The SouthWest Benefits Association, a nonprofit organization established to support the educational growth of professionals in employee benefits, selected J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. for its first-ever Best of Class Benefits Solution Awards.

The awards, presented at SWBA's 31st Annual Conference, acknowledges and rewards employee benefits professionals for their efforts to improve the quality of retirement and health benefits programs while reining in costs.
J.B. Hunt, one of the largest transportation logistics companies in North America, was selected for Best Health Benefits Solution for its Better Health For Life effort – a multi-faceted wellness, health coaching and disease management program that was created to help employees and family members live healthier lives.
The goal of Better Health For Life is to make J.B. Hunt's focus on health, and ultimately to change unhealthy behaviors, an ingrained part of the company's culture. To develop and market the program, the company partnered with disease management firm TrestleTree, Watson Wyatt, a global human capital and financial management consulting firm, and advertising agency Sells/Clark.
Historically, the transportation industry has faced the arduous task of dealing with a truck-driving population that spends the majority of their time sitting in the cab of a truck, are prone to unhealthy living habits, have a lack of access to healthy food choices and a higher incidence of obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.
At its inception, J.B. Hunt's Better Health For Life program had to overcome the challenges of a large employee population based out of more than 300 locations. Lack of access to mail, being away from home for extended periods, infrequent personal contact with others, and numerous communication challenges also added to the difficulty of establishing a sound wellness program.
"Once we studied our population and looked at our medical claims history, we designed the program to be like a three-legged stool," said Eric Airola, director of benefits for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. "The three legs are comprised of exercise, proper diet and weight management, and smoking cessation, and the seat of the stool is personal health coaching and disease management. Since its implementation two years ago, the Better Health For Life program has been integrated into the culture of J.B. Hunt and we've seen a positive, measurable impact on our population."