Hawaiian Telcom earns Blue Zones worksite certification

Hawaiian Telcom has become the first technology company in the nation to become a Blue Zones Project Certified Worksite.

The Blue Zones Project is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative that helps make healthy choices easier for everyone in Hawaii. Unlike traditional health initiatives, which focus on diet and exercise programs, Blue Zones focuses on making systemic, comprehensive changes to a community’s environment so that individuals naturally make healthy choices.

“A healthy workforce supports a healthier community and a healthier Hawaii,” said Hawaiian Telcom President & General Manager Su Shin. “Our employees are our most important assets, and it’s even more important now during this COVID-19 pandemic for us to support their health and well-being as part of our commitment to them and to Hawaii.”

“I’d like to congratulate Hawaiian Telcom on being the first technology company in the nation to become a Certified Blue Zones Worksite,” said Blue Zones spokesperson Nick Buettner. “Their dedication to well-being has helped their employees become healthier, happier, and more engaged.”

Blue Zones Project, brought to Hawaii by the Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), is based on the best practices of blue zones, which are regions where people live the longest and are the healthiest. Blue zones regions include Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Sardinia, Italy and Loma Linda, California.

To celebrate its Blue Zones Certification, Hawaiian Telcom kicked off a “Week of Wellness” that includes virtual workshops and activities to help employees to eat healthy, exercise and manage stress. This Week of Wellness leads into August, which is National Wellness Month, when Hawaiian Telcom will host additional virtual activities to encourage employees to embrace healthy lifestyles.

Hawaiian Telcom worked diligently to become a Blue Zones certified worksite through the successful completion of some of these well-being best practices:

• Adopted a tobacco-free campus policy for headquarter office building at 1177 Bishop Street in Honolulu.
• Established “Junk-Food-Free” Healthy Snack Zones in the workplace.
• Established healthy dining changes that include Blue Zones-approved choices in Hawaiian Telcom’s on-site employee cafeteria and in neighboring restaurants.

About Hawaiian Telcom

Hawaiian Telcom, established and headquartered in Honolulu since 1883, offers a full range of services to business and residential customers including Internet, video, voice, wireless, data network solutions and security, colocation, and managed and cloud services – all supported by the reach and reliability of its next generation fiber network and 24/7 state-of-the-art network operations center. For more information, visit hawaiiantel.com.