Wellness Program Blog

Some of the top health promotion programs currently in use today include –

Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)

HRA is a top health promotion program currently in use globally. Organizations that implement it determine the safety and health concerns of personnel by the assessment of appropriateness of the facilities and equipment against the needs of the personnel.

It can, for instance, guide the company into deciding how the air quality within an office room affects the users and then help the assessment team to come up with the measures necessary to correct the problem.  An Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) can also evaluate the level of exposure workforce have to certain dangerous or dangerous materials and practices.

Immunizations

This is not always practiced in every country since there are regions where government sponsored immunization shots are available. Nevertheless, it has also become an important component of the top worker wellness programs in many businesses in North America.

Immunization shots, such as those used to combat flu, for instance, are offered to workforce for free.

Employee Assistance Programs

Worker Assistance Programs consist of a wide variety of services. It can range from providing educational resources to workforce regarding health issues to sponsoring health services and medical care. In many companies, medical and insurance have also become a staple part of their benefits system.

In-house diet and nutrition drives

This is another wellness program that companies use, particularly those that offer in-house commissary or cafeteria services. Instead of serving richer, high-calorie fare, cafeterias offer options for a healthier diet, normally in the form of low-calorie foods and sugar substitutes.

In-house wellness newsletter and campaign drives

One of the top health promotion programs that companies can implement is a self-powered tool using a newsletter to promote wellness, coupled with a visible campaign.

The campaign could  be done periodically and focus on a specific topic, like smoking hazards, cancer, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, safety in the workplace, etc.

The newsletter in itself may be an effective means to deliver information to personnel or members of an organization but it’s far from perfect.

Some personnel, for example, might not peruse the newsletter entirely or even pay attention to it. If the issues outlined in the newsletter are promoted through an active and highly visible campaign, it’ll be easier to maximize positive results.

Exercise and Physical Fitness

Another top wellness program for corporations is one that involves physical activities. Companies often sponsor exercise-related events such as marathons and business sports programs to encourage personnel to remain fit or lose excess weight.

In mid- to large-sized businesses, businesses might even pay for health and fitness center memberships or in-house exercise facilities.

Wellness Incentives

Some of the top wellness programs implemented by businesses involve incentive rewards. This involves company-sponsored wellness programs that reward staff members for achieving specific wellness-related objectives.

Participation in health campaigns and signing up for wellness programs are two of the most commonly rewarded schemes. Rewards can range from special recognitions to over time obtained points (for larger rewards) to specific gifts. In several cases, cash might also be used.

However, incentive systems have had mixed reactions and levels of success. But it continues to be one of the top choices among corporations who are willing to modify it in order to fit their unique needs.

Colleague Pressure

In many organizations, organizations take benefit of coworker pressure in order to encourage personnel to participate in wellness programs. This is currently among the favorite staff member wellness programs currently in use today and growing in popularity.

Coworker pressure is often leveraged to help promote competitions referring to company health promotion and to persuade staff members to be active in company-sponsored wellness fairs.

Wellness is a great concept. It brings happiness into health and encourages a indeed holistic approach to life. Wikipedia defines wellness as a healthful balance of the mind-body and spirit that causes an overall feeling of well-being.

It sounds like exactly what every one is looking for. But when you start to talk about employee health promotion, or employee health promotion, all life goes out of the concept. Total solutions, disease management (DM) and medical testing do not inspire visions of enjoying life and living it to the full.

They start from the assumption that sickness is here to stay and needs to be discovered, managed and controlled but can never be healed.

The wellness industry is growing phenomenally fast. Health Promotion guru, Paul Zane Pilzer, has labeled it the next trillion dollar industry. But wellness has two different faces.

On the one hand there are the small corporations – individuals  working from home or in small centers selling all kinds of wellness products and services at a speed of growth that is escalating quickly.

On the contrary company wellness is also exploding but in a very different direction.

The baby boomers who are driving the well-liked wellness revolution have been described as the first generation to refuse to accept the inevitability of death.

