Finding Jobs in Virginia
ningcontentAs many as 143 Virginia jobs could possibly be done away with in the near future when a government contract with a wellness program provider based in Richmond expires.
Continental Health Promotion, which has been working with state and local government workers to encourage healthy living practices for over 20 years, recently filed notice with the Governor’s Office for Workforce Development that they will be doing away with an undetermined number of Virginia jobs on July 4th. The company’s contract with the government expires on June 30th.
Continental spokesperson, Laura Campbell, says that all of the companies 86 full-time and 57 part-time employees may be affected.
According to a state director, the wellness program contract was only supposed to provide 32 Virginia jobs for Continental employees. State officials decided against renewing the contract, which was worth $5 million, with Continental in favor of creating their own program internally, says Mike Salster, director of employee services for the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management. Salster says that the state stands to save approximately $3.2 million per year.
All of those who found Virginia jobs with Continental were notified that they may soon be laid off due to the fact that the company has yet to decide how many staff members will be retained. According to Campbell, “They gave notification to everyone but they intend for some employees to stay on.”
Continental was responsible for offering fitness classes, quarterly educational seminars and on-site health assessments for state employees through the CommonHealth program along with the employees of over 230 local governments through The Local Choice Health Benefits program. These programs included assistance in weight lose and smoking cessation. Continental is a subsidiary of Gordian Health Solutions, which is based in Tennessee. The company has other local contracts but did not disclose the exact number of their clients.
