Wellness Program Incentives

As corporations today continue to compete in the worldwide economy, expenditure containment strategies will be increasingly significant. Controlling the rising expenditure of employee sickness is becoming a priority for corporate leaders. The emerging corporate culture in this country is one which has an employee population centered in health, safety and wellness.

Establishing a corporate strategy for Worksite Wellness Programs and disability management makes good organization sense. The following eight-step process ensures a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and outcome-oriented approach.

The following process works best in organizations with strong leadership and a long-term commitment to employee health.

1. Identify Your Worksite Wellness Program Champion

This person must be a leader in your organization and a strong advocate of health. Usually this is an individual who actively pursues his or her own personal quest for ideal health.

The program champion must have the resources and authority to propel the program forward. The program champion’s key role is to make sure the strategic plan for health is aligned with the business’s objectives, strategic focus and business values. By way of example if the organization promotes that “our strength is our people” the wellness program must confirm how pushes will nurture and protect that important resource.

2. Form Your Worksite Health Promotion Program Strategy Team

The Worksite Wellness Program Strategy Team must include decision makers and stakeholders from parts of the company that can effect health and the company’s bottom line. These areas may include; finance, human resources, training and development, health services, compensation and benefits, employee assistance services (EAP), marketing, facilities, health and safety, rehabilitation, cafeteria or food services and the union. A team of six to eight representatives is recommended.

The role of the Strategy Team is to develop and enable the strategic plan, look for opportunities to reward health, ensure the program is integrated into key areas of the organization, streamline efforts, maximize employer resources and program assessment.

3. Complete an Organization Health Audit

The purpose of an Business Health Audit is to evaluate your existing programs and services, physical environment and policies & procedures that support health. It is also important to look at your organization culture or “how things are done” around the organization.

Members of the Strategy Team complete the Audit independently and then meet to discuss their assessment. During the assessment process, health issues and opportunities are discussed in preparation for the development of the strategic plan.

4. Analyze Your Organization’s Cost Pressures

Cost pressures are identified by analyzing a number of areas including; benefit costs, Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, drug usage, type of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and EAP utilization. This process helps to target areas that have the potential to be positively impacted by a Worksite Wellness Program and to offer a baseline for evaluating change.

5. Conduct a Health Risk Appraisal or Employee Needs & Interest Survey

The next step is to determine your employee’s health risks, interests and readiness to change. A confidential health risk appraisal can accomplish countless objectives and goals. It provides a baseline from which to measure personal lifestyle changes, provides workers with relevant health information, motivates workers to take charge of their health and assists in program planning. Most health risk appraisals offer individual reports and a corporate report identifying elevated-risk areas in the business.

Many businesses opt to administer customized needs and interest survey to evaluate employee needs. The benefit of this approach is that the corporation is able to gather information on the employees’ perceived wellness needs and program interests. This information can be incorporated into the strategic plan. Administering a survey also has the added benefit of fostering a sense of employee ownership to the program.

6. Design Your Strategic Plan for Wellness

The strategic plan must incorporate information collected from the Corporation Health Audit, your organization’s expenditure pressures, and health risk appraisal data or employee survey results. The strategic plan must include your program mission, three or four objectives and several pushes under each goal. The strategic plan provides a framework to encourage, backing and evaluate “best health practices.”

It is also important that the plan align itself with the vision, goals/objectives of the organization.

The sample strategic plan that follows was developed for blue jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. (Canada) Inc. Levi Strauss & Co.’s mission statement and aspirations (how staff members interact with each other in a organization environment) guided the development of the plan.

Levi Strauss & Co.’s aspirations include the following statement: Above all, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors. The wellness program plan included a number of components to ensure that it embraced this statement including the following:

1. A vision statement, which tied in with the company’s aspirations.
2. An incentive system to encourage and reward the accomplishment of healthy milestones.
3. A recognition system to applaud effectiveness.
4. Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss & Co. locations to ensure a fun environment.
5. Opportunities to participate in small group educational programs to advance team support.
6. Initiation of support groups for employees completing wellness programs (i.e. smoking control support group).
7. Programs dealing with work and family balance.

