Wellness Program Blog

Business Fitness Programs and Wellness – A Clear Message

Business culture varies from company to company. Some employers are strict and formal while others are more laid back. But one thing most have learned is that the health of their workers affects the health of the company itself.

Because of this, many employers have started company fitness and Company Wellness Programs. By doing so, the company’s owners send a clear message to their workers that fitness is a priority and ought to be taken seriously.

Just by the fact that the company is willing to spend money to implement and maintain a Company Wellness  indicates by itself that fitness equates to dollars and Company Wellness  equates to active workers.

No Smoking

A corporate fitness and Company Wellness  can be as simple as a ‘no smoking’ policy to a menu of health and fitness services. Usually, the programs fall right in the middle. There are many fitness centers that offer Company Wellness Programs. A company has a variety of choices when it comes to deciding on how to deliver a Wellness plan.

• Hire an outside fitness professional to deliver an employee program to current facility
• Utilize a professional in the original design of a new facility
• Establish a Company Wellness  manager responsible for coordinating the company fitness program
• Use an internet-based fitness professional as a consultant

The first step in implementing any company fitness and Company Wellness  is to evaluate the condition of the workers. The kind of work a company does will drive the focus of the program.

By way of example, a warehouse operation may be interested in creating employee strength to avoid back and neck injuries. A building of office workers with sedentary jobs will need aerobic conditioning. A company program is customized to meet the needs of its workers.

Internet based fitness trainers are experts at designing programs for small and large groups. They can adjust exercises and diets to any circumstance. They can also save a company money by creating a plan that is streamlined yet effective.

Result Oriented

A company fitness and Company Wellness has direct adavantages, not just for the workers, but for the company as well.

• Diminished Health Care claims as employee health advances
• Less cases of obesity
• Less use of sick leave
• Workers able to deal with stress better
• Active workers less likely to be injured

It is not unusual to discover a gym in an office building anymore. Easy access to workout equipment and a fitness professional encourages workers to follow a program. By using an professional, a company can offer something for everyone – pregnant women, older workers, walkers, active adults, mothers, overweight people, fathers and others.

It is easy for workers to ignore the facts about their health when they are involved in just getting the work done. One of the big benefits of Company Wellness Programs is they bring health to the forefront of company awareness.

Obesity is a big topic and getting worse every day. But it is just one topic among many. Employee health maintenance has become so expensive that it is the fastest increasing component of many corporate budgets.

An effective Company Wellness  can slow down the rate of increase and help workers realize they have a responsibility to themselves and their families to care for their own Health Promotion. Each person is given a gift of life and it is imperative that life be cared for carefully.

Benefits of Company Wellness Programs

The benefits of wellness programs comprise of the following:

• Improved awareness of detrimental conduct such as smoking
• Decline in employee obesity and subsequent problems
• Convenience of programs for company and workers
• Tracing of employee physical activity program outcomes
• Location of a fitness consultant

Workers are assessed one-on-one at the company or where there is company membership. Professional Company Wellness  instructors create a custom fitted plan that insures the employee will have a physical activity program that meets their current physical condition and lifestyle.

One of the big reasons that fitness programs fail is because people set unrealistic expectations. They are always ‘in debt’ to their program, unable to meet the requirements. A company personal trainer can advocate each person set realizable goal and design a program that is progressive.

The benefits of wellness programs are well documented in reports and can be seen in decreased healthcare costs and higher productivity.

Advantages of Company Wellness Programs

Occasionally a high interest rate can be a great thing for a company – like when there is high employee interest in a Company Wellness .

The benefits of Company Wellness Programs apply to the company and the workers.

• Lesshealthcare claims as employee health advances
• Less cases of obesity
• Less cholesterol rates
• Improved cardiovascular health
• Less incidences of high Blood Pressure (BP)
• Less use of sick leave
• Improved stress management
• Active workers are less likely to be injured
• Less disability claims

Today, you can usually discover a exercise room in an office building for employee convenience. That is an indication of the level of effectiveness of a physical activity program.

The benefits of wellness programs comprise of avoidance of common healthcare conditions that once were considered rare.

The betterment in employee health nets the company a decline in healthcare care costs and that savings flows directly to the bottom line of the monetary report. There are really no negatives to a Wellness program.

The benefits of wellness programs are so outstanding; it is hard to be aware of why any company would choose not to include a fitness plan for their workers. Look on the web and see for yourself the world of opportunity to improve the health of your workers and your company.

Information to evaluate your program comes from routinely collected evaluation and follow-up data of your program that look at process and outcomes of your program.

The Worker Health Program has available a computerized case-management system which includes queries that allow easy assessment of process and outcome results at any point in time.

Process Evaluation

Process assessment looks at the  Company Wellness ’s impact as seen at various points in time.

