Wellness Program Blog

As they say: “timing is everything.” Use the guidelines below to guide the timing of Wellness Program activities and data collection.

Timing: Wellness Program Start-up

• Consider the optimal time to start a new Wellness Program. Take into account preferences of the target population and other factors that could affect enrollment and participation.
• For example, coordinating the start of an adult weight management initiative with the start of school in August or September may be a good tie-in with a “fresh start.”
• On the other hand, starting an adult weight management initiative In January may not be a great idea because of the constraints that weather may put on exercising outdoors.
• Take advantage of other timing cycles at your installation. Planning a marketing blitz just after the PCS turnover has been completed is a good way to let new personnel know what Wellness Program options are available.

Timing: Wellness Program Participant Support

• Consider how frequently Wellness Program sessions should be offered to provide the best support and education for participants and the best opportunity for success.
• Get feedback from participants regarding what session frequencies work best for them.
• Consider the timing for other support mechanisms like email encouragement. What timing of those messages will benefit participants most: Weekly? Bi-monthly? Monthly?

Timing: Wellness Program Data Collection Crequency

• Collecting data is an excellent way to track participant progress and also to identify potential problems within a Wellness Program. So, give some thought to the frequency and timing of data collection.
• Select metrics that can realistically change during the Wellness Program implementation time period. For example, BMI and weight may not change very much during a 10-week Wellness Program; however, step counts are more likely to noticeably change.
• Some data, such as participant responsiveness to out-of-class assignments (like food journals) and other interim data (like step counts) will provide important information needed to “adjust fire” as needed and make Wellness Program changes if something is not working.
• Be flexible regarding data collection frequency. Instead of requiring that participants complete an exercise log every day, for example, consider asking for a “snapshot” summary from two or three days during the week. You will still get information to review, but participants will have an easier time complying with the assignment.

Timing: Wellness Program Follow-up

• Because the we are such a mobile population, it’s best to plan some sort of post-Wellness Program follow-up data collection within two to four months after the Wellness Program ends.
• You can always try to collect additional follow-up data at 6 or 12 months after Wellness Program completion. However, if you collect the data sooner, you’ll at least have collected some short term Wellness Program impact information before participants are lost to follow-up.

Employee Health and Wellness Programs that support staff members and the environment that they work in have been shown to be a good ROI. Employee Health and Wellness Programs may be extensive and sometimes costly. However, there are ways for small employers to make positive changes at little or no cost.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Program: Nutrition Activities

 

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

 

   1. Make available healthy eating reminders and prompts to staff members via multiple means (i.e. e-mail, posters, payroll stuffers, etc.).

   2. Make available appealing, low-cost fruits and vegetables in vending machines and in the cafeteria.

   3. Make available cookbooks, food preparation, and cooking classes for staff members’ families.

   4. Ensure onsite cafeterias follow healthy cooking practices and set nutritional standards for foods served that align with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

   5. Make available healthy foods at meetings, conferences, and catered events.

   6. Use point-of-decision prompts as a marketing technique to promote healthier choices.

   7. Make available healthy cooking demonstrations that teach skills (i.e. fruit and vegetable selection and preparation).

   8. Make available taste-testing opportunities at the workplace.

   9. Make available staff member-led campaigns, demonstrations or programs.

  10. Make available local fruits and vegetables at the workplace (i.e. workplace farmer’s market or community-supported agriculture drop-off point).

  11. Use competitive pricing (price non-nutritious foods in vending machines and cafeterias at higher prices).

  12. Make available protected time and dedicated space away from the work area for breaks and lunch.

  13. Make kitchen equipment available to staff members.

  14. Make available an opportunity for onsite gardening if possible.

 

Sweetened Beverage Consumption

 

   1. Make water available throughout the day.

   2. Make available appealing, low-cost healthful drink options in vending machines and the cafeteria.

   3. Modify worksite vending contracts to raise the number of healthy options.

   4. Price non-nutritious beverages at a higher cost.

   5. Use point-of-decision prompts to promote healthier choices.

 

Portion Control

 

   1. Label foods to show serving size and/or nutritional content.

   2. Make available food models, food scales for weighing and pictures to help staff members evaluate portion size.

   3. Make available appropriate portion sizes at meetings, workplace events and in the cafeteria.

 

Breastfeeding

 

   1. Support nursing mothers by providing them rooms for expressing milk in a secure and relaxed environment, a refrigerator for storage of breast milk, policies that support breast feeding, and lactation education programs.

