incentive tracking
Personal health assessments and report cards
Screening reminders
Behavior change campaigns
My Tracker, which tracks health behaviors and syncs with wearables

“The WellSteps program offered the platform to formalize our grassroots wellness initiatives and to track team participation and engagement more accurately, so it made sense that we would partner with them to accomplish this strategic goal,” Curtis says.

Wellness Case Study Success Stories

This wellness case study illustrates, in short, how Derby Recreation Commission has built a program that fosters a culture of wellness, achieves high employee engagement, and serves as a model for its community.

Culture of Wellness

WellSteps Wellness Guide Kelsey Kesler says Derby Recreation Commission has an outstanding on-site committee that works together to plan events and cater the program to meet the needs of its employees and community.

“The committee and coordinator love to be involved in program planning. They start with a blank slate each year and come to us with a completely planned program,” she says.

Strong leadership fosters a culture of wellness that consistently delivers better health outcomes for Derby Recreation Commission’s employees.

“During our annual surveys, our team routinely reports feeling like they are in better physical and mental health, but there is definitely always room to improve and grow in our personal and professional wellness,” Curtis says.

High Engagement

Derby Recreation Commission boasts an impressive 90% engagement rate among its approximately 30 employees.

“The team willingness to participate in the program and provide feedback to improve the program over time is an indicator that they see value in what WellSteps has offered, and continues to offer, to our employee wellness program,” Curtis says.

He cites excellent communication, meaningful incentives, and tailored programming as key drivers of employee engagement, emphasizing that Derby Recreation Commission’s wellness program was instrumental in strengthening team unity after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no doubt we have better routine engagement in employee activities because of WellSteps’ communication and incentives,” Curtis says. “I think it was especially important as we came out of COVID. Remote work, policy disagreements, and limited ability to gather as a staff certainly did damage to our organizational culture. The structure of the WellSteps program created opportunities to reattach to our coworkers in meaningful ways.”

Community Outreach

Wellness promotion aligns with Derby Recreation Commission’s mission to “promote happiness and lifelong personal growth,” and the Commission has created a wellness program that serves as a model for other organizations throughout its community.

“We strive to influence the adoption of wellness programs in other organizations within our local community, so our partnership with WellSteps demonstrates that we prioritize our team’s wellness and can help others in the community do the same by following our example,” Curtis says.

He adds that the WellSteps team helps Derby Recreation Commission develop a comprehensive program that creates value for their team and keeps holistic wellness top-of-mind throughout the year.

“While we did have a wellness program in place prior to adopting the WellSteps program, we have been able to grow and develop this program over the past 10+ years to be the gold standard among recreation departments in the state of Kansas.”

Why Derby Recreation Commission Chose WellSteps for its Wellness Program

“WellSteps has been an industry leader for organizations of our size for quite some time, so the choice to partner with them was not a difficult one,” Curtis says. “We continue our wellness program with WellSteps because of their superior customer service and adaptability to fit our team.”

Curtis says his team enjoys the flexibility to create custom activities that encourage community volunteerism and support their own recreational events while also fostering social wellness. Frequent campaigns and mini-campaigns help keep everyone on track throughout the year and drive participation across the organization.

“The structure of WellSteps has helped the organization with consistency year over year and if changes are made, they are done in a thoughtful and strategized way that meets the needs of our participants. This consistency has helped to build our culture. Many of the activities we now consider tradition were creations and outgrowths of our wellness program,” he says.

Curtis notes that tailoring the program to meet the unique needs of his team demonstrates the shared commitment between Derby Recreation Commission and WellSteps to improve long-term wellness.

“Partnering with WellSteps is a declaration to our team that we prioritize their wellness, and we are willing to take steps to improve the holistic health of everyone in our organization,” he says. “The flexibility and adaptability of the program also shows that we are sensitive to the needs of each individual and are willing to meet them where they are to offer the support they need to optimize their longevity and wellness.”

Closing Thoughts

As this wellness case study shows, a thoughtfully designed wellness program can deliver lasting benefits, not only enhancing employee health and workplace culture but also positively impacting the broader community.

Foster a Culture of Wellness & Achieve High Engagement with WellSteps
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