Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research Receives National 'Psychologically Healthy Workplace' Award

PORTLAND, Ore., March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon is being recognized with a "Psychologically Healthy Workplace" award from the American Psychological Association.  The award will be presented in a ceremony in Washington D.C. on Saturday, March 12, 2011.

"Eighty-nine percent of employees at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research say they would recommend their organization as a good place to work, which compares to only 53 percent of workers in the United States," says David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA, APA's assistant executive director for marketing and business development. "Having engaged employees who are proud of the work they do is a sign that the employer is doing something right, and it's one of the reasons we are recognizing the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research with this award," added Dr. Ballard.

The American Psychological Association created the awards in 1999 to recognize employers who are making comprehensive efforts to promote employee health and well-being while enhancing organizational performance.

"We conduct cutting-edge health care research, and the best way to do that is to hire high-performing people and give them meaningful work, opportunities for career advancement and a collegial work environment," says Mary Durham, PhD, Director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. "Our employees like working here because we have flexibility, we care about and respect each other and when the work is done, we also know how to have fun," added Durham, referring to the Center's annual Halloween kid's parade, Holiday charity auction and summer picnic.  

Candidates for APA's awards came from the pool of previous local-level Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award winners and were evaluated on their workplace programs and policies in the following areas: employee involvement; health and safety; employee growth and development; work-life balance; and employee recognition.

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research received the Oregon Psychological Association's 2010 Psychologically Healthy Workplace award and competed against other local winners from across North America to receive APA's 2011 award for a medium-sized not-for-profit organization.  Evaluators cited work flexibility, employee autonomy, a cooperative work environment, a novel intranet site, and a new leadership development program as attributes that helped the Center win the award.  

Each year the Center's leadership chooses six employees from different disciplines to be part of the Leadership Development Group.  The LDG brings together employees from varying disciplines so they can learn about each other's jobs, receive leadership training and bring greater cohesion to the Center as a whole.

There are certainly times when work demands that employees are in the office but because the Center encourages flexible work schedules, many employees can design their work schedule to maximize productivity.

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research has 266 employees and is located in Portland, Oregon.  It conducts clinical trials and population-based health care research. Areas of focus include obesity, substance abuse, mental health, cardiovascular disease, aging, health disparities, comparative effectiveness, evidenced-based medicine, health care policy and issues of work-life balance.  The Center is part of the Work, Family & Health Network, a consortium of interdisciplinary research teams examining how workplace changes can improve the health of families and also benefit companies.  

To learn more about the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research click here:

www.kpchr.org

To learn more about the Work, Family & Health Network, click here:

www.WorkFamilyHealthNetwork.org

To learn more about APA's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award click here:

www.phwa.org/awards.

About the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research

Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research, founded in 1964, is a nonprofit research institution dedicated to advancing knowledge to improve health. It has research sites in Portland, Ore., Honolulu and Atlanta. (http://www.kpchr.org)

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists.  APA's membership includes more than 152,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.  Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research