UC San Diego Earns 2010
Healthiest Employers Award

Aug 31, 2010

By Kristin Luciani

The University of California, San Diego is dedicated to promoting integrative, holistic and interdisciplinary wellness in its students, staff and faculty, a commitment that has earned the campus recognition as one of the healthiest employers in San Diego.  In its 2010 Healthiest Employers rankings, the San Diego Business Journal awarded UC San Diego second place in the large businesses category (500 employees or more).  To earn the award, the university was rigorously evaluated on six key areas of corporate wellness programs: corporate culture and leadership commitment, wellness infrastructure, strategic planning, communication and education, programming and interventions, and data management and evaluation.

“We try to take a multipronged strategy to promote wellness, collaborating with multiple departments across campus,” said Tom Leet, assistant vice chancellor of human resources.  “We view these programs as an investment, for which we are getting a high return in both the productivity of our employees and in our employee retention.”

UC San Diego offers its 15,732 employees an impressive array of health and wellness programs.  The Walk UCSD program encourages employees to explore the campus on foot with walking trails that intersect the 1,200 acre campus, winding through the eucalyptus groves and offering opportunities for ocean views.  Employees can also take advantage of the FitLife program, which offers a variety of recreation classes, workshops and services—including a weight room, outdoor climbing center and classes ranging from Pilates to kickboxing—to suit the interests and needs of each of its workers. 

To promote personal well-being, UC San Diego provides several services and resources to assist employees with everything from family care to financial planning and professional development.  The Health Care Facilitator program provides confidential, one-on-one assistance to help employees better understand and obtain the full benefits of UC-sponsored health plans, and resolve issues that may occur with the plans.  Another unique feature of the university, staff members may arrange with their supervisors to telecommute on occasion or create an alternative work schedule, allowing employees the flexibility to take care of their personal lives and other interests while completing their work.  To further ensure that employees balance work and their personal lives, UC San Diego offers a generous amount of vacation time—new employees can earn three weeks of vacation in their first year.  

The university also promotes health education among employees.  The Learn at Lunch series and Health and Wellness Lecture series offer opportunities to learn about a variety of wellness topics, including health related issues, lifestyle and personal well-being topics and disability prevention and management.  In addition, through the StayWell program staff can take a confidential, online health assessment and access personalized information and tools for improving health. 

Overseeing and coordinating the myriad of resources is the Wellness Committee, an advisory group that facilitates collaboration between campus departments to promote a culture of wellness for students, staff and faculty at UC San Diego.  However, wellness doesn’t stop with current employees.  The Retirement Resource Center offers an array of programs for retired staff members and faculty emeriti. 

“We are committed to promoting healthy life choices for our employees at every stage of life,” said Leet.  “We want people to come to work here and stay here, and to be entrepreneurial and creative in what they do.”

To learn more about health and wellness resources at UC San Diego, visit the Work/Life Express website.

Media Contact:Kristin Luciani, 858-822-3353, kluciani@ucsd.edu