Samaritan Health Plans CONGRATULATES City of Lebanon as the 2016 All-Star Employer for Workplace Wellness

Under the leadership of City Manager Gary Marks and Mayor Paul Aziz, the City supports a number of initiatives to create a work environment that fosters a healthy work/life balance. One such initiative is the Balance Program, which provides modest cash bonuses to employees who complete a series of ten activities focused on health and fitness, volunteerism and professional development.

“Caring for the whole employee can have a multitude of benefits to the organization,” said City Manager Gary Marks. “We believe that by promoting accident prevention and safety education, the employee becomes more aware and engaged.”

The City topped an impressive list of 44 nominees received during the statewide campaign.

Samaritan Health Plans CEO Kelley Kaiser said the city of Lebanon’s values closely resemble those of her own organization.

“We applaud the city of Lebanon for their commitment to the total wellbeing of their employees,” said Kaiser. “We know what they’re doing works, because we’ve been proving the link between healthier employees and health care savings in our own company for a number of years.”

This annual award recognizes one Oregon employer for their exceptional commitment to promoting physical fitness, health and safety in the workplace.

The All-Star Experience

On May 28, City Manager Gary Marks and Mayor Paul Aziz joined the Benny Beaver and the OSU Beaver baseball team at Goss Stadium for a pre-game presentation of the Working Well Award. Oregon State Head Coach Pat Casey took the time to drop by and personally congratulate Gary and Paul.

Gary donned an official OSU jersey and Paul threw out the ceremonial first pitch – an experience truly befitting an All-Star Employer!