By Alessandro Pugliese, Government & Public Relations Specialist, Mediacom Communications

Mediacom Communications received a 2022 C2HR Workplace Wellness Award in recognition of its employee wellness initiatives throughout the pandemic. This article details their efforts.

When COVID hit, the Mediacom HR Team’s immediate goal was to help employees feel safe, comfortable and prepared. This meant enhancing existing programs and implementing new programs quickly, so employees better understood the resources available to help them and their families stay safe, healthy, live better and reduce stress. To that end, the Mediacom HR Team, who had been deeply immersed maneuvering through a myriad of issues employees faced and continue to face, found the time to explore other wellness opportunities during a period of great uncertainty.

The HR Team, working in conjunction with Mediacom’s Training Department and Ad/Sales Group, produced three educational in-house videos that featured employees. These videos were informative and aimed to provide employees guidance during uncertain times.

Titled “Mediacom Employees Share Their Personal COVID Stories,” the first set of videos was a collection of individual recitations from employees who either directly or indirectly were impacted by COVID. The purpose of these videos was to shine a light on the fact that COVID was real and encouraged employees to take precautions and follow CDC guidance. The second video in our series, “We Can’t Wait to See You Again,” promoted the idea of getting vaccinated. Throughout this short video are pictures of mostly senior leadership receiving their vaccinations. “The More You Know” was the final video featuring a series of interviews conducted by a Mediacom employee with local healthcare providers from three of regional office locations about the facts and fictions of the vaccines.

Mediacom Workplace Wellness Highlight Video

Most recently, the Mediacom HR Team took the lead and introduced a series of live webinars for employees and their family members. As COVID restrictions began to ease and the world started to open back up, these webinars were created to help ease the transition of employees back into the workplace. Each webinar was recorded and made available to employees through the employee portal within Mediacom’s HRIS system. The webinar topics include:

• Managing Worry and Anxiety

• Coping with Uncertain Times

• Running on E, Balancing Work and Life

• Loneliness and Social Isolation in Today’s World

The response to the webinars and the information covered was so positive that the HR Team increased the number of free sessions with a trained counselors offered through our Employee Assistance Program should an employee or a member of their family need them.

After taking a break during the pandemic, Mediacom’s HR Team also brought back the company’s walking campaign this year. Over a three-year period prior to COVID, almost 4,000 employees participated in the program, which is designed to promote healthy lifestyles and personal fitness. This program has been so popular that Mediacom received Workplace Health Achievement awards three consecutive years from the American Heart Association.

Some of the other new programs the Mediacom HR Team recently put in place include: expanding Mediacom’s telemedicine benefit and eliminating all co-payments associated with it; introducing for the first time new voluntary benefits for supplemental financial protection for both the employee and their family members; enhancing the communication about the “2nd Opinion Doctor” program so more employees can avail themselves and gain confidence they are receiving the right kind of care; introducing a prescription price transparency program that looks at medications employees or their dependents are using to finds lower cost options; and introducing a “Specialty Rx” program that offers co-pay assistance to the degree that some employees will not have to pay anything out of pocket for costly specialty prescriptions.

Considering the many challenges involved, Mediacom’s HR Team, working with other departments and partners, still found creative and innovative ways to offer wellness programs and enhanced benefits to employees throughout the company’s 22 state footprint. It is for these reasons that Mediacom is proud and thankful to be recognized for its efforts in receiving the 2022 C2HR Wellness Award.

RELATED RESOURCES For a curated collection of articles on mental health, wellbeing and burnout and 20 more HR topics, please visit the HR Knowledge Center. For on demand wellness webinars visit the HR Learning Series.