   2. Make available flexible scheduling and/or onsite or near-site child care to allow for milk expression during the workday.

   3. Adopt alternative work options (i.e. teleworking, part-time, extended maternity) for breastfeeding mothers returning to work.

   4. Educate personnel on the importance of supporting breastfeeding co-workers.

 

Television & Food Advertising

 

   1. Place TVss in non-eating areas of the workplace.

   2. Limit food advertising in the cafeteria (i.e. print and other media).

 

Wellness Program communication is important to all aspects of Wellness and preventive medicine and is relevant to:
• Healthcare provider-patient relationships
• An individual’s exposure to, search for, and use of Wellness Program information
• Effective counseling and patient education for behavior change
• Content of public health messages and community campaigns

Effective health communication should have these attributes:
• Accuracy: content is valid and error-free
• Availability: delivered or placed where the intended audience can access the information
• Balance: content presents benefits and risks of potential actions
• Consistency: content is locally consistent over time and is also consistent with information from other reliable sources
• Evidence-based: content and methods of delivery are based on relevant scientific evidence
• Reach: content gets to or is available to as many people as possible in the target population
• Reliability: content source is credible; content is kept up-to-date
• Repetition: delivery of/access to the content is continued over time, to reinforce the impact with the audience and to reach new members of the target population
• Timeliness: content is provided when the audience is most receptive to, or in need of, the specific information
• Understandability: reading, language levels, and format are appropriate for the specific audience (i.e., Employees, Family Members, Garrison leadership, etc.)

What the research says about health communication
• Health communication best supports Wellness when multiple communication methods are used to reach specific audiences.
• Effective Wellness and communication initiatives should reflect an audiencecentered perspective, and reflect the preferred formats, contexts, and means of communication for the intended audience.

Material adapted from: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. 2 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/HTML/Volume1/11HealthCom.htm

(Adapted from The Health Promotion First Act prepared by David Anderson, Ph.D., StayWell Health Management)

 

Staff Member Lifestyles Impact Staff Member Health

• Approximately 40 percent of all deaths in the United States are premature (at least 900,000 deaths annually) and are due to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as tobacco use, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, misuse of alcohol and drugs, and accidents. Other contributors to early death include genetic predisposition (30 percent), social circumstances (15 percent), poor access to quality medical care (10 percent), and environmental  exposures (5 percent).
• Unhealthy lifestyle is the primary contributor to the six leading causes of death in the U.S. – heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes – which collectively account for over 70 percent of all deaths.
• People with healthier lifestyles live an average of 6 to 9 years longer,  postpone disability by 9 years and compress disability into fewer years at the end of life.
• The prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults rose to 30 percent in 1999-2000, a 33 percent increase from a decade earlier,  and the prevalence of diabetes also rose by 33 percent during approximately the same period (1990 to 1998).
• About two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, 55 percent do not get enough physical activity,  26 percent are completely inactive,10 and only 25 percent eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables  If diet/physical activity patterns continue worsening at their current rate, these behaviors will soon surpass tobacco use as contributors to mortality.
• Among young people, the prevalence of overweight has more than quadrupled in the past 20 years to 16 percent,  daily participation in high school physical education classes has dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003,  more than 60 percent eat too much saturated fat, and almost 80 percent do not eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables. 
• Lifestyle diseases disproportionately affect women, racial and ethnic minorities, the poor and seniors:
• The prevalence of diabetes among African Americans is about 70 percent higher than among white Americans, and the prevalence among Hispanics is nearly double that for white Americans.
• Women comprise more than half of the people who die each year of cardiovascular disease.
• Chronic conditions significantly limit daily activity for 35 percent of persons over 65 years of age. 