Information that is gathered from the various forms that wellness workers fill out ought to supply you with the following:

• How many workers were screened?
• How many workers who were referred to a doctor went?
• How many workers who expressed interest in health improvement programs went?
• How many workers who were referred to health improvement programs went?
• How many workers who went to health improvement programs completed them?
• How many workers are in follow-up caseload?

You can use this sort of process assessment to evaluate and learn about the health of your program.

Outcome Evaluation

A central objective of the program is to better the health of workers. Information on how to judge how well your program is meeting this objective is called “outcome assessment” because you are evaluating the end results or outcome of your program.

In wellness programs, objectives are gauged by specific (outcomes) behavior changes and reductions in health risk levels. Have workers lowered their Blood Pressure (BP)? Have they lost weight? Are they exercising more? Is alcohol consumption at a safe level? By way of example these are the types of questions you can ask to find out if you are reaching your objectives:

• For workers with elevated Blood Pressure (BP) (140 / 90 or higher or on medication) at evaluation, what percentage have it under control (below 140 / 90) a year later?
• What is the modification in average Blood Pressure (BP) levels among all workers with elevated Blood Pressure (BP) 1 year after evaluation? Two years later?
• For workers with elevated blood cholesterol levels (above 240) at screening, what percentage has reduced their cholesterol to borderline-high levels (200-239)?
• For workers with borderline-elevated blood cholesterol levels, what percentages have reduced their cholesterol to the desirable range (below 200)?
• What is the modification in average cholesterol levels among all workers with high and borderline-high blood cholesterol levels 1 year after evaluation? Two years later?
• For workers who were overweight at evaluation, what percentage have lost 20 pounds or more a year later? Ten pounds or more? What is the average weight loss?
• For workers who were smokers at evaluation, what percentages have quit smoking? For at least a year?
• For workers whose level of alcohol consumption put them at-risk at evaluation, what percentage have quit drinking alcohol? Are consuming alcohol at levels considered safe by CDC standard procedures? Have reduced their drinking, but are still at-risk?
• For workers, what percentages are exercising at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes?
• If fitness levels were gauged, what percentages have improved fitness?

Set a regular time such as every 6 months to look at which workers your program is reaching and how effective it is at helping them decrease their health risks. Use this information to make new decisions about how to direct your program efforts. Then make the modification you need to better your program.

Some may feel that evaluation is a frill; it is not. Evaluation is a essential part of a wellness program. You will have to know what is working and what is not. Decision-makers who fund the program need to be updated on the effectiveness of the program. Evaluation will offer you with essential data to maintain and expand the program and convince management to continue to support the program.

The keys to a efficacious wellness program are persistent one-on-one outreach and follow-up counseling to encourage health improvement, adherence to treatment regimens, changes in lifestyle behaviors, and to prevent relapse. Regualr outreach and follow-up procedures offer workers with a safety net which keeps them involved in the program and prevents treatment dropout and relapse.

Counselors ought to follow up on workers at least every 6 months throughout the career of the employee at the workplace. The objectives of follow-up are to:

• Involve workers who have health risks in treatment and risk reduction programs.
• Involve all workers in health improvement programs and workplace-wide wellness activities.
• Support workers in carrying out the risk reduction or health improvement activities they have chosen.
• Help workers comply with their treatment regimens.
• Prevent relapse.
• Prevent workers from dropping out.
• Help workers maintain behavior changes.

Follow-up can be conducted in person, by phone, mail, and via computer if the technology is available. Most preferable is an in-person contact. Computer programs which can do case load management are available to help counselors track information and perform follow-up.

Priorities for Follow-Up

People with multiple health risks ought to be at the top of the list. People in key positions such as union leaders or department heads with health risks ought to also be contacted early so that they learn what the program is about and can share the information with others.

People who need a medical care assessment for elevated Blood Pressure (BP) or blood lipids ought to also be targeted early. Many workers will have seen their doctors as a result of the evaluation, but some will need more encouragement to do so. Those with no health risks can be followed up each year.

A follow-up counseling session can take 20 to 45 minutes. At minimum, follow-up must include those who were told to seek medical care assessment for elevated Blood Pressure (BP) readings, elevated blood lipid readings, or borderline elevated blood cholesterol readings with 2 or more other risk factors.

It may include those who were identified as at-risk for one or more of the other primary risk factors: at-risk levels of alcohol consumption, being overweight, and having low HDL.

Follow-Up With Physicians

A letter (see forms) ought to be sent to the physician or clinic of each employee who has elevated Blood Pressure (BP), elevated blood lipids, or is under a physician’s care.

The letter ought to explain the program and ought to include the employee’s relevant, current health measurements.

Along with the letter, send a self-addressed return envelope. Follow-up with the physician ought to be repeated every 6 months until it is determined that the employee is under satisfactory control.