Other information that was analyzed and used to foster the plan included:

1. Employer demographics
2. Focus groups
3. Cultural audit
4. Top drug report
5. EAP utilization
6. Employee benefit services report
7. Health and dental claims
8. Operational performance summaries
9. Health risk appraisals
7. Prepare a Employer Case to Support Your Plan

Your business case for wellness provides the necessary details for approval at the upper management level. The business case includes:

1. The Strategic Plan for Health
2. A proposed program budget
3. Marketing strategies
4. Program leadership options
5. An implementation plan
6. Evaluation methodology.

In presenting the strategic plan it is valuable to highlight how the plan aligns itself with the strategic direction of the organization.

The program budget ought to include educational resources, marketing expenditures, rewards and incentives, leadership expenditures and supplies.

Marketing strategies should address how the program will be promoted and rolled out to various groups within the organization i.e. decentralized locations, elevated risk workers, older workers.

Program leadership should address how volunteers will be used, internal resources  and whether consultants have been proposed. All play an equally significant role in the implementation of your wellness program.

The program implementation plan ought to incorporate the following types of programs that help establish awareness of beneficial health practices, help  staff members in making lifestyle changes and initiatives, which support long-term change.

Awareness programs establish an awareness of the significance of healthy lifestyle practices and arouse workers to take the next step. Examples of awareness programs include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and lunch and learn sessions.

Lifestyle change programs are more comprehensive and longer in duration. They are designed to assist  staff members in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle change programs are nutrition education programs, stress management programs, back care classes and smoking control programs.

A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies & procedures, the physical environment and creating a corporate culture that supports great health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups for workers who have completed 6-10 week wellness programs also provide a supportive environment for long-term change.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a Worksite Wellness Program is ongoing. A formal assessment should be conducted each year and may include; re-administering steps three to five, program participation statistics and a year end survey to revisit “soft” issues such as morale, program satisfaction and future program direction.

8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan

Employee input is essential to the long-term performance of your program. An Employee Advisory Committee must be formed to roll out the plan. Another key responsibility of this team is to solicit feedback from all echelons of the organization to ensure buy-in. Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups are also valuable. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a key role in supporting beneficial health practices. Regular gatherings are advised with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address issues and orient new managers.

Conclusions

The World Health Organization’s definition of health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” In order for us to set up healthy workplaces, wellness drives must have a program champion, have employee ownership, be upper management supported, results driven and strategically aligned with the overriding organization objectives of the organization.

Wellness plan that embrace these qualities will have a positive impact on an organization’s bottom line. Canadian research points to countless case studies where onsite programs have resulted in diminished absenteeism, cut claims and increased productivity.

Companies who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business” have one thing in common. They prove a responsibility to their most important resource – their people. They know the increased pressures associated with downsized corporations, a rapidly changing workplace, an aging work force and the challenge of balancing work and family obligations. And they share a common belief that healthy staff members are happier, absent less and more advantageous.

References:
Design of Employee Wellness Programs by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published by the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Pro Fit-ability by Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. May 1997.
Meeting Expectations by Laura Mensch. Employee Health and Productivity. August 1999
7 Steps to Health Promotion by Daphne Woolf and Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. February 1996.
Published in The Journal of Health Promotion for Northern Ireland, Issue 9, March 2000

Want some wellness program ideas and wellness policy ideas to get you started? Or maybe you want to jump start or improve upon your current wellness program? The list below provides ‘best practices’ that are able to help meet any wellness program budget! The Corporate Health Promotion Program ideas are divided into topic areas.

General Wellness Progam Ideas

• Administer an Employee Needs & Interest Survey
• Establish a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee
• Choose medical programs that cover costs for weight management and smoking cessation
• Waive co-pay or reimburse for preventive health care visits
• Put up pamphlets on a variety of wellness issues for staff members to take
• Organize a wellness resource center or library with videos, books, magazines, DVD’s on a variety of subject matters of interest to workers
• Identify staff members who are mentors or champions for healthy activities and ask them to present or to list as a contact for other staff members
• Create and reward periodic or regular educational sessions.
• Establish monthly educational sessions on the national health observance topic
• Put up a Wellness Bulletin Board & update it monthly
• Put up messages from national health observances during the month
• Offer healthy tips in newsletters, paycheck stuffers, bulletin boards, etc.
• Develop a benefits fair
• Sponsor business fitness and healthy eating challenges
• Develop employer health & wellness fairs or other on-Site activities

