By Pat Lawrence
Sharon Covert |
Sharon Covert is a different kind of investment manager. She
encourages employers to invest in employee health and promises substantial
return in enhanced workplace performance. Sharon is Executive
Director of the Wellness Council of West Virginia, in Institute, WV. The
Wellness Council has been fostering better health practices for the
state for seventeen years. She says “When companies invest
in their people with wellness programs, it goes directly to the bottom
line in profits and cost savings from health care, retention, absenteeism
and productivity.”
Sharon has worked in the field of wellness since 1992, designing
wellness plans, employee benefit plans and corporate wellness tools. She
speaks regularly about healthy lifestyle choices and holds certifications
to teach aerobics, kickboxing, personal training and fitness. After
receiving a BA in English from Marshall University, she completed
MS courses in Exercise Physiology.
Her job is to engage business communities in improving the health
and well being of their workforce. With the statistically high
incidence of obesity, diabetes and smoking in the state, Sharon recognizes
abundant opportunity for quality of life improvement for workers at
home and on the job.
The Wellness Council is a non-profit organization, funded through
membership, services and grants. The cornerstone of Wellness
Councils across America is the "Well Workplace" Awards process.
This prestigious initiative recognizes quality and excellence in worksite
health promotion. Driven by a rigorous set of criteria first developed
in West Virginia, organizations compete to be recognized as one of
America's Healthiest Companies. Since 1991, more than 600 corporations,
agencies, and institutions, employing over one million people, have
met the criteria.
Sharon says West Virginia had the most companies approved for wellworkplace
certificates in the country this year. “We had 32 companies
approved this year - Florida was second with 13 approved.” Because
it is home to so many certified wellworkplaces, Charleston is considered
a wellcity.
Big business isn’t the Wellness Council’s only target. “We’re
writing grants and working with experts to make programs that can
be adjusted for a single proprietorship, small companies or a major
corporation. We’re developing workshops to train people
on what a company needs for a quality, stress-free environment.”
Sharon says they’re trying to establish a new perspective on
health and health care. “We can’t let people get sick,
then throw money at them to get well. We need to keep them from
getting sick. It is good business sense and good business ethics
to take care of your people. We will help businesses do that.”
The Wellness Council offers programs and services from stress management
and smoking to weight control and exercise. Sharon says “One
of our most important roles may be to discover why people don’t
eat healthy, why they don’t want to walk, why they keep smoking.”
She says, “Employers are definitely starting to get it. They
see insurance companies leaving the state, they see huge annual increases
in health insurance premiums and healthcare costs, they see the impact
on their bottom line.” Wellness programs have proved not
only effective but remarkably inexpensive. “Some are as
simple as recipe contests or lunchtime walks.” One popular
service is testing for nicotine breakdown, so smokers can adjust the
strength of nicotine patches to appropriate levels.
Smoking cessation is a major issue. Sharon says quitting smoking
has immediate positive health effects. “Blood pressure
starts going down just twenty minutes after quitting!” The
focus on wellness means shifting from a focus on diagnosis and treatment
to a focus on prevention and healthy, productive people. Sharon
says employers have huge potential for realizing much greater value
on their health care dollars. “We’ll be helping companies
of all sizes in many industries reduce health care spending and improve
productivity. They benefit, their employees benefit and the state
will benefit. A healthy workforce is a good resource for inviting
new business and keeping existing business.”
A mother of two and recent semifinalist for Mrs. West Virginia, Sharon
hikes, bicycles and eats healthy. She says, “Having to
wear a bathing suit in front of hundreds of people definitely motivates
healthy lifestyle choices!”
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