Bandwidth Boosts Education in Yuma

DEAN FARAR, DIRECTOR OF IT SERVICES, YETC

Bandwidth Boosts Education in Yuma A test: How to get more speed, greater reliability and ever-increasing bandwidth for schools—for less money?

THE CHALLENGE: Technology has become a crucial component of managing school districts. Two large districts in Arizona—the six-school Yuma Union High School District and the 17-school Yuma Elementary School District One—rely on the Yuma Educational Technology Consortium (YETC) to enable and facilitate all their technology services. More than 2,500 employees and 22,000 students use laptops, tablets, and smart phones in their daily work. However, slow speeds and inconsistent service from YETC’s T-1 provider could not keep up with the schools’ increasing bandwidth needs. In addition, YETC’s cost to maintain and upgrade the T-1 network was becoming exorbitant.

THE SOLUTION: The Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC) proposal was a winner. “The overall solution fi t our budget and the growing technology needs of our school districts,” says Dean Farar, the consortium’s director of IT services. TWCBC installed an Ethernet Local Area Network (ELAN) multipoint-to-multipoint managed network confi guration, which includes 20, 40, 60, and 100 Mbps circuits, based on school location requirements. This robust network solution also provides a 200 Mbps Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) circuit.

TWCBC’s managed MEF-compliant Ethernet Wide Area Network (EWAN) is a good choice for an enterprise like the YETC to provide consolidated IT services to school districts. It is a cost-effective alternative to legacy technologies that comes with guarantees defi ned as part of a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The switch from the T-1 provider and overall installation were without issues and met YETC’s urgent timeline. In addition, TWCBC was able to help YETC’s districts apply for a federal E-Rate program that provided funding for 80 percent of the Ethernet outlay.

THE RESULT: TWCBC’s services have helped YETC and its districts save money while enhancing the delivery of education. • In addition to the E-Rate funding, TWCBC helped the consortium save money because employees no longer have to work during off hours to restore services. • As the bandwidth needs of the schools continued to increase, YETC was able, with a simple phone call, to upgrade to 1Gbps Metro Ethernet and DIA circuits. There were no additional costs for routers, switches, or hardware.

I can’t explain to you the peace of mind.

Looking ahead, YETC has the ability to scale bandwidth up to 10Gbps+ with TWCBC’s network. This enhances the consortium’s ability to support the future convergence of data, voice, and video services for the two school districts.

The ease of access to educational resources has helped strengthen YETC’s reputation as a trusted IT organization for school districts. “You don’t really have any kind of success in a school district unless you have student success,” Farar says. “Time Warner Cable Business Class has become an integral part of the education of students.”

As a bonus, school administrators and YETC management can sleep better. “Without TWCBC, our network would come to a halt,” Farar says. “I can’t explain to you the peace of mind.”

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EMPLOYEE WELLNESS PROGRAMS: Your program options are virtually limitless— but success requires these six factors. WHAT WORKS

BY GINA PAYNE E mployee wellness programs are in demand in companies of all sizes, and not just because the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides incentives for implementing them. Businesses are finding that well-designed programs pay off in improved productivity, reduced absenteeism, and increased employee engagement.

Moreover, they’ve been a proven success in helping to rein in the rate of increase in medical premiums. A recent study by the National Business Group on Health found that, over the last eight years, companies that performed best in managing the health of their employee population saw average premium increases between one-half percent and 2.5 percent each year. Meanwhile, the worst-performing saw average yearly increases of 8 to 10 percent.

But what does it mean to have a welldesigned and effective program? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Countless types of programs exist, with varying degrees of focus on education, participation, and intervention. However, in our

work with companies around the country, we have found that successful programs share certain common characteristics. 1 THE SUPPORT OF SENIOR LEADERSHIP This is the single strongest influencer in creating a culture of health.

Some CEOs don’t think it is their business to care about their employees’ health, because they think it is a “private” matter, or that wellness is “fluff” that the HR team handles. The truth is, no matter what business you are in, labor is a huge part of your budget, and you need healthy

61% OF EMPLOYERS SAY ONE MAJOR CHALLENGE OF MAINTAINING AFFORDABLE HEALTH-CARE COVERAGE IS THE POOR HEALTH HABITS OF EMPLOYEES.

and productive workers. Wellness is more than a buzzword; it is a strategy.