 

Financial Impact of Lifestyle

• It is estimated that lifestyle-related chronic diseases account for 70 percent of the nation’s medical care costs,  which translates to over 11 percent of the entire U.S. gross domestic product.
• Two comprehensive scientific reviews identified 83 peer-reviewed studies reporting that people with unhealthy habits have higher medical costs.
• Research conservatively estimates that high health risks (high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc) account for at least 25 percent of total medical costs. 
• Recent research indicates a direct relationship between modifiable lifestyle risks and reduced worker productivity, and relevant data suggest that the costs to employers in lost productivity due to poor employee health may be substantially more than the direct medical and disability costs.
• Unhealthy lifestyles often lead to chronic disease, many of which cannot be cured and require years or decades of costly treatments. Below are estimated annual costs of selected unhealthy lifestyles and chronic diseases including obesity,  smoking,  hypertension,  diabetes,  stress,  and inactivity.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs Improve Health and Yield Major Savings

• Comprehensive scientific reviews identified 378 peer-reviewed studies showing that Employee Health and Wellness Programs improve health knowledge, health behaviors, and underlying health conditions.
• Research has demonstrated that lifestyle modification may often be more effective and cost-effective than medical intervention in decreasing morbidity  and mortality.
• Several scientific reviews indicate that Employee Health and Wellness Programs reduce medical costs and absenteeism and produce a positive ROI.  The most definitive review of financial impact reported that:
• 18 studies indicated that these programs reduce medical costs, and 14 studies indicated that they lower absenteeism costs.
• 13 studies that calculated benefit/cost ratios all showed the savings from these programs are much greater than their cost, with medical cost savings averaging $3.48 and the absenteeism savings averaging $5.82 per dollar invested in the programs.
• Medical costs are expected to exceed 16 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 and to grow at 7.2 percent annually through 2015, when medical expenditures will account for 20 percent of GDP:
• Per capita medical costs in the U.S. are the highest in the world and more than double the median for OECD countries,  yet the United States ranks 26th in terms of healthy life expectancy.  
• Medicaid is the second largest item in most state budgets, and its portion of the total budgets is increasing each year.
• Rising medical costs for U.S. employers continue to outpace general inflation, averaging 12 percent per year for the past 10 years.   This trend is causing a tremendous financial hardship on U.S. employers.

1. Senior management involvement in the Employee Health and Wellness Program- Evidence of enthusiastic commitment and involvement of senior management helps staff members understand their employers’ serious commitment to health.  Staff Members need to perceive that their senior management, supervisors, and coworkers have positive attitudes toward health since these factors have all been associated with improved employee health status.   Management-related factors have been shown to contribute more to success than the content of the intervention. 

 

2. Participatory planning – A Employee Health and Wellness Program should be undertaken in partnership with the workforce.  Staff Members from all levels of staff should be actively engaged in the health and management aspects of the project as well as all on-going processes of any Employee Health and Wellness Program.  Planning must also include processes for maintaining communication with all staff and building their commitment to the process.   Creating Employee Health and Wellness Program steering committees to guide interventions during the planning and delivery of workplace health promotion programming improves worker awareness, participation, and satisfaction. Staff Member committees may identify perceived staff member interests regarding educational programming, determine work site-specific characteristics that may affect the intervention or influence participation, and suggest the best methods for promotion and delivery of Employee Health and Wellness Programs and activities.  Ways to maximize staff member input and involvement might include interest surveys, focus groups, and peer counsellors. 

 

3. Primary focus on staff members’ needs – A Employee Health and Wellness Program should meet the needs of all staff members, regardless of their current level of health and recognize the needs, preferences, and attitudes of different groups of participants. Program designers should consider the major health risks in the target population, the specific risks within the particular group of staff members, and the business’s needs.   In other words, interventions should be tailor-made to the characteristics and needs of the recipients.   This means that varied programs must be offered at different levels.   Participation and commitment may be increased if a group of workers has the opportunity to address a specific modifiable risk factor of their choice.  