Nutrition Programs

• Provide free, healthy snacks for workers (fruit, nuts, popcorn)
• Provide healthy meal choices in cafeterias and at business events
• Offer information to employees about the nutritional content of food served in the cafeteria
• Create a fresh fruit “snack basket” in the breakroom or cafeteria
• Stock snack machines with healthier options
• Partially fund healthy foods in the cafeteria or snack machines (10¡ apples may be more appealing than $1.00 candy bars)
• Offer a weekly or monthly healthy lunch club
• Have handouts available on a variety of healthy eating subject matters
• Include nutrition articles in corporation newsletters
• Have a healthy food tasting contest Free
• Provide educational sessions at lunchtime-time on a variety of diet issues of interest
• Develop an employee healthy meal cookbook. Either sell the cookbook and use profits for programs, or purchase a cookbook for all workers

Weight Loss Programs / Weight Management Programs

• Consider offering flexible work schedules so that employees are able to participate in weight-loss programs
• Subsidize registration expenditures for weight-management programs
• Offer a support group to help staff members who are trying to lose weight
• Locate registered dieticians near your workplace as a resource for staff members who want information on healthy eating, meal planning or weight control
• Provide individual counseling for staff members trying to lose weight
• Provide onsite fitness and weight-management programs through your local hospital, Weight Watchers, TOPS or local, registered dietician
• Provide an educational session on diet myths and healthy eating

Physical Activity Programs

• Allow flexible work schedules to encourage physical activity
• Create a fitness space with aerobic equipment, and weights
• Create accessible walking paths, trails, and/or bike routes
• Encourage staff members to walk more by parking farther away from the entrance
• Create a fitness center with aerobic equipment, weights, aerobic classes, fitness professionals
• Hold walking meetings
• Make the stairwells more appealing (carpet, fresh paint, artwork, posters)
• Provide reduced fitness center membership fees to all employees
• Provide facilities for workers to secure bikes
• Schedule 5 – 10 minute stretch breaks during the day
• Partially fund fitness center membership for workers who take part a minimal number of days per week (ex., 3 days per week)
• Support lunchtime walking/running clubs or corporation sports team
• Encourage stairwell use and incentives/rewards
• Install a basketball hoop outside
• Promote & support area walks or fitness activities
• Urge walking during breaks and other off-time periods
• Give periodic fitness incentive programs to encourage physical activity
• Provide educational sessions on fitness activities

Smoking Cessation Programs / Tobacco Cessation Programs

• Create a smoke-free grounds
• Organize a tobacco-free workplace
• Encourage the use of 1-800-QUIT-NOW, North Carolina’s no cost Tobacco Use Quitline. Or check www.QuitlineNC.com
• Fully reimburse (or partially reimburse) for tobacco replacement products
• Partially fund the cost of smoking cessation sessions
• Give brochures and information on health effects from tobacco use and smoking cessation
• Schedule awareness sessions to excite employees to try to quit tobacco use
• Provide worksite tobacco cessation seminars

Employee Health Screening

• Discount medical insurance premiums or lower co-payments for employees who take part in screenings and who take part in managing their risk factors
• Install Blood Pressure monitoring equipment
• Offer flu shots for workers and family members
• Offer Health Risk Assessments to all employees, including counseling and follow-up
• Provide periodic Blood Pressure screenings and follow-up
• Provide periodic screenings for cholesterol, blood glucose, body composition, etc.

Stress Management Programs / Work Life Balance Programs

• Allow flexible schedules for family/work life balance
• Offer and reward an Employee Assistance Program
• Provide information on substance abuse prevention
• Offer pamphlets and information on stress management and mental health
• Offer brochures and information on work life balance, such as monetary planning, childcare, parenting, elder care, etc.
• Offer supervisor and manager training on communication, relationship building, organization stressors, etc.
• Evaluate business policies and work schedules to identify business stressors
• Review the EAP to ensure it is meeting the needs of the workers and corporation
• Have educational sessions on stress management and work life balance
• Schedule seminars on relaxation, stress management, and work life balance topics

Health screenings are significant programs to identify chronic disease in their early stages. Once identified, wellness intervention programs can help prevent a disease from progressing. Working with local hospitals and other employers, you can obtain information on offering evaluation and intervention programs that could improve your employees’ health and save your company money in absenteeism, treatment for disease complications, and reduced productivity. Below are some ideas to assist you in getting started.