True support is much more than an occasional memo that says something to the effect of, “I support wellness and care about our people because they’re our most valuable asset.” It means participating, advocating, and sharing information with your department leaders. Commitment has to be embedded in the operation of the business. Just as you talk about the company’s business performance, discuss how your company has been moving toward its wellness goals. 2 A MULTI-YEAR PLAN Wellness is a process, not an event. In terms of results, you can probably get at low-hanging fruit in 18 months, but it takes time to effect sustainable behavior change. In addition, without a plan for what you ultimately want to achieve, you will find yourself repeating the same program year after year, with diminishing returns. The strategy should focus on the health risks of the population, but also how the environment, policies, leadership engagement, and rewards will mature over three years to achieve the business’s objectives.

As a general guideline, in the fi rst year, defi ne vision and strategy, set expectations, and reward participation; in the second year, reward participation in health actions and improvement, setting attainable and measurable goals. In the third year, begin to reward achievement as well, and use the data you’ve collected to report outcomes and assess ROI. 3 A WELLNESS LEADER AND A TEAM OF “AMBASSADORS” Don’t try to make a stretched-thin HR department solely responsible for the wellness program. Your wellness leader should be experienced in health promotion and able to customize a program for a specifi c organization. Consider outsourcing this position, even on a part-time basis. The wellness leader will coordinate a cross-functional team of people from all levels of the organization who have an interest in and enthusiasm about health and wellness. These employees help create the program’s brand and goals, assist in assessing and promoting employee interest, and volunteer for programs, such as healthy-living fairs, as needed.

4A BASELINE HEALTH SCREENING FOR ALL PARTICIPATING EMPLOYEES In this process, biometrics such as cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and tobacco status will be measured. Employees should be reassured that a number of laws, including the ACA and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), require that individual results be kept private. The employer will only receive an aggregated, de-identifi ed report of the population’s risks.

While individual employees can use their results as motivation to get healthier, companies can get the big picture of what issues they may need to tackle. Maybe the company’s average BMI is 35 and a goal becomes to get it down to 30. Maybe 21 percent of employees are tobacco users and the company’s goal is to get that down to 5 percent.

In addition to helping you set goals and develop the needed programs, having this baseline data will enable you to measure the impact your wellness initiative has over time.

POOR DIET

LACK OF HEALTH SCREENING PHYSICAL INACTIVITY SMOKING

EIGHT MODIFIABLE HEALTH HABITS ACCOUNT FOR 80 % OF HEALTHCARE COSTS

POOR STRESS MANAGEMENT

5ADJUSTMENTS TO THE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT These can include establishing access to physical exercise—for example, a “Walking Wednesdays” program, or flexible lunch hours to accommodate workouts. Many companies enhance the appearance of stairwells with lighting, a fresh coat of paint, and artwork to encourage their use. Others remind employees of the importance of taking three minutes to stretch during every hour spent at a desk. Enhancing the environment can also mean providing healthy snacks and water in a break room and having healthy food guidelines for meetings that occur in the office. 6 ENGAGEMENT AND RECOGNITION These are the critical aspects that sustain long-term behavior change. Companies often start with a monetary incentive for participation. This is a habit-starter, a short-term attentiongetter. Ultimately, you want to create ways for employees to transition to intangible, intrinsic motivation.

You do this by giving people experiences that are emotionally meaningful, such as public recognition, sharing of inspiring stories by co-workers, and creating a sense of belonging through participating in a group competition. People also need to develop a sense of “behavior efficacy”—an understanding that this time, unlike the other times they’ve tried to get in shape or lose weight, they have the skills they need to succeed. For example, a way to support behavior efficacy could be hiring a nutritionist (or going to a local cooking school) for a healthy cooking demonstration.

Gina Payne is national director of wellness solutions at CBIZ Employee Services, a national provider of professional business services.