Wellness Program Incentives

Prior to you begin planning your Employee Wellness Program you need to have a benchmark.  Completing a thorough needs assessment is vital to the performance of your wellness program for two reasons:  First it ensures that your Employee Wellness Program activities will be targeted to meet your company’s specific needs so that outcomes have the potential to be achieved.  Secondly the needs assessment provides the information you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your wellness program.

It is often tempting to hurry through the assessment – especially when time is short or those with experience already have an idea of needs.  Do not give in to this temptation!  It is critical that you know what your employer needs are, what management expects, and what employees want as well as expect, before you establish a Worksite Health Promotion Program.  

Consider and gather data on:

• Employee Demographic Information
• Employee Health Risk Factors
• Medical Claims
• Injury Rates & Causes
• Workers’ Compensation Claims
• Short and Long Term Disability Claims
• Rates of Absenteeism
• Business Culture Audits
• Employee perceived needs and health risks
• Upper Management’s expectations or desired outcomes

There are many ways to evaluate this information.  Although some of data gathering process may be time consuming, remember that it is nonetheless critical to plan programs that target specific issues.  This information will be critical to set goals and objectives and for evaluating program success.  How else can you know if outcomes have been achieved?

Options to help gather the information:

• Confidential Health Risk Appraisals (HRAs) with a Employer Group Summary Report
• Wellness Screenings such as blood lipids, Blood Pressure (BP) and blood glucose click here for additional information on wellness screenings.
• Employee Needs and Interest Surveys
• Suggestion boxes placed around the organization
• Focus Groups or hosting a luncheon meeting as a focus group
• Sending out a confidential email questionnaire
• Review records and databases including OSHA logs, first aid reports, insurance expenditures  

Once your needs assessment is complete, the Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee can review the results and start planning and prioritizing program options.  Beginning must be based upon objectives and goals and identified outcomes, Step 4 of the seven step process!