 

4. Optimal use of on-site resources – Planning and implementation of Employee Health and Wellness Programs should optimize use of on-site personnel, physical resources, and organizational capabilities.   For example, whenever possible, initiatives should use on-site health and safety, management, work organization, communication, Human Resources, and other specialists.   Well-qualified external leadership may be introduced when in-house expertise is lacking. 

 

5. Integration – An overall workplace health policy should be developed.  The policies governing employee health must align with the corporate mission, vision, and values, supporting both short- and long-term objectives. These consistent policies must affirm the value of staff member health and a commitment to engage staff members in health enhancement.  Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies should be integrated into a company’s regular management practices and eventually should be formally incorporated into the company’s corporate plan  with adequate resources attached to them.

 

6. Recognition that a person’s health is determined by an interdependent set of factors – Any Employee Health and Wellness Program must address multiple components of an individual’s life:

• the workplace physical and psychosocial environment;
• their personal resources such as social support, sense of empowerment, etc.; and
• their lifestyle practices influencing health.  

 

7. Tailoring to the special features of each workplace environment  - Employee Health and Wellness Programs must be responsive to the unique needs of each workplace’s procedures, organization and culture.   Integrating health behaviors and program participation into the existing corporate culture will normalize program participation.

 

8. Employee Health and Wellness Program Assessment – Project management should flow through needs analysis, setting priorities, planning, implementation, continuous monitoring, and evaluation.   Assessment must include a clearly-defined range of process measures and outcomes  as well as mechanisms for monitoring the impact of non-intervention workplace changes such as plant closure, major workplace re-organization, and new technology on staff health. 

 

9. Long-term commitment – To sustain the benefits of the Employee Health and Wellness Program, the worksite must continue the initiative over time, reinforcing risk-reduction behaviours and adapting the programs to ongoing personal, social, economic, and workplace changes. 

 

Introduction to Employee Health and Wellness Programs

 

Risky health behaviors by staff members cost a company. Changing those behaviors can save the employer money and raise the staff member’s productivity.

 

Because work gives an staff member a stable setting and support system, Employee Health and Wellness Programs can have a great impact on decreasing high-risk behaviors. This impact results in decrease health claims cost, less absenteeism, and less short-term disability.

 

Employee Health and Wellness Programs may include:

 

Awareness Rasing Activities: Health and wellness newsletters, health topics covered in payroll stuffers, healthy emails.

 

Health Risk Assessment: Employee health screenings, wellness fairs, health rist assessments.

 

Educational Programs: Lunchtime wellness presentations, guest speakers at staff meetings.

 

Skill Building: Healthy cooking demostrations, activity challenges, CPR instruction opportunites, stress management classes, weight management classes.

 

Interventions: Massage, smoking cessation, and skills to help you get the most out of your doctor visit.

 

Physical environment: Healthy items in the vending machines and cafeterias, clean air practices, ergonomics, bike racks, flex time, welllit stairways.

 

Assessment: Staff Member needs assessment, baseline Employee Health and Wellness Program evaluation measures, ongoing Employee Health and Wellness Program evaluation of overall effectiveness.

 

Why Make available Employee Health and Wellness Programs

 

The typical employer spends about $8,000 a year on an employee’s medical care. This includes medical insurance, disability and worker’s compensation. As these costs climb, medical insurance is expected to rise at least 10 percent per year.

 

A 1999 study showed that organizations using Employee Health and Wellness Programs had a ROI from $1.49 – $13 in benefits per dollar spent. The amount depended on the nature of the Employee Health and Wellness Programs used. (S. Aldana, American Journal of Wellness, 2001; 15:296-320)

 

One study showed that a “stop smoking” element to Employee Health and Wellness Programs may save between $404 -$40,829 per employee, depending on the age and sex of the staff member.

