Baldor — Building a lean machine

At Baldor Electric Company, employees are encouraged to look for innovation — whether it is creating new products and work processes, finding ways to trim excess costs, developing and implementing leading edge information technology or developing and promoting wellness initiatives. Baldor’s leadership knows that when everyone contributes, everyone wins. And, when you want to both lower costs and improve health, visionary companies like Baldor look to themselves and their employees to lead the way.

In 2008, Baldor chose to switch all employees nationwide to one source for the administration of its group health insurance, and BlueAdvantage Administrators of Arkansas — a subsidiary of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield — was a perfect fit. Baldor, whose world headquarters is located in Fort Smith, Ark., wanted a health plan administrator that understood their long-term objectives around creating a healthy workplace and had the resources to assist them in creating a culture of health.

So in early 2009, the Baldor Wellness Council, comprised of employees from each of its 22 U.S. locations, was formed to promote the new “Fit4Life” wellness program nationwide and engage all 6,500 employees in healthier lifestyles. The Fit4Life program encourages employees to get involved in workplace wellness educational activities and initiatives, while focusing on improving their overall health and well being.

Martha Carlson, regional executive for the Arkansas Blue Cross West Central Regional Office in Fort Smith, started discussing the concept of wellness with Jason Green, the vice-president of human resources at Baldor, and Tona Schmidt, the staffing manager and coordinator of the Baldor Wellness Council.

“Martha helped us understand the resources that were available to us through our relationship with Arkansas Blue Cross,” Green said, referring to HealthConnect Blue, Arkansas Blue Cross’ multi-faceted integrated health resource that provides a wide variety of tools for healthy living.

Get Your Motor Running

As a start to their Fit4Life companywide wellness efforts, Baldor encouraged all employees, not just those on the company’s insurance plan, to complete the online Personal Health Assessment available through HealthConnect Blue. This was not an easy accomplishment in an environment where most employees work on a production line.

Baldor began the process by providing onsite biometric screenings (blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and weight) for employees to assess their health. Arkansas Blue Cross representatives then walked Baldor employees through the registration process for My Blueprint using onsite computers and instructed them on how to complete the Personal Health Assessment. By participating in the Personal Health Assessments, Baldor will establish a benchmark on their employee’s current health status. While individual results are strictly confidential, aggregate data (overall results combined) can be used to help the Wellness Council define activities and support the needs of Baldor employees in the future. Additionally, after completing the Personal Health Assessment, each employee received a copy of personalized information on how they can improve their health and, if needed, were guided to health education programs provided by BlueAdvantage to help them care for chronic conditions.

“Baldor is a great company,” Carlson said. “They are very focused on treating their team members with respect and dignity. That certainly shows through the investment they’ve made in their employee’s health and wellness. This is a top down initiative with a solid company wellness team focused on a multi-year wellness plan. We enjoyed working side by side with Baldor during these onsite events, and it’s just the beginning.”

“We are working together to make the program successful and ultimately improve the health of our employees,” Green said. “I think Arkansas Blue Cross has as much of a vested interest in not only the success of the program but in the health of our employees as we do. So I think that makes a big difference. It isn’t just another wellness program, it’s our vision for the future.”