Wellness Program Incentives

When creating a accross the board Worksite Health Promotion Program, make sure that it consists of a variety of awareness, lifestyle shift, supportive environment programs, policies and activities that target risk behaviors, and the needs and interests of the workers. It will be important to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as smoking sections and the employee cafeteria.

Tips on creating a Worksite Wellness Program:

• Organize activities based on your planned objectives and goals addressing the specific needs of your workers. Focus on those topics that are of greatest interest to your workers and the greatest needs of your business, in that order. Avoid topics with narrow appeal.
• Keep it simple. Design the Corporate Wellness Program so it’s simple for the participants to know and track.
• Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior components.
• Identify activities in which every employee can take part.

Ideas for your Workplace Health Promotion Program:

• Challenges. Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior that continues for 4-8 weeks and focuses on specific topics (such as physical activity, nutrition, or stress management).
• Learning experiences. This includes classes, videos, and classes.
• Behavior changes (such as smoking cessation). You may or may not offer interventions at the workplace. Still, you should encourage people to make lifestyle changes that they want to make even without an external incentive.
• Education on disease management. By way of example, support and education groups for diabetes, high Blood Pressure, etc.
• Learing new skills. For example, CPR and first aid.
• Preventive screenings like Blood Pressure (BP), blood lipids, and vision.

Source: Adapted from the Building Healthy Texans Job Site Wellness Toolkit.