December 13, 2016
SR Inc. recognized Hakon Mattson, CRE Director, Energy & Sustainability at Anthem as the SBER Outstanding Corporate Executive of 2016. At SR Inc’s Summit for Sustainable Operations V on December 8th, 2016, Hakon demonstrated how he has established and driven a Sustainably Healthy Workplace program at Anthem that integrates human health related metrics as he seeks to lead tens of thousands in Anthem’s growing workforce towards a Sustainably Healthy Workplace.
Mattson and his team are currently working with HR, Wellness, and other internal functions to gather and evaluate financial/organizational outcome metrics (e.g., payroll, retention, workman’s compensation, etc.). At the same time, they are developing a Sustainably Healthy Buildings Scorecard – adapted from the WELL Building Standard – to assess the physical conditions within offices (e.g., daylighting, IAQ, available amenities, etc.), so that they may ultimately rank all Anthem sites based on outcome metrics, workers’ perceptions, and the Scorecard. Hakon and his team have already begun to identify initiatives that could be included in remediation plans, including several no/low cost options (e.g., adding indoor plant contracts for areas that do not have views of nature, changing landscaping/pest management contracts to meet LEED standards, modifying the mix of healthy options available in vending machines, etc.). By integrating a Sustainably Healthy Workplace strategy into Anthem’s existing strategy for CRE, Mattson’s team is well-positioned to leverage existing goals, initiatives, and partnerships to drive forward a strategy that can reduce the environmental impact of Anthem’s portfolio, improve the health of its employees, and ultimately produce significant cost savings for the company.