Cooperation among cooperatives

A bear hunt. Jiu-jitsu. Hitting the gym. Simply opting for a few extra steps at work instead of sitting or standing. These are all ways electric cooperative employees have incorporated movement into their lives.

But they’re not doing it for the health benefits alone.

Co-op employees have been stepping up for charity since 2019. Through participation in employer-supported wellness initiatives, electric cooperative employees have donated more than $35,000 to charities and local causes.

The wellness challenges were created to encourage employee health and happiness, says Tavi Leier, who manages the ND REC Benefit Trust, a self-funded health insurance pool created by electric cooperatives nearly 10 years ago which sponsors the challenges.

“The biggest satisfaction is that we have money set aside as charity of choice donations for each of the challenges,” Leier says. “A lot of people are really happy to give back to their community and give back to their local fire department, their local preschool or other local entity.”
 

WORKING TOGETHER
After the Affordable Care Act ushered in changes to health care in 2010, electric cooperatives were eager to maintain their health plans with a local provider, while attempting to control costs.

“They wanted to control costs a little bit better, because a lot of them were receiving big fluctuations in their rate increases,” Leier says. “That’s hard on any employer.”

North Dakota’s electric cooperatives leaned into one of their guiding co-op principles – cooperation among cooperatives – and considered pooling resources to start a self-funded health insurance trust. After several attempts, the ND REC Benefit Trust was formed in 2015, Leier says.

“Basically, what they did is they made themselves bigger and spread the risk amongst everybody across the state versus like the 50 people at their own co-op,” Leier says. “It’s kind of like mutual aid in a sense, where we’re going to help you out because you have a really sick person at your co-op. And then next year, I might have a really sick person at my co-op, but we’re all going to share in that risk and that cost. … And so, it evens out. The rates, too, in that you’re not seeing those big swings.”

Today, the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC) administers the ND REC Benefit Trust for 21 entities across the state, the majority of which are electric cooperatives.

“We’re a bunch of different employers that got together and said, ‘Hey, we have something in common, so let’s go in together and fund our health insurance together,’” Leier says.

Similar health trusts exist in the state through the bankers association and the hospital association. In cooperative fashion, the bankers association was helpful in getting the electric cooperative health trust off the ground, and NDAREC passed on its knowledge later when the hospital association asked for help.

The ND REC Benefit Trust adheres to another guiding principle of cooperatives – democratic member control. Members have equal voting rights, and all have a say in policy setting and decision making.

“Being part of the trust, each cooperative has a seat at the board table, so each cooperative has one vote,” Leier says. “It doesn’t matter how many people are employed there, it’s one cooperative, one vote, and each has a voice at the table.”
 

HEALTHY FAMILIES, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
By providing quality, cost-effective health benefits and fostering a healthy culture, cooperatives are building a healthy workforce to support healthy families and healthy communities.

“Cooperatives, especially in rural communities, have really become the employer of choice, because they offer good-paying jobs with quality health coverage and benefits,” says Josh Kramer, NDAREC executive vice president and general manager. “Absent healthy employees who want to raise their families in the communities we serve, our co-ops wouldn’t exist. Ensuring there is a healthy cooperative workforce now and in the future ensures the lights stay on in rural America, remote workers have the connectivity to do their jobs and farmers have somewhere to sell their crop.”

Co-op employees are doing their part, too.

At Minnkota Power Cooperative’s coal-fired power plant in Oliver County and headquarters in Grand Forks, four teams of employees finished this spring’s Co-op Charge steps challenge in the top 10, tallying a combined total 1,680,959 steps!

The winning team took the trophy home to Minnkota’s Milton R. Young Station and split the $500 donation between Dakota Children’s Advocacy Center and Mental Health America of North Dakota. They got a boost from Kyle Zachmeier, assistant warehouse worker, who was training for and went on his first bear hunt during the challenge.

“I’d never gone on a bear hunt like this, or into the mountains and did this kind of hiking or packing, and I needed to get into better shape, (because) I didn’t want to be the person to hold the group back,” Zachmeier says.

In addition to the steps he racked daily working at the coal plant, Zachmeier hiked 3 to 4 miles a day to prepare and averaged between 17,000 and 20,000 daily steps during the weeklong hunt along the Montana-Idaho border.

“The steps prior to going and getting into better shape, it definitely helped,” Zachmeier says. “When I was out there, I didn’t feel like it was as much of a struggle.”

And this fall, electric co-op employees will take part in the Break the Habit challenge, a habit-making or habit-breaking initiative that moves beyond physical health to include mental health, healthy eating, mindfulness, socialization and other health aspects.

Another recent initiative is mental health first aid, which is training co-op employees to respond in a mental health crisis situation.

All of it remains possible because cooperatives are working together to achieve something quite impossible to do alone.

“I’m proud of the cooperatives for sticking together. It’s cooperation among cooperatives,” Leier says. “They’re saying, ‘We want more control, and good benefits and protection for families, and reliable coverage.’ They’ve done right by their employees.”

___
Cally Peterson is editor of North Dakota Living. She can be reached at cpeterson@ndarec.com.