Based on your Employee Needs & Interest Survey and the demographics of your workplace, consider offering periodic screenings to find specific health risks such as:

• Blood Pressure Checks to identify workers with pre-hypertension or hypertension (elevated blood pressure),
• Cholesterol Screenings for total, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol) and/or Triglycerides
• Blood Sugar Screenings fasting or non-fasting to screen for possible diabetes,
• Body composition, such as body mass index (BMI) or body fat measures
• Bone density for potential risk of osteoporosis,
• Cancer screenings such as, skin examinations, mammograms, or PSA screenings,
• Vision checks for glaucoma, or visual acuity
• Other health screenings depending on your worker population and needs

Your local hospital, organization physician practice, or health department may offer assistance. Nevertheless, if you have staff members you may want to concentrate on programs that will keep them healthy instead of screening for early identification of chronic conditions. The focus of your wellness program might be healthy lifestyle practices to lower risk and prevent disease.

In addition to the wellness screenings, consider offering a Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment to all employees. The Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment will help to identify factors that may lead to additional risks, such as smoking history, stress levels, perception of health, family history, job satisfaction, support systems, and mental health. Often the screening results are included on the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, which provides a more all-inclusive snap shot of health risks. The summary results support the valuable information to plan appropriate interventions.

Workplace Health Promotion Program Interventions

The key to the effectiveness of screenings and Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals is the interventions or follow-up programs. The information from the screenings increases awareness and often motivates workers to consider making healthier changes. It’s the follow up interventions that offer the essential backing and assistance needed for workers to actually make and maintain those changes. The interventions have the potential to include individual follow-up and ongoing counseling, individual or group health coaching on the risk factors, behavior change programs, and/or business backing. Examples include:

• Strategies to decrease Blood Pressure
• Managing diabetes
• Taking care of your heart
• Healthier eating
• Weight loss strategies
• Improving physical exercise
• Smoking Cessation

Naturally, this is for individual information only. Any follow-up interventions planned by the corporation would be based on interest expressed by the employee.

Based on the results and your Workplace Wellness Program Committee objectives you are able to plan the best strategies for your corporation and staff members. Consider the area resources available to offer services, such as health associations, hospitals, medical care providers, and/or public health agencies.

Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments, are an assessment tool or questionnaire scientifically designed to identify health risks and outline information to assist  people in making healthy changes that influence their health and prevent chronic conditions.

Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments have four standard components in worksite settings:
• A Questionnaire
• A Computerized Program to Evaluate Health Risk Factors
• Confidential Individual Reports
• Group Summary Report

Staff Members complete a lifestyle questionnaire that includes for example nourishment practices, height and weight, exercise habits, family history, stress perceptions, smoking history, and work satisfaction. Another important feature to consider is readiness to change questions to determine participation interest. Including health screenings such as blood lipids and Blood Pressure (BP) results increases the advantages of an Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment by providing a more accurate health assessment and therefore improving lifestyle choice decisions and program options. Still, it is important to determine if the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment can be used without including this information.

The health risk questionnaire information is entered into a computer program and an individual confidential report is generated that summarizes health risks as well as information on how to cut risk factors. Individual reports are fully confidential. Depending on the reason for launching the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, it’s significant to consider the type of report the employer will receive as well. A group report summarizing major risk factors and recommendations for programs to start in order to cut employee and employer risks supplies significant information for your wellness program.

The Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments have the potential to be used to:
• Raise awareness to individual employee’s health status
• Motivate employees to make healthier lifestyle changes
• Coach high-risk staff members
• Plan Company Wellness Programs based on the identified needs
• Assess program effectiveness by comparing Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) completed at set intervals such as yearly.

There are numerous advantages to considering a part-time or full-time occupational and environmental health nurse (OHN). Occupational health nursing is the specialty practice that supports for and delivers health and safety programs and services to employees, and worker populations. The practice focuses on promotion and restoration of health, prevention of illness and injury, treatment of work and non-work related injuries and illnesses, and protection from work related  and environmental hazards.

Onsite Heath Professional roles have the potential to include: Case management, Counseling, Corporate Health Promotion Program, Legal and regulatory compliance, Clinical services, and Hazard detection and controls. The American Association of Occupational and Environmental Health Nurses is the national association, www.AAOHN.org. The State Chapter also has a website with information including local chapter information to help you find a contact near you, www.NCAOHN.org.

