Program to reduce absenteeism and increase employee health recognized

Photo above: Members of the Pinal County Wellness Committee posed for a photo op with the County Supervisors. L-R (red shirts): Anisa Ayer, Joe Pyritz (white shirt), Anne Rubel, Krishna Fick, Sonia Ortega, Aleshia Quick, Patricia Shriner, Yvette Patterson (black shirt), Patrick Camunez – Not in Photo: Tonya Martinez, Christine Trent, Nicole Hudson, Chris Martinez, Jacquetta Hough, Hunter Rankin

by Dana Trumbull | Apache Junction & Gold Canyon News

The Pinal County Wellness Program for county employees has really paid off with a net value of approximately $1.1 million saved through the reduction of sick hours.

Pinal County Human Resources Director Patrick Camunez spoke at the June 27, 2018, Board of Supervisors meeting in Florence, AZ, sharing the news of the county’s award winning effort. The statewide Healthy Arizona Worksites Program recently conferred Gold Level status on the county as an employer, thanks to wellness efforts that extend to all county offices and employees.

“Last year, we sat down with Public Health and really tried to do an evaluation of what we were doing with the wellness program, where we wanted to go and what our targets were,” said Camunez. “Ultimately, our target ended up becoming that we wanted to reduce employee absences. The county had been averaging approximately 100,000 hours per year [in sick time] for a number of years. We thought, ‘We need to reduce this; get people here to work; get them productive.”