The Zest Wellness Programme, created by Coralisle Group Ltd, has been awarded a gold medal by the Wellness Council of America (Welcoa) for building a workplace culture that promotes, protects and supports the health and wellbeing of its employees and clients.

CG said it is the only company outside the United States to have achieved gold medal status in Welcoa’s 2021 Workplace Awards, and just one of 11 organisations to be awarded gold. In total, 33 organisations received awards.

Welcoa has more than 4,000 corporate members. Its annual awards recognise organisations that have built successful employee wellness programmes defined by a set of benchmarks, including assessments of an organisation’s leadership, team dynamics dedicated to building and sustaining wellness initiatives, data collection, operating plans and evaluation of efforts to ensure continuing improvement in wellness initiatives.

For CG’s Zest Wellness team, the company said, the award vindicates its work to build a workplace culture that supports healthy work-life habits for CG employees and, through outreach programmes, CG clients and their families.

“It has been amazing to see CG’s wellness journey over the years, from traditional programmes to its holistic approach today, which emphasises overall wellbeing,” said Jacqueline Perreault, CG’s corporate wellness director. “This has been made possible by a company-wide commitment to putting people and their wellbeing at the core of its work.”

The Zest Wellness programme started nearly 20 years ago with glucose and blood pressure screenings, subsidised gym memberships and walking challenges.

Those programmes later branched out to include mindfulness, workplace resilience, mental wellness and financial literacy.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said, Zest Wellness reached people through virtual initiatives that included online coaching, fitness classes, virtual events, webinars and podcasts.

Beth Frazier, CG’s chief operating officer for health, said the Welcoa award was “very gratifying for our Zest Wellness team because we’ve been working to embed wellness into the cultural fabric of the company and, through it, to CG clients and their families”.

She added: “The gold award recognises this work to build and spread healthy, sustainable habits that strengthen employees, our clients and the community beyond.”

Naz Farrow, chief executive officer of CG, said: “I’m very proud of our Zest Wellness team for their commitment and enthusiasm and for the obvious benefits their work generates throughout CG.

“As a company, we want to be successful in the broadest terms, and that includes creating the healthiest possible environment for our employees, improving the lives of our members and effecting positive change in community health through our work.

“The council’s gold medal recognises this work and underscores our people-first approach to business.”