They’re actively looking for ways to prevent aging, stay healthful into old age and enjoy themselves more than ever before after retirement. This is a radical departure from current notions of old age, which are often dominated by pictures of sickness, frailty and suffering.

The companies have been largely forced to take on wellness. This is partly through legislative pressure, with many countries introducing laws to make companies liable for stress-related ailment in their workforce.

It is also financially motivated, as research has repeatedly shown the immense costs of absenteeism (and increasingly of presenteeism as well).

Whereas the baby boomers are actively looking for new solutions and new lifestyles the corporations are struggling to organize largely traditional and mainstream health systems, like doctors, nurses, insurance and screening systems.

The problem is that the traditional health system does not have solutions for the problems that people  are handling.

Nobody ever went to see a doctor to get happy, because a doctor doesn’t have any clue how to make people  happy.  And many stress-related health problems are described as chronic conditions, which means that they last for a very long time – or maybe for the rest of your life – because there’s no medical cure.

Counseling is a common offering in organizations for emotional problems, but whilst it might provide a useful pressure valve it isn’t a powerful treatment for stress, unhappiness or depression.

Imagine walking into a corporation where the staff members are happy, healthy, full of inspiration, fit, love working, have meaningful family lives, active social lives, and enjoyable relationships at work and in their community.

That kind of company would be a pleasure to work in and bound to be successful because individuals  would be working to their optimum capacity.

So can we develop a system of true wellness that will serve the development of the corporations and their staff and will pay for itself because of the benefits that both sides will gain?

First of all we’ve to face the fact that we cannot place all the responsibility into the hands of the current health system. Absenteeism, stress, depression, the very roots of the wellness revolution, have not been solved by the current system.

When they’d been we wouldn’t have this revolution, we’d all be much more well. So we need to look elsewhere for solutions.

We also can’t rely on makeshift feel-good wellness offerings, like the onsite massage team which visits the office once a month or the wellness day that raises awareness for a little while but leaves most people  unaffected. They’re easy to organize but have little or no real effect on worker health promotion.

Corporate needs are different than individual needs and many of the new small wellness corporations that are springing up simply don’t have the capacity to serve the corporate market.

However it is in the best interest of both corporations and workforce to find and develop systems of wellness that really work – that benefit individuals  to be happy, handle stress, love working, and to have enough energy to go home after the day and enjoy their family and social life.

So far the corporate world has hijacked the theory of wellness and turned it into a modern version of occupational health. It is time to increase the vision and find out how to make indeed healthy, happy workplaces where people  thrive.

High rates of employee turnover and the costs of sick days are increasingly taking bites into corporate profits.  The high cost of recruitment programs only adds to the challenges that these problems in total cost the average corporation.

A lot of businesses are finding the solution to these challenges by increasing job satisfaction, team building, and the implementation of health promotion programs that yield a reduction in these costs.

It’s become increasingly clear to most managers that a well designed health promotion program with a strong nutritional and fitness lifestyle emphasis will directly meet this need.

Management’s objectives for a productive health promotion program should be viewed through the perspective of increased staff member productivity, decreased absenteeism due to health related causes, improved staff member morale, decreased utilisation of company subsidised health benefits, enhanced team cohesion and effectiveness and a decrease in turnover due to lack of job satisfaction.

It’s obvious that an improvement in any of these areas will have a positive impact on the financial status of any organisation.

The benefits from an personnel point of view could be seen in improved health, increased energy levels, decreased body fat, a more youthful fit body, an increased ability to handle job related stress, greater feelings of confidence and morale and more social connections at work contributing to greater feelings of satisfaction with their work and workplace.

To be most productive a wellness program needs to achieve both managements and workforce goals, and this can be accomplished through a wellness program that will provide the individual employee with an awareness of their current physical condition and attitudes to fitness and well-being, and the benefits of attaining a fitter, healthier lifestyle, and a plan that will allow them to achieve the necessary changes to their physical condition that can be applied for their life and work.