 

The Employee Health and Wellness Programs at Traveler’s Company included a self-care book, a newsletter, single-topic brochures, and videotapes. The Employee Health and Wellness Programs saved the company $7.8 million in employee benefi t costs, decreased doctor visits, and it reduced absenteeism by 1.2 days per staff member per year. The estimated Employee Health and Wellness Programs ROI was $3.40 per dollar spent.

 

In 1998, the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) reported a study of 46,026 staff members from six large employers for three years. Staff Members with an inactive lifestyle had 10 percent higher costs; staff members with depression had 70 percent higher costs.

 

Benefits of Employee Health and Wellness Programs

 

Increased Productivity – The Canada Life Assurance Company realized a 4 percent increase in productivity after beginning an employee fitness program.

 

Increased Job Satisfaction – According to employee opinion surveys conducted by the Silverstone Group about thier Employee Health and Wellness Programs, staff members’ morale increased, which helped support a more creative work setting.

 

Enhanced Recruitment & Retention – In the midst of a tight labor market, Employee Health and Wellness Programs could be a vital tool to draw new recruits.

 

Decreased Absenteeism – Canada Life Assurance Company’s absenteeism dropped 42 percent among staff members in the Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

 

Decreased Workers Comp & Disability – In one year, Boeing Company’s number of back injuries decreased by 34 percent. Six million dollars was saved by tracking injuries as they occurred.

 

Managed Healthcare Costs – Golden, Colorado Adolf Coors Company’s Employee Health and Wellness Programs returned $6.19 for every dollar spent.

Strong and visible upper management support for the Corporate Health and Wellness Program encourages health and is essential to securing needed Corporate Health and Wellness Program resources (staff, time, and money) and implementing recommended changes.

 

1. Identify a Corporate Health and Wellness Program champion

 

            In a small organization, there may be a single leader who is the clear choice to champion the Corporate Health and Wellness Program. In a larger organization, look for an executive with the authority to sway others in the highest levels of the organization regarding the Corporate Health and Wellness Program. The Corporate Health and Wellness Program champion need not be the fittest member of upper management. Rather, look for a Corporate Health and Wellness Program leader with the disposition to be a visible and vocal supporter of workplace policies that encourage healthy behaviors. Organizations with multiple sites can consider whether it would be useful to have an executive Corporate Health and Wellness Program champion at each site.

 

2. Find existing Corporate Health and Wellness Program allies

 

            There may already be a number of individuals within your organization who recognize the value of a Corporate Health and Wellness Program. Think about who those individuals are in your organization; consider areas such as occupational safety, union representatives, risk management, medical officers, and human resources when looking for a Corporate Health and Wellness Program ally. Capture their stated support for the Corporate Health and Wellness Program. Corporate Health and Wellness Program support could include contributions of staff time or expertise, financial resources, agreement to endorse/support policy and environmental changes, or agreement to participate in, and voice their support for, changes in the workplace that will help to build a culture of wellness.

 

3. Build a business case for the Corporate Health and Wellness Program

 

            There is a reason that more and more companies are finding a way to promote the health of the employees via a Corporate Health and Wellness Program and policies: A Corporate Health and Wellness Program makes good business sense. workers with healthy behaviors, on average, are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism)1 and incur lower medical care costs than workers with less healthy behaviors.2,3  As a result it would be foolish not to have a Corporate Health and Wellness Program.

 

4. When developing a Corporate Health and Wellness Program use what you know about leadership styles and the decision-making process within your organization

 

            Every organization is different. Build upper management support for the Corporate Health and Wellness Program in the way that makes the most sense for your organization. Think about the following as you plan how to approach upper management for Corporate Health and Wellness Program support:

 

• What are the current priorities and pressures facing executives? How could a Corporate Health and Wellness Program and a healthier workforce support those priorities?
• How do the leaders prefer to receive data: written documents? verbal presentations?
• What kinds of Corporate Health and Wellness Program information are likely to sway decisions? Do they want data and Corporate Health and Wellness Program statistics specific to your organization, or are state or national data sufficient? Are the leaders more influenced by internal factors or by what competitors are doing?
• Who would the leaders see as a reliable messenger for this Corporate Health and Wellness Program information? Does someone from the risk management area carry more clout than someone from the human resources area?
• How do decisions really get made in your organization? Informal committee meetings? Formal or informal meetings between executives? Plan accordingly and you improve the odds that the Corporate Health and Wellness Program will become a reality.

