Last Thursday, I was invited by a partner organization, Cascade Centers to attend the Healthiest Employers of Oregon Awards. Each year, Portland Business Journal awards 90 organizations, and hosts over 500 human resource professionals and executives at this event to honor businesses around Oregon for their efforts and contribution to employee health and well-being.  Speakers and attendees shared best practices, and gave insights into the successes of their wellness programs, as well as impacts of those programs on their workplace culture. During the Human Resources Summit, four employee wellness experts spoke about various wellness topics. Below are quick lessons learned from the morning summit. Congratulations to all of the award winners, including Cascade Centers on your award. You can find out more about the awards, and the survey selection process at Portland Business Journal’s website.

Avoiding HR Burnout, Jennifer Nelson – Shareholder from Ogletree Deakins

• To avoid employee burnout, build a good team and cross-train your employees in other skills and responsibilities
• Legal departments and counsels are seeing an increased trend in employees making disability claims

I Work For: Healthy Choices, Jennifer Website – VP Human Resources, Rebecca Wale – Senior Safety and Wellness Coordinator from SAIF Corporation

• SAIF Corporation shared their use of the 7 dimensions of wellness: emotional, environmental, intellectual, physical, occupational, financial, and social
• The integration of traditional wellness with the Total Worker Health ® approach that includes safety, health and well-being of the worker. Did you know? Oregon Healthy Workforce Center housed in the institute is a NIOSH Total Worker Health Center of Excellence.

Play at Work: An Engaging Approach to Shaping Culture, David Strickland – Organizational Development Specialist from Samaritan Health Services

• Organizations need to make work more fun, and give their employers meaningful work to stay engaged
• Creating a positive work experience can start by simply asking the question, “what did you like about it?”, versus a focus on the negative of what may need improvement when it comes to giving feedback on an assignment or project within your team

Blue Zones Project, Steve Lesky – Program Officer Cambia Health Foundation, and Sarah Foster – Executive Director of Oregon Healthiest State Initiative

• Oregon ranks 49^th out of 50^th for “sense-of-purpose” in the national well-being index
• Blue Zones program is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative to help make healthy choices easier for Oregonians