Diversified Plastics, Inc. has received the Gold Level Award for Hennepin County’s 2015 Wellness by Design competition. The Hennepin County Human Services and Public

Janel Rosine and Elaine Haglund add the 2014-2015 award to Diversified Plastics’ Wellness by Design banner.

Health Department each year recognizes organizations that make employee health a priority through creative and effective wellness initiatives. The awards were presented during a June 25 ceremony at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, Minn.

Diversified Plastics also received a “+Green” designation at the ceremony. This additional award is new this year and it recognizes companies that minimize their impact on the environment.

Many factors contributed to Diversified Plastics achieving gold level recognition and it started with commitment from the company’s management. “Without upper level management support, we wouldn’t have any of this,” said Roger Vang, Diversified Plastics’ chief financial officer. “Not only do we have very good support from the entire management team, they encourage the wellness program by budgeting money every year for activities and maintaining a well-equipped, on-site exercise facility.”

Activities and events play a big part of Diversified Plastics’ wellness initiative. The “Step to It” program each year during May has been a popular activity. Employee steps are counted at work and at home with the winner having the highest number of steps recorded. “Every year we try to change it up,” says Janel Rosine, sales assistant/customer representative at Diversified Plastics. “In our first year of the competition we had individuals competing against each other and then in following years we divided participants into teams, which produces a lot of playful rivalry and makes the event fun for everyone. Another popular company activity is the “Frosty Challenge”, running from Thanksgiving to the New Year, helping employees focus on keeping active and not gaining weight during the holidays.”

Ongoing communications and counseling help round out the wellness initiatives at Diversified Plastics. The company creates a monthly wellness newsletter that is included with employee pay checks and they have hired Trig Life Services to help employees with individual healthcare navigation. A Trig representative visits the company once a month to answer employee questions—often meeting one-on-one to discuss health insurance claims, doctor referrals or even help on what kind of questions to ask when visiting a doctor.

Vang observes a definite shift in attitude about health and wellness at the company over the last few years. “You’ll hear people in the lunchroom talk about different diets or different foods and more employees than ever are using our exercise facility. I really believe the wellness concepts are becoming more deep ingrained in everyone’s minds than ever before.”

About Diversified Plastics, Inc.

Employee-owned Diversified Plastics is a custom injection molder of high-precision, close tolerance, small-to medium-sized injection molded components for medical device, filtration, aerospace and a variety of other industrial markets. The 38-year-old company is a full-service contract manufacturer, from design assistance and mold construction, to intricate molding and clean room assembly. Diversified Plastics is ISO 9001:2008 and 13485:2003 certified, FDA registered, ITAR certified, and UL registered.