 

5. Maintain Corporate Health and Wellness Program support once you have it

 

            Once you have appropriate Corporate Health and Wellness Program support, ensure that you keep it by regularly updating the leaders on the health of the employees and progress toward creating a culture that encourages health. Ask upper management how frequently they want to receive Corporate Health and Wellness Program progress reports.

 

Source Information:

            1 Bunn, JOEM, 2006, 48:10.

            2 Foldes, Bland, An et al. Modifiable Health Risks and Short-Term Health Care Costs. BC/BS of Minnesota internal research, submitted for publication.

            3 Anderson, 2000, American Journal of Health Promotion, 15:1.

Evaluation of successful Wellness Programs has revealed several key Wellness Program strategies to increase Wellness Program effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #5: Using a small number of targeted priorities maintains Wellness Program focus.

• Needs assessment data can be used to identify leading health needs and also high risk populations.
• Choosing a handful of specific health needs on which to focus will maximize efficient use of resources.
• Keeping the Wellness Program focus small will avoid duplication of other ongoing installation Wellness Programs.

Strategy #6: Use standardized processes whenever possible.

Think Lean Six Sigma!* Reduce the amount of variation within your Wellness Programs by standardizing all the processes needed for Wellness Program planning and implementation. For example:
• Use the same spreadsheet format for data collection so that the columns are in the same order. This way you can compare data more easily.
• Reuse the same forms for enrollment and attendance. Change the heading as needed.
• Look at other Wellness Programming processes (like registration, evaluation, marketing, etc.). What parts of those processes can be standardized?
• The Wellness and Prevention Initiatives website (http://chppmwww. apgea.army.mil/dhpw/Population/HPPiFunction.aspx) has many standardized Wellness Program resources in a variety of topic areas.

Strategy #7: Wellness Program delivery methods should be flexible and adapted to population needs.

• Delivery of products and services may depend on: unit needs, training requirements, other scheduling considerations (such as work/duty schedules, school scheduling, etc.), participant preference, and/or availability of staff or space.
• Be flexible: the same produce/service delivery methods may not work for every population.
• Some units may want services provided to them as close as possible to the unit location; other units may prefer as many services as possible bundled together at once (regardless of location).
• Take Wellness and preventive medicine beyond the walls of the company in order to meet leadership and employee needs. Answer the question: “How can we best help leadership and Employees to fulfill their mission?”

Why have Employee Health and Wellness Program objectives?

 

Employee Health and Wellness Program objectives take your business’s priorities for employee health improvement and make them specific and measurable. Well-defined Employee Health and Wellness Program objectives provide direction for deciding on Strategies and a basis for which to measure progress.

 

Writing Employee Health and Wellness Program objectives

 

Writing Employee Health and Wellness Program objectives is not complicated or difficult. It does require some thought, about your business’s Employee Health and Wellness Program vision for a culture of health and they should be:

           

• Specific Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals
• Measurable Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals
• Attainable Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals
• Realistic Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals
• Timely Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals

 

Specific Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals: What is the specific outcome your business is looking for? “Reduce smoking among staff members” is more specific than “Improve the health of staff members.” You may wish to write some objectives about specific outcomes (reducing smoking among staff members) and other objectives about specific progress (implementing a tobacco-free campus policy or decreasing the price of fresh fruit in the cafeteria to 25 cents a piece).

