Mitch Kilcrease – A Model of Wellness

Friday, January 16, 2015

True leadership is not a position or a title; rather it is action and example. Oklahoma State University Student Union Director Mitch Kilcrease has stayed true to this mantra, leading by example and turning the Student Union into a healthy, happy and enthusiastic work place for his employees.

Since his arrival at OSU, Kilcrease has not only been what Chief Wellness Officer Suzy Harrington describes as a “fabulous role model and representation of total wellness,” but he has also improved the quality of life for his staff in the Student Union.

Born in western Colorado, Kilcrease is the baby of eight and the son of a coal miner. In fact, Kilcrease’s first job was in the coal mines. Six months and two harrowing experiences later, he decided mining was not in his sights for the future and traveled to Arkansas Tech University to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree and on to Emporia State University where he earned a master’s degree in higher education. While at Emporia, Kilcrease attended a conference at Oklahoma State and was thoroughly impressed with the university.

“I thought, ‘If I could ever work here, this would be a grand job,’” he said. “I was so impressed with not only the facility, but also with the programs and everything they were doing on campus.”

After holding prominent student activities positions at several other universities, fate brought Kilcrease back to OSU where he became the SU director.

 “This job came open and I thought, ‘I’ll try.’” Kilcrease said. “And I got hired. I got my dream job.”

After a substantial renovation project that took several years, Kilcrease asked himself what he could do to manage the operational costs of this new building without passing fees on to students. That’s when he started looking at the culture of the Student Union in itself.

In one year, the Student Union Organization had nearly 22,000 hours of sick leave reported, resulting in an annual cost of $309,000, which got Kilcrease’s attention.  He also started to calculate the amount of time his employees were leaving to go smoke. The annual expense per year in business borne costs associated with smoking alone averaged to nearly $170,000.

“I’m looking around and saying, ‘Okay, we have a high turnover rate among front-line staff, we’ve had a lot of injuries due to the work that we do, and we have a lot of sick days within our organization,’” Kilcrease said. “We are very conscience of decisions we make to lower our operating costs. It occurred to me if I could manage some of that, then I could reduce my operating costs and potentially increase employee wellness and satisfaction.”

Kilcrease started thinking about all of the assets that were readily available and what he could do to improve the quality of life for his employees. That’s when the wellness piece came to him. So he and members of his staff developed a wellness program called the Healthy Union. It is comprised of three elements and there are programs and initiatives to address each one of them: physical activity - a fitness center in the Union and indoor walking trails; healthy eating – free health risk assessments and a monthly lunch program for staff; and work/life balance - a relaxation room complete with massage devices for feet and hands, white noise and family bowling night.

“In the beginning, it was really about how we were going to reduce costs,” said Kilcrease. “The benefit is we’ve had a lower turnover rate, a lower rate of smokers, happier employees, and improved overall health.”

However, Kilcrease is not the person to ask others to do what he would not.

“If I was going to ask my staff to do all of these things, I had to lead by example,” he said. “So I hired a trainer. I took the B.A.L.A.N.C.E program offered through the OSU Department of Wellness; I’ve lost 45 pounds now. I work out five to six times a week and I’ve asked my management team to lead by example as well.”

Since his implementation of the Healthy Union initiative, Kilcrease has catapulted living healthy around the Union. Under his guidance the Healthy Union Committee has created the bike club in which a group of employees ride their bikes to work, increased the bike racks outside and also funded the “Fix-It” bike stations. Recently a walking competition was held with pedometers in which apparently the custodians comfortably dominated. A wellness piece has also been implemented into the employee evaluations in which employees must attend two wellness programs a year.

A program Kilcrease is particularly proud of is the nutrition program. Once a month, the staff will get together and provide a menu that is tasty, easy to prepare, and where the ingredients can easily be found at the average grocery store. His chef will come in on Tuesday and show six staff members how to prepare the meal. On Friday, the six staff members will actually prepare the meal for a larger group and for $2, they get to sit, eat and watch the video of how the food was prepared on Tuesday.

“We are providing the education and you can decide how you want to benefit from it,” Kilcrease said. “I’m going to benefit from that because you’re happier, you’re healthier, and you want to go to work.”

As Mark Twain once said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex and overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

Kilcrease has accomplished that by turning the Union into a healthy, inviting and enthusiastic work place for his employees and reduce operational costs all while retaining a quality workforce and improving the quality of life for all. 

Story by Tory Dwyer