Contacting the physician is valuable for three reasons:

• The doctors receive workers’ health measurements taken at the workplace.
• You receive the Blood Pressure (BP) and blood lipid readings the doctor takes and information on the treatment the doctor prescribes. Many times the employee does not have this information or does not remember it. The information can be used when counseling the employee.
• Follow-up encourages physicians to pay closer attention to heart disease risk factors among their patients.

The educational program ought to include approaches to stress awareness/reduction at the environmental level and at the individual level.

Social, physical, and company stressors ought to be explained and methods to ease or elevate stressors ought to be presented. At the individual level how changes in attitudes and behaviors help one to cope with stressors; learning techniques to minimize stress response, such as meditation, relaxation response, and exercise.

Content of the program ought to offer the following:
• Identifying sources of stress
• Relationship of stress to health
• How the individual experiences stress, personal, family, work
• Solutions for coping and managing stress
• Techniques for reducing stress
• Value of stress, both detrimental and positive
• Practical steps of incorporating stress reduction into lifestyle

Personnel conducting stress management programs ought to have training in psychology, behavioral sciences, or related disciplines such as mental health professionals, counselors, health educators, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Training in a reputable program on how to instruct the stress management course including group process skills is a must.

A nutrition education program ought to include a nutritional needs assessment, education counseling, and referral as essential.

Educational sessions and materials ought to include the following information:

• The relationship of nutrition and chronic diseases
• Improving eating patterns
• Relationship of nutrition and proper weight maintenance
• Exercise
• Stress
• Blood Pressure (BP)
• Cholesterol
• Diabetes and other chronic diseases.
• Nutritionally accurate information regarding the relationship of health to diet, including cholesterol, fats, fiber, alcohol, carbohydrates, salt, sugar, and vitamin/mineral supplementation.

Methods for identifying healthier foods and incorporating low-calorie, high nutrient foods into eating habits. Guidelines for working on eating habits ought to be based on or consistent with national recommendations such as The Food Guide Pyramid.

Instructor ought to be a registered dietitian, registered nurse, or have a baccalaureate degree or higher in health education with training in nutrition. If an allied health professional instructs the program, a consultation and review of the program design by a registered dietitian is recommended.

Program directors or providers ought to have a background in wellness programming and a professional health-related degree or certification. They ought to have expertise in content areas, planning, promotion, administration, assessment, and ability to grow a program and tailor the program to the workplace.

Program providers ought to have a quality assurance program for evaluating the effectiveness of service personnel, to assess satisfaction of participants, and for personnel training and continuing education.

An central policy statement ought to be available from directors and program vendors approaching the following problems: assurance of confidentiality of health data, referral to medical care for at-risk participants, follow-up with referred participants and those at-risk, program assessment on process and outcomes, company of the workplace for promotion of wellness and changes in corporate culture. A clear contract or letter of agreement for services ought to be provided.

Incentives can be used to increase participation rates, help with completion or attendance at programs, and to help people shift or adhere to healthy lifestyles. The purpose of the incentive is to encourage workers to adopt positive behaviors or maintain an existing positive behavior. Everyone who achieves a objective or maintains a behavior ought to receive something. Many employers also offer incentives/rewards merely for participating in activities.

Stay away from being the “best” or doing the “most.” Encouraging workers to be the best or doing the most promotes excessive behavior, discourages others, and creates elitism. The best designed incentive programs are ones which are based on achieving objectives that are attainable by most people. Recognition, acknowledgment by top management, or special privileges are examples of excellent intangible incentives/rewards.

Incentive ideas:

• Free or Low-Cost:
o Certificates
o Movie passes
o Recognition in employee newsletter
o Mugs
o Water bottles
o Commendation from management
o T-shirts
o Hats

• Moderate Cost:
o Entertainment tickets
o Sweatshirts
o Waist packs
o Subscriptions to health magazines
o Health and fitness books
o Videos

• High Cost:
o Week-end getaways
o Dinner for two
o Clocks
o Watches

• Others:
o Cash
o Gift certificates

A primary concern in wellness programming is attracting workers to take part and maximizing participation. When introducing a program, a letter briefly explaining the program signed by the president or CEO is a great endorsement.

Utilizing posters, newsletter articles, and handouts are great means of promoting the program. Other promotional methods to consider are e-mail and announcements at employee gatherings. Ask Company Wellness Committee members to recruit participants.

Once the program is kicked off you may want to offer an incentive for any employee who recruits another employee to any of the program offerings.

When selecting a program from a vendor you ought to ask the following questions:

• How many worksites have done the program?
• What types of employee population was the program provided?
• What educational materials are used?
• Will the program meet the needs of workers?
• What are the techniques used to help modify behaviors?
• Does the program help workers move through stages of readiness to make health behavior changes?
• How do you market the program to workers?
• What follow-up do you offer?
• How do you make referrals for medical care or other supportive services workers may need?
• How do you know the program works?
• How do you measure colleague satisfaction?