 

Measurable Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals: Making your objectives measurable provides a means of evaluating your progress and success. There is a saying: “what gets measured, gets done.” Goals which are measurable can be effective motivators for your business. “Provide more time for staff members to be physically active” is much less measurable than “implement a daily 15-minute walking break into the schedule of all staff members.” “Increase the number of staff members who want to quit smoking” is less measurable than “increase enrollments in the stop-smoking program to 120 staff members per year.”

 

Attainable Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals: Set objectives that challenge your business to change and that will demonstrate a real commitment to employee health. At the same time, set objectives that are achievable. Goals that are set too far out of reach can be overwhelming and may become a barrier rather than a motivator.

 

Realistic Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals: Write objectives that are do-able, given the skills, time, finances and overall strategy of the business. A realistic project may push the skills and knowledge of the people working on it but it shouldn’t break them.

 

Timely Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals: When do you hope to achieve the goal? Next week? Next year? Without a timeframe, the goal is still not clear and is much less likely to galvanize resources and energy within your business.

 

 

“Reduce the percent of staff members who use tobacco from 20 percent to 10 percent” is much less of a challenge than “By the end of 2010, reduce the percent of staff members who use tobacco from 20 percent to 15 percent”.

 

The workplace environment is a powerful, but frequently overlooked, element in managing worker health.  Here we will identify some of the best-practices in creating a Corporate Health and Wellness Program that supports your organization’s employee health strategy and allows workers to take charge of their own health.  For example, a Corporate Health and Wellness Program that includes a tobacco-free workplace policy improves the likelihood that workers will try to quit tobacco use and will quit using tobacco successfully. Similarly, a Corporate Health and Wellness Program that includes discounting healthy foods in your cafeteria and vending machines helps raise workers’ consumption of healthy foods which supports your investment in disease management programs for workers with diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. The following will guide you through the ten key steps in creating a Corporate Health and Wellness Program and workplace environment that encourages worker health.

 

In an era of rising medical care costs and fierce competition, companies have a vested interest in the health of their workers.  Research has found that, on average, workers with healthy behaviors (such as not using tobacco or being active for 30 minutes a day) incur lower medical care expenses, are absent from work less frequently, and are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism) than workers with unhealthy behaviors.

 

 

Corporate Health and Wellness Program: Securing Leadership Support

 

Corporate Health and Wellness Program support from the highest level of upper management is essential to your success in creating a culture of wellness within your workplace. Look for Corporate Health and Wellness Program support from a leader who is respected by and can sway other leaders. (It’s not important that he or she be the fittest executive within your organization just that they directly support the Corporate Health and Wellness Program.) You will be relying on this culture-of-health champion to advocate for changes that you recommend and to ensure the organization allocates adequate Corporate Health and Wellness Program resources (staff, time, and money) to maintain and improve the workplace policies, physical environment, and social norms.

 

 

Capture Corporate Health and Wellness Program Staff and Financing

 

Starting and maintaining a Corporate Health and Wellness Program within your organization needs to be someone’s priority. However, unless your organization is quite large, you likely don’t need to hire a full-time staff person for the Corporate Health and Wellness Program.  There are a number of ways to find an individual with the needed skills to guide and support your organization’s Corporate Health and Wellness Program.

           

Starting facilities and Corporate Health and Wellness Program policies, such as those allowing workers to be physically active during the workday, does not need to be expensive, but it does require adequate and sustained financing.  If possible, include the creation of a workplace environment that supports the Corporate Health and Wellness Program as a permanent component of the operating budget; that helps to ensure it’s an ongoing priority for your organization.

 

 

Worker Involvement in the Corporate Health and Wellness Program

 

Pulling together a cross section of workers to advise your organization’s Corporate Health and Wellness Program ensures that improvements in workplace facilities, policies and practices address the true needs and barriers of all groups of workers.   In addition, these workers can support as the front-line Corporate Health and Wellness Program supporters of policies and practices with their peers.