Health educators have the potential to design, conduct and evaluate activities that help better the health of all your workers. They are subject matter experts who may be a important asset regardless your program needs and objectives and goals. They have the potential to help form a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee and enable a myriad of of its programs and services, for example or depending on the structure and time commitments of your Employee Health Promotion Program Committee, they have the potential to also plan the entire program as well. Integrating the activities of the Committee and/or Employee Health Promotion Program professional services within your operations, including within your safety and occupational health program will offer additional benefits!

We are organizing Workplace Wellness Programs to help you feel better and maintain your health. In order to plan programs that best meet your needs and interests we would like your ideas! Please take a few minutes to answer some questions about your interests. Your answers will be combined with those of others’ and reviewed to help plan programs for you. Do not sign your name.

Please complete the survey today and return it to__________. We appreciate your significant input! Your help is significant for planning successful programs. Return the completed form by _____________.

Rate your interest on a scale of 1 – 3 with one (1) being of little or no interest; two (2) being of some interest and three (3) indicating that you are very interested. Indicate your response by circling or ‘Xing’ the number.

I am interested in:

Participating in wellness programs before work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs after work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs during my lunch break 1 2 3
Adopting healthy eating options to lose weight 1 2 3
Sports nutrition 1 2 3
Healthier cooking 1 2 3
Helping my children eat healthier 1 2 3
Quick, healthy meals for full lifestyles 1 2 3
Healthy snack options 1 2 3
Learning how to quit smoking 1 2 3
Attending classes to help me quit smoking cigarettes 1 2 3
Stress Mangement skills 1 2 3
Balancing work, family, and personal life 1 2 3
Time senior staff skills 1 2 3
Participating in a beginning exercise program 1 2 3
Planning time to exercise for busy people 1 2 3
Getting health information that I can read or watch at home 1 2 3
Learning about cancer prevention 1 2 3
Heart health options 1 2 3
CPR and First Aid 1 2 3
Team sports activities at work 1 2 3
Learning how to stretch 1 2 3
Learning how to stimulate intake of fruits and vegetables 1 2 3
Parenting Topics (age of children: ) 1 2 3
Onsite exercise classes: walking Yoga aerobic other: 1 2 3
Health evaluation such as Blood Pressure (BP), cholesterol, blood sugar 1 2 3

Program evaluation may be The last step, but it ought to be planned at the beginning of your efforts!  Evaluation helps you identify what parts of the program are working well and what parts could use improvement.  Then, based on the evaluation data, adjustments are able to be made to fine-tune your wellness program.   Adjusting the program based on evaluation data is critical to its continued performance.  

Evaluating your program does not have to be be terribly complex.  However, it is valuable to plan how you will monitor your wellness efforts and determine performance during the planning phase or Step 5.  Also keep in mind to evaluate the program based on the goals you already established during your organizing process.  

In order to evaluate your program you must have a system to document specifics as you go along.  This can be as simple as maintaining file folders on programs that are offered, or a computer document with a table or spreadsheet summarizing information collecting.  Consider:

• Program topic and numbers of workers who participated
• The numbers of pamphlets taken by employees or distributed and on what subject matters
• The number of participants in a behavior modification program and how many met their goals/objectives as well as how many attended all of the sessions
• Numbers of workers who continued the healthy behavior change following the program?
• Overall employee satisfaction with the program or each topic.  

Depending on your goals/objectives, gather desired data and compare it to previous data collected during the initial assessment to determine if the goals/objectives were met.  Such data might include

• Absentee rates
• Injury rates
• Health risk factors Insurance expenditures  

Summarize and Report Workplace Health Promotion Program Results

Once you have collected all of the evaluation information it needs to be reviewed with the Company Wellness Program Committee and summarized.  You will probably have beneficial results and some areas where a change is needed or additional focus needed for continuous improvement.  This not-so beneficial information can be used to make any needed adjustments as well as to plan for next year and is significant to include in your report.  

It is valuable to communicate the wellness program results to both upper management and employees.  Consider how upper management usually receives reports on operations and work rate issues and include the annual wellness program report in the same format.  At some businesses the reports are made during upper management gatherings using presentation styles such as authority point slides.  At other businesses, graphs and bar charts are the norm or a list of the objectives and the summary outcomes announced.  

