Based in Palmyra, Wisconsin, supplement manufacturer Standard Process is known for being a good place to work—as evidenced by the growing array of employment awards the company has earned over the last several years. The latest came earlier this month at the Wisconsin Family of the Year Award banquet, where Standard Process won the “Setting the Gold Standard” award for excelling as a leader in the community and employee relations.

 “As a leader in the nutrition industry, my family and I believe Standard Process must also be a cornerstone of our community and a leading employer,” Charles C. DuBois, president of Standard Process, said in a statement. The company’s latest award program was sponsored by the CPA and consulting firm Smith & Gesteland, the law firm of DeWitt Ross & Stevens, and Associated Bank.

One key perk Standard Process offers all of its 285 employees is a comprehensive wellness program that was started more than a decade ago. As Nutrition Business Journal wrote last year, the company’s wellness initiatives have set the bar for corporate wellness programs and are a prime example of how even small companies with limited resources can care for their employees.

Standard Process wins NBJ award for putting people first

Earlier this year, Nutrition Business Journal honored Standard Process with a 2010 Investment in the Future Award, recognizing the company’s investment in its employees. Here’s what NBJ had to say about Standard Process:

Standard Process, a third-generation, family-owned supplement company founded in 1929, makes strategic investments on several fronts — in quality raw materials, in manufacturing efficiencies, in outreach efforts to better educate the practitioner channel and, perhaps most importantly, in employees. “We are building for the future, says President Charles Dubois. “We want to be here for the next 80 years.”

NBJ recognizes the company for its groundbreaking investment in its employees. Standard Process offers extensive benefits and a wellness program at the very cutting edge of American business practice. “The goal is to create a workplace environment where employees will stay and thrive,” says DuBois.

In addition to offering annual raises, year-end bonuses, profit-sharing and pension plans — rare enough in this economy — Standard Process attracts and retains employees with an onsite childcare center and a comprehensive health and wellness program that includes free chiropractic and nutritional care, annual health risk assessments, monthly education seminars, an onsite fitness center with access to a trainer, a $400 monthly supplement allotment, smoking cessation and weight loss classes, as well as cash incentives for participation in the various programs.

The benefits are so far ahead of the curve that the company was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and by the State of Wisconsin. According to Dubois, the initiatives show employees just how much the company cares about their health and their family's health. “We want them to be with us for a long time,” he says. “We want our employees to be happy and healthy. If they are well treated, then they will treat our products with greater care.”

According to Brady Davis, founder of Elements Health Plans, a provider of integrated health plans, insurance and worksite wellness programs to corporations, employee-benefit models will help drive changes in healthcare. Brady thinks these programs are a no-brainer for supplement companies, who can use them to educate employees and customers about diet, nutrition, exercise and supplement usage. DuBois also sees employee wellness as a long-term strategy to controlling healthcare costs. In 2010, the company is on pace to recognize 50% of its staff with wellness participation awards. Chiropractic visits are up from 347 in 2009 to 550, and 70% of employees now use the fitness center. Can healthcare savings be that far behind?