West Acres Development

Giving Hearts Day photo fo West Acres Development team

The team at West Acres Development knows the first step toward providing a great experience for mall guests is to take care of their employees. Communicating with empathy and care is key.

West Acres’ benefits program was recently given a new stock of inspiration, courtesy of a collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. This partnership, through the BCBSND Elevate program, sparked new ideas, brought renewed emphasis to holistic well-being and encouraged team managers to lead by example.

Janna Curry, HR manager at West Acres Development, answered a few questions to explain how their program found its way:

How did worksite wellness become a focus at West Acres?
Well-being has always been a focus at West Acres. We cannot provide the best experience for our guests and community if we aren’t first taking care of our teams. The BCBSND Elevate program offered an opportunity for our company leaders to connect and discuss wellness in a new way.

We believe companies do better when employees are happy and healthy. We want our employees to enjoy their job and feel fulfilled in life. Overall well-being is vital for employees’ success both personally and professionally.

Can you provide some examples of how you’ve implemented a culture of well-being?
Our culture of well-being has happened with intention. However, it also has adapted organically as the team needs have changed over time. Well-being is not something that you develop and just put on the shelf. It happens daily and needs to be shown with action, not just with words.

As leaders within our company, we want to ensure we talk the talk AND walk the walk. Here are a few key points of our workplace culture:

  • True team well-being starts with how team members interact—with empathy and care
  • Teams get opportunities to connect beyond just work-related tasks
  • We ask for honest feedback from our employees about their job experience and we listen to their answers and make changes
  • We have an environment of “launch and learn” to encourage new ideas from all team members
  • Team members have the opportunity to get paid while volunteering at local non-profit agencies
  • We financially support non-profits that our employees support through matching donations

Our benefits package also speaks to the importance of overall well-being:

  • 90% of health insurance premiums covered for employees and their families
  • Generous paid time off and also the encouragement to use it
  • New moms and dads get 12 weeks of paid parental leave

How does your organization concentrate on all aspects of employees’ health?
While physical health is important, we realize mental health is just as important. Our health insurance contribution makes mental health care affordable for all employees and family members. Coverage includes the HealthlyBlue and Health Club Credit program where employees can earn gift cards for working out or participating in healthy initiatives. This is essential in helping our employees be physically healthy.  

We also lead our company with empathy and care, and that starts at the top of our organization. We share information related to mental health with our teams, including information on how to utilize our Employee Assistance Program and Learn to Live benefit through BCBSND. We learned in the Elevate training about the importance of managers being vulnerable and showing employees what they're doing for their own well-being. It was fantastic for our teams to hear these stories and to learn how they can mimic the behavior they'd like to see in their teams.  

What benefits have you seen across your organization that stem from focusing on wellness?
Happy and healthy employees make work more fun for everyone! And the work still gets done. Our Elevate training program sparked some great conversations about what could be possible within our company and got our team leaders’ creative juices flowing on new ideas to support our employees and company culture.

We have since implemented some of the ideas that were initially shared during this training. While our team has always encouraged and supported new ideas, this training seemed to spark even more new ideas from our team leaders and bring a new level of excitement and interaction. A focus on the well-being and vibrancy of our teams equates to an even more vibrant business.

What resources do you direct employees to, and how do you educate employees on what resources are available?
We encourage the use of our Employee Assistance Program and Learn to Live program. We discuss this at new hire orientation, post information in the break rooms, send monthly emails with contact information and related topics to our employees, and make sure our supervisors know about these programs for their employees. We remove any possible negative stigma about the use of these programs.

We encourage paid time off so employees can take time away to feel refreshed and spend time doing something outside of work that brings them joy. We track the use of PTO and send balances to supervisors so they can encourage their employees to use PTO as well.  

At West Acres, we are true believers in life-long learning! We hold internal training courses such as the Elevate training and we encourage our employees to participate in learning opportunities outside of work.

What tips do you have for other employers looking to make worksite wellness part of their company culture?
Don’t wait. It positively affects company culture in so many ways. It doesn't have to be a costly thing either. A big part of worksite wellness is providing an environment of empathy and care for your employees, which is free!

We also recommend using available resources, such as the Elevate program through BCBSND. It is a great complement to an already active worksite wellness program, and it is also a great starting point if you are unsure how to begin.

Can you briefly explain how West Acres’ participation in the BCBSND Elevate program helped turn worksite wellness into more than just a concept?
The Elevate program focused on the overall well-being of our team from a human approach, which resonated with everyone. The presenters did an excellent job of making the atmosphere of the training fun and relevant to our organization, and they also nailed the right balance of both large and small group interaction. Everybody in the room was engaged, and the presenters created an environment that felt safe to share.

The training provided tools for our team leaders to use, both personally and within their teams, to inspire a positive, caring culture. It was not a training where you set the information on a shelf afterward and forget about it. There were many takeaways that our team leaders could easily implement after the training, and they did.

West Acres Development team at Hope Blooms
West Acres Development team volunteering raking leaves
West Acres Development team doing a team-building activity
West Acres Development team making tie blankets
Photo of Janna Curry

Janna Curry 

Janna Curry is the human resources manager at West Acres Development. In her role she builds and aligns teams to support West Acres’ mission, ensures legal compliance, manages compensation and benefits, and partners with supervisors and the leadership team to provide a workplace that fosters a positive culture. Janna received her Bachelor of Science degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead, which included studying at the University of Hawaii through their exchange program. She also holds SHRM-CP & PHR certifications.