No matter the format, it’s significant to convey the outcomes and successes achieved, including any anecdotal stories, as well as areas for improvement.  Be sure to link the outcomes to the business mission and bottom line whenever possible.

Employees desire to receive the same information!  You might use the same communication channels used when informing staff members of the wellness program:

• Corporation newsletters,
• Bulletin boards,
• E-mails  

Also consider celebrating successes and recognizing achievements by:

• Posting pictures from events
• Highlighting effectiveness stories
• Posting pictures of successes
• Scheduling a celebration
• Recognizing champions  

Armed with data, Employee Wellness Program topic preferences and objectives and goals – and a Employee Wellness Program Committee rearing to get things done – it is now time to decide how best to take action.  This website provides tools to help you!  You can read about the different types of wellness programs provided by other corporations to get an idea of what could possibly prove effective for your company.  There are Statewide Resources listed as well as national non-profit groups offering resources, and particular examples of resources available on various wellness subject matters.  In addition, keep looking under Steps to an Effective Program for ideas to get you started!

If your planning phase was well executed, you ought to simply have to follow through with the plans you have already made.  

Important Corporate Wellness Program considerations include:

1. Formally Introduce the Worksite Health Promotion Program and consider policy statements that state the significance of the wellness program.  Examples include a general policy concerning the commitment to employee health and safety as well as specific policies such as No Smoking, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity.
2. Communicate Your Program: The best planned program with great wellness programs will not be constructive if your staff members are unaware of it or do not be aware of the options or how to take part.  Communicate your wellness program using a variety of methods to make sure the message and “how-to’s” are heard!

   Workplace Wellness Program Communication Strategies might include:

   • Newsletter articles
   • Postings on the company’s intranet or internet
   • A designated Champion of the program
   • Formal or informal meeting to announce program, “the kick-off”
   • Flyers / handouts / brochures / table tents,
   • Bulletin boards / kiosk where all material is promoted or found,
   • Email / phone messages,
   • Mailings or distributions  

3. Use Worksite Wellness Program Incentives:  You’ll be amazed to find out what people will do for a free T-shirt.  Incentives are able to both support and arouse participation among workers.  Consider both formal or business incentives and informal or program rewards/prizes from local resources to reinforce participation in Worksite Wellness Programs. Either way, it’s valuable to offer incentives that are enticing and meaningful to your workers.

   Formal Workplace Health Promotion Program Incentives:

   • Savings on employee health insurance premiums or co-pays, or contributions to 401K programs, employee stock options, or other mechanisms.  
   
   Click here for more information on health plan incentive ideas
   
   • fitness center/Fitness Center discounts or enrollment fee coverage
   • Public transportation vouchers
   • Flexible work time options
   • “Wellness Days” off work  

   Prizes or Informal Workplace Health Promotion Program Incentives:

   • Cash – a most effective incentive!
   • Prize rewards and incentives such as gift certificates to heart-healthy restaurants; media player to use while working out, emergency kits, or any other prizes that would arouse your employees.
   • T-Shirts, water bottles, or other inexpensive rewards

4. Assess neighborhood resources available to support some of the wellness services.  The local health department or your employer health care provider may be able to help  you with this information.  There are also vendors throughout the State providing excellent wellness services for corporations.  They are available to assist you when strategizing and find the best options available.

5. Start your program as planned documenting information and outcomes as you go such as numbers of participants, dates of activities, and any other special details you are tracking.

The Corporate Wellness Program Committee must set out a plan for the entire year that outlines accomplishing goals and objectives, as well as supplies details for marketing and evaluating the program. The plan is the detailed map of what types of programs will be offered, when and where they will be scheduled, how they will be marketed and evaluated, and what the budget is.  It is important to plan your wellness activities based on your goals and objectives, as well as the budget since different strategies will yield different outcomes.  For example, if your goal is to expand awareness on a topic, then distributing brochures or scheduling a one-time education session may be appropriate.  Nonetheless, if your objective is to change behavior, then different strategies may be necessary, such as ongoing weekly sessions and support groups.  Click here to link to Program Design Options for additional ideas.

Company Health Promotion Program Marketing

Now is the time to plan your marketing strategies!  How can you market the wellness program and ongoing activities?  No matter how you decide to, market often, keep it fresh, and remind staff members again and again!  Consider having an overall kickoff activity to inform everyone of the wellness program.  Senior Leadership must support the introduction or invitation so that all staff members are knowledgeable about their backing and leadership in the program.

