Diversified Plastics wins 2012 Wellness by Design Worksite award

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Elaine Hauglund, Roger Vang and Janel Rosine with 2012 Worksite Silver Award for Wellness by Design

Minneapolis, MN — June 28, 2012–For the second year in a row Diversified Plastics, Inc. has received the Worksite Silver Award for the 2012 Hennepin County Wellness by Design competition. The Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department presents this award annually to schools and workplaces that excel in creating a healthy working environment and encouraging healthy lifestyles. This is the fourth year Diversified Plastics has won a Wellness by Design Award, with the first two years being bronze awards. This year’s awards ceremony took place on June 21, at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, Minn.

The Wellness by Design competition recognizes employers who made their employee’s health a priority and acknowledged the creativity and effectiveness they put into their wellness policies and programs. Diversified Plastics completed a variety of activities in each category that contributed to their wellness effort during 2011. The awards are presented in four levels to Hennepin County worksites that demonstrate accomplishments in: Management support, wellness infrastructure, assessment and evaluation, supportive environments, communication and engagement, and programs and interventions.

“We had an assortment of programs and initiatives that helped us win the silver-level award,” said Roger Vang, chief financial officer at Diversified Plastics. “We had activities such as our Biggest Loser Team Challenge and the Hennepin County Step to It Challenge. In the Step to It Challenge, our employees walked an equivalent of more than 8,000 miles, doubling our distance from the previous year’s challenge.”

The company’s wellness committee, Janel Rosine, Elaine Haglund and Vang, organized and coordinated events, helped individuals struggling with their own programs and ensured activities were fun. “We published a monthly wellness newsletter that went in everyone’s paycheck and we worked with the company to continually add equipment to our exercise room,” said Vang.

In 2011, more than 60 percent of Diversified Plastics employees participated in wellness program activities and this year the company expects 70 percent employee participation, which will qualify for the 2013 Wellness by Design Competition.

The wellness program activities not only provide health benefits for employees, but fiscal benefits for the company. Vang points out that because of this program, Diversified Plastics had been able to keep insurance premiums flat for the past five years—avoiding annual increases experienced by other companies. When compared to the previous five-year period, Vang calculates the company has saved more than $100,000 in insurance premiums.

About Diversified Plastics, Inc.

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 35-year-old company is a full-service injection molder, from design assistance and mold construction, to intricate molding and clean room assembly. Diversified Plastics is ISO 9001:2008 and 13485:2003 certified, and UL registered.

 

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