In 2014, the King County Employee Giving Program partnered with Healthy Incentives to pilot Health Match – an innovative program to incentivize healthy workplace giving events (read the introduction article on the King County Employees site here). An employee engagement trifecta of pro-social behavior, health & wellness, and innovation.

Our goals for year one were simple: empower employees, with incentives and opportunity, to put on healthier special events in order to contribute to King County’s Quality Workforce goals through healthy and engaged employees. Thanks to our generous sponsors, we will be able to offer Health Match again in 2015, set goals and measure year over year results.

2014 Health Match Report

Outcomes

Employee Engagement and Behavior Change

Ultimately, the major goal is a workforce culture where employees are healthier. Pro-social behavior, eating whole fruits and vegetables, and moving more all contribute to overall health. These also contribute to employee engagement, along with empowering employees to be innovative and recognizing them for their work. By incentivizing healthy special events, we inspired employees to think beyond bake sales and donut drives in a positive way – often leading to better alignment with the cause they were fundraising for as well. The best indicators that we made progress in this area are:

• 53% of departments that held special events had at least one Health Match special event
• 24% of total special events were Health Match special events
• 14 of those special events were directly inspired by the Health Match opportunity and had never been done before. The remaining approved events had been done previously but were modified to be healthier and to meet requirements.
• 100 employee volunteers were involved with Health Match special events, all of which wererecognized with a certificate and at the Annual KCEGP STAR Awards Ceremony.
• 1,614  employees attended a Health Match special event – this represents 12% of the total workforce.
• A majority of Health Match volunteers agreed that the events likely raised awareness of healthy options.
• 100% of volunteers believe that Health Match should be continued.

Community Investment

• Partnered with 6 major health organizations to leverage private funds for the match, building relationships, and getting more money into the community.
• 28 nonprofits benefited from a Health Match special event with an average donation of $422.
• 86% of the nonprofits are located in the Puget Sound region.
• $9,254.94 + 100% Match= $18,509.88 in year 1
• Employees that are healthier, who volunteer, and who give contribute to civic health.

Lessons Learned

There were also some important lessons learned from year one and which will help us improve year two.

• Employees wanted more communication on the Health Match opportunity.  This was evident in that we identified 19 additional special events that may have qualified for a match but were not submitted for approval.
• Make the guidelines for what qualifies for a match clearer, some events were approved and then had to be denied after the event was held because a portion of the event did not end up meeting the criteria.
• Because there were no established metrics or specific estimates it was hard to know what to communicate and expect. With year one done, this will be easier for year two.

Sponsors

Health Match would not even be possible without our incredible sponsors.  We would like to thank them for their support!

Gold Sponsors

• Regence
• Harvard Innovations
• Group Health

Silver Sponsors

• Aetna
• Delta Dental

Bronze Sponsor

• Get-a-Flu Shot

What special events would you incorporate as part of a Health Match initiative? Tell us in the comments!

Interested in sponsoring Health Match? Contact the program at 206.263.9405 or by email employeegiving@kingcounty.gov for more information.