Possible marketing methods:

• Distributing email messages, including reminders
• Organize bulletins,
• Hanging bulletin board postings,
• Writing articles,
• Mailing letters or
• Mailing special invitations.  

Other Company Health Promotion Program Considerations:

• Is the Corporate Health Promotion Program promoted to all employees or to a specific group?
• Do you have a Company Wellness Program champion (someone who is coupled with different groups in the organization, and well respected) who can help in your promotion efforts?
• If your marketing efforts do not seem to be working, do you have a way to revisit and adjust your plan?
• How will you determine success and evaluate your program?  And how will you collect the information needed to evaluate your program?  

Topics most often included in Corporate Health Promotion Programs:

• Nutrition
• Physical Activity/Exercise
• Tobacco Use Cessation
• Bone Health
• Cardiovascular Health
• Healthy Back
• Stress Reduction
• Chronic Disease Awareness & Prevention
• Self-care; Wise Healthcare Consumer
• Screening Services (BMI, Blood Pressure, bone density, cholesterol, glucose, posture, vision, and other…)
• Ergonomic Assessments
• Health Fairs
• Kids/family Events
• Others subject matters that employees have interest in  

The subject matters and type of Workplace Wellness Program planned hinge upon the needs and interest, overall objective and resources available.  Program Design Options   include awareness programs such as brochures and/or education sessions, behavior modification programs such as smoking cessation and weight loss classes, and environmental or corporation backing such as no smoking policies or healthy selections in snack machines.  

The programs planned also depend on the demographics of your workforce.  If you have a young, healthy workforce, you may want to focus the wellness attention on keeping employees healthy and not need to screen for disease.  Instead you might want to focus on healthy lifestyle behavior such as exercise and great diet to prevent the on-set of disease.  Click here for more information on strategies for keeping employees well, identifying disease early, or returning employees to work who already have a chronic disease.

It is also important to consider, and plan how you will evaluate the effectiveness of your wellness program.  The system needs to be shown for tracking certain data and recording events depending on the program goals and objectives.  Step 7 discusses program assessment in more detail.   And Step 6 will launch your program!

A Employee Wellness Program without goals and objectives is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a little thoughtful planning, you increase your chances for a efficacious experience.  Clear goals and objectives are needed to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program objectives and goals are different from one corporation to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Nevertheless, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a successful wellness program!

Company Wellness Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Workplace Health Promotion Program. The mission statement is the central expression of what the Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee wants to accomplish by implementing a wellness program.  It is valuable to consider how your Workplace Health Promotion Program fits in with the organization mission statement, contributes to the central mission and supports the organization bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the organization operations.  

Below are some examples of Company Health Promotion Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Organization, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Workplace Wellness Program to support  in starting Workplace Wellness Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Employee Health Promotion Program Committee to cultivate healthier lifestyle choices to cut health risk factors, better overall wellbeing, and maintain a constructive, active work force.”

Employee Wellness Program Goals

The goals and objectives further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, management expectations and employee interests, examples of goals and objectives can include:

The goal(s) of XYZ Corporate Wellness Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Reduce absenteeism by one day per employee
• Decrease musculoskeletal injuries by 10 percent
• Lower unnecessary emergency room visits
• Cut down on or contain medical care costs
• Improve dietary habits of staff members
• Decrease health risk factors  

Worksite Health Promotion Program Objectives

Specific Employee Health Promotion Program objectives help meet your long-term objectives and goals.  Both short term and long term objectives should be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the objectives and goals.  In addition to objectives for the expected participant outcomes, process objectives should also be developed for the program process itself.  By way of example, process objectives may include the number of workers you want to take part in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be provided, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives must be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to establish both your long and short-term goals and objectives:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be monitored or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  For example, the mission for a weight loss program that has an central objective of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Participants (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per participant (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Participants (who) will attend 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of the mission for coaching staff members with high cholesterol might be:

To cut the total cholesterol (specific what) of high risk staff members with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions offered at the workplace (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to cut the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process intention for a smoking cessation program with an central objective to assist  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week smoking cessation program, 10% of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each colleague will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process goal) and 10% of those who quit will still be smoke-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including adopting your Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!