 

 

Develop a Corporate Health and Wellness Program Vision and “Brand”

 

A Corporate Health and Wellness Program vision and a brand are powerful first steps in turning a Corporate Health and Wellness Program from an idea to a reality. What would you like your workplace environment to look like five years from now? A succinct Corporate Health and Wellness Program vision statement summarizes for all (workers and leaders alike) the reasons for creating a Corporate Health and Wellness Program. It also reminds everyone of the link between worker health and your organization’s ability to achieve its overall mission.  

 

Branding your organization’s Corporate Health and Wellness Program conveys to workers that the organization’s commitment and support of healthy behaviors is important and is here to stay. Choose a Corporate Health and Wellness Program name and logo that resonate with workers. Then use that brand on all Corporate Health and Wellness Program communications with workers about the policies, facilities and programs your organization offers to promote healthy behaviors.

 

 

Evaluate Your Existing Corporate Health and Wellness Program Situation

 

Exactly how your organization establishes a Corporate Health and Wellness Program that encourages healthy eating, physical activity, and reduces tobacco use will depend on the unique characteristics of your organization and employee population. 

 

Evaluate how the current workplace facilities, policies, and unwritten norms support — or discourage — healthy behaviors.

 

Gather information on the health and health-related behaviors of your employee population.  The most common method is by using a validated health risk assessment. If you don’t have data specific to your workers, you can estimate the prevalence of different health risks and behaviors within your employee population using state or national data.  Note: Information on workers’ health interests alone is not sufficient; but can be a useful supplement to health risk data and might help you set priorities.

 

 

Establish Corporate Health and Wellness Program Goals and Priorities

 

Use what you’ve learned about the health of the employees and about your current workplace environment to determine your organization’s Corporate Health and Wellness Program priorities. From those Corporate Health and Wellness Program priorities, define clear and measurable Corporate Health and Wellness Program objectives for improving the health of the employees and your organization’s culture. Well written objectives will provide the basis for planning and for measuring your progress.

 

 

Choose Corporate Health and Wellness Program Strategies

 

Focus your organization’s Corporate Health and Wellness Program resources (time, energy and money) on strategies that are most likely to produce results:  a rise in healthy eating, a rise in physical activity, and a reduction in tobacco use. There’s no need to guess at what might work. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reviewed thousands of studies and has identified the Corporate Health and Wellness Program approaches most likely to result in significant, lasting, and widespread improvements in health behaviors. Those Corporate Health and Wellness Program strategies are included in the physical activity, tobacco, and healthy eating sections of this website.

 

The formula for Corporate Health and Wellness Program success is to make the healthier choices the easier choices.

 

 

Implement Corporate Health and Wellness Program Strategies

 

Once you’ve chosen your Corporate Health and Wellness Program Strategies, it can be useful to arrange the work on a timeline.  The “right” amount of time for implementing each Corporate Health and Wellness Program strategy depends on the staff time, budget, and business demands of your organization.  Work plans keep your efforts moving and help to ensure that plans to create a Corporate Health and Wellness Program stay on track even if there are changes in staffing or other challenges.

 

 

Communicate and Educate About the Corporate Health and Wellness Program

 

Ensure workers are aware of the Corporate Health and Wellness Program opportunities you’ve provided.   Planning your Corporate Health and Wellness Program communications allows you to communicate regularly with workers without overwhelming them at any one time.

 

 

Monitor and Report Your Corporate Health and Wellness Program Results

 

At the same time that you plan your Corporate Health and Wellness Program Strategies, think about how you’ll measure success.  It’s much easier to gather information – or to create systems for collecting information — before you implement a Corporate Health and Wellness Program strategy rather than as an afterthought.   Keep in mind that you’re likely to see improvements in worker morale and/or behaviors before you see decreases in rates of absenteeism or medical care claims.

 

Report both your Corporate Health and Wellness Program successes in building a healthy workplace environment (such as complete implementation of a policy that provides workers time for walking during the workday), and Corporate Health and Wellness Program successes in getting workers to take charge of their health (a rise in the number of workers who contacted the stop-smoking program, or a rise in the number of fruit-cups purchased from the cafeteria following a promotion and price-cut).