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Honoring companies who demonstrate a commitment to health and wellness innovation. Count Us In. KENNEBEC SAVINGS BANK: Recipient of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's "Health Innovator Award" C reating a culture of health for their company has been supported from the leadership team and throughout Kennebec Savings Bank to create significant and healthy lifestyle changes for the majority of their 120 employees. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care recognizes Kennebec Savings Bank with the Health Innovator Award for their long-term commitment to making wellness an integral part of their employees' benefits. Ed Kane, Vice President, Maine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care states, "We are proud to recognize Kennebec Savings Bank for their unwavering commitment to the health and wellness of their staff. It has been an honor to partner with them on a variety of wellness programs, and the high levels of engagement from their employees have been truly impressive." Founded in 1870, Kennebec Savings Bank is a customer-focused community bank with strong ties to the Kennebec Valley region. Like many Maine companies, Kennebec Savings Bank has struggled with increased costs in insurance premiums as their loss ratio crept up to almost 100% in 2014. They partnered with Harvard Pilgrim to come up with a variety of ways to attack their loss ratio, while simultaneously improving the health and wellness of their staff. The combination of gym membership reimbursement, brown bag lunch educational sessions, health risk assessments, and inter-office Fitbit competitions have all worked together to grow the participation rate to more than 80% of their employees. "My goal is to change behavior," explains KSB CEO, Andrew Silsby. "The tipping point for me was to put together a program to pay the first $50 for a Fitbit for our employees. I'm passionate about the program because it has really changed behavior." The bank has created a community website to help employees track their steps, join competitive groups, and nurture a general culture of overall wellness. The program started with 75 employees taking about 12 million steps per month in February of 2016. Within just nine months, the program has grown to over 18 million steps per month with competitive challenges between banking branches and even weekend challenges to their CEO. Leadership from the top down has encouraged the employees to take part and make conscious decisions to help with the success of the wellness program. They've seen multiple walking groups formed during lunch, and even one manager holds staff meetings on the Rail Trail- a walking path close to the bank's Augusta office. To help boost the competitive steps, it is well known at the bank that you can take 103 steps around the kitchen table while waiting on your coffee to brew. "It's encouraging when you wake up and see that the CEO is already at 5,000 steps by 6:00 a.m.," says Communications Officer, Russ Donahue. For the record, Silsby was at 8,796 steps at 9:30 a.m. KSB has also created a Fitbit loaner program to show people that standard work environments encourage only about 1,500-2,000 daily steps when the goal should be around 10,000 steps per day. Harvard Pilgrim also collaborated with KSB to find other ways to bring awareness to their staff of their existing health profiles and ways to mitigate health risks. They have introduced brown bag lunch segments to educate employees on different health concepts including yoga, Pilates, nutrition, and stress reduction. "Harvard Pilgrim clearly understands health care and the trends that are happening in the industry. They helped us design our HSA program and encouraged our employees to become informed consumers of health care," explained Silsby. Harvard Pilgrim presents education on health care costs to the KSB employees each year and encourages them to explore alternatives when it is most beneficial for them. The results of their concentration on the health and wellness of their staff has been visible to those on the leadership team. Chief HR Officer, Kevin Healey, shared his views on the success of the program, "This has contributed to an engaged, happier, and more energized staff that has been handling the workload marvelously. That's an HR person's dream, having a workforce like that, and our wellness program has contributed greatly to that." Healey wants companies considering implementing a wellness program in their organization to not be driven by costs. He cites their partnership with Harvard Pilgrim as an important part of the success of their program. He encourages people to talk to other companies who have invested in wellness to explore multiple programs. Finally, he cautions companies to be careful and to do their research so they don't roll out something that fails due to a lack of interest. Healey leaves Maine companies with this thought: "You're not too small. We're small –we don't have unlimited resources, but with strategic partnerships, we have been very successful and are so proud of that!" "It has been an honor to partner with [Kennebec Savings Bank] on a variety of wellness programs, and the high levels of engagement from their employees have been truly impressive." Ed Kane: Vice President, Maine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Ed Kane, Harvard Pilgrim's vice president, Maine, left, with Kevin Healey, Kennebec Savings Bank senior vice president and chief human resources officer, and Andrew Silsby, Kennebec Savings Bank president and CEO, outside Kennebec Savings Bank in Augusta.

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