The Bottom Line – Wellness Programs

Decreased Absenteeism – Dupont lowered absenteeism by 47.5 percent over six years for the participants of their staff fitness initiative, (Health Behaviour, March 1992).

Reduced Healthcare Costs – Steel case showed a reduction in medical claim costs of 55% for employee fitness program participants over non-participants over a six year period – an typical of $478.61 for participants versus non-participants who averaged $868.88, (The Am. Journal of Wellness, Sept/Oct, 1991).

Reduced Turnover – Turnover among fitness program participants at the Canadian Life Assurance Business was 32.4% lower over a seven year period compared with non-participants (Canadian Journal of Public Health, Jan/Feb, 1988).

Positive Return on Investment – Blue Cross and Blue Shield  of Indiana found that its staff fitness program had a 250 percent return on investment; $2.51 for every $1 invested over a five year period (American Journal of Wellness, March, April, 1991).

The Partnership for Prevention was formed to encourage Fortune 1000 companies to consider making workforce health a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) issue and adopt strategies to promote avoidance and wellness.

After several years of double-digit rate increases for health insurance, corporations are realizing that among the best ways to slow the cost increases is to have staff members take more responsibility for both costs and health choices.

A majority of businesses surveyed feel that the best way for lowering costs is financial incentives to encourage personnel to adopt healthier life choices.

Almost 100% of businesss surveyed say that healthcare costs will be a vital or meaningful concern over the next five years, as reported by a recent survey by United Benefit Advisors.

More employers are adopting higher deductible health care programs with HRA’s or HSA’S, wellness programs, and broader disease management (DM) programs for control ever-increasing healthcare costs.

Failure to deal with these issues can be disastrous for an employer. Wayne Sensor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alegent Health lately stated, “I think that we have built a health care machinery we can’t afford. I think we are choking the economic engine of America.”

In his October 2005 newsletter, Dr. Andrew Weil stated, “I think rising health- care costs are becoming the major economic issue in our nation”. Obesity costs California organizations billions of dollars each year.

Projected costs for 2005 may reach 28 billion dollars for direct and indirect healthcare costs, staff member’s compensation, and lost productivity. California has experienced among the fastest growing rates of obesity of any state.

According to California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, “The obesity epidemic is more than a public health crisis, it’s an economic crisis.” What is frightening is that most individuals do not even realize that they’re obese, which is defined as only 20% above normal weight.

There’s a excellent need for additional education on weight and resulting illnesses, and the worksite is an ideal venue. Health Promotion education and programs can result in a significant return on investment and, when structured properly, can produce causes a very short period of time.

Although many companys have attempted some form of health promotion program in the past, results from those efforts have been disappointing.

In many cases, the healthier staff members participated for incentives, like fitness club memberships, but those who needed it most didn’t take benefit of the health promotion program in a meaningful way.

Businesses are looking at ways to encourage more workforce to purchase into the wellness movement.

A recent webinar hosted by Human Resource Executive Magazine and presented by Carlson Advertising and Marketing Group titled, “Healthier Employees; Healthier Bottom Line –  Engaging Workers is the Missing Link in Managing Health Care Costs,” drove this point home.

This session provided actionable advice on how organizations are achieving higher impact with their wellness investments by focusing on staff member engagement. It also highlighted how you can create an Economic Engagement Model to forecast the potential impact for your corporation.

Employers can simply no longer ignore the issue of their worker’s unhealthy lifestyles and must act to engage them in a meaningful wellness program to reduce health care costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Staff Members also benefit as they derive better health and greater satisfaction in both their personal and expert lives.  The alternative is being caught in a non-competitive position and severely impacting the bottom-line of the company.

A listing of potential wellness topics and ideas not previously mentioned follows. Take some time to “think tank and brainstorm” new ideas with your own internal worker Health Promotion Committee.

Nutrition Category

• Low-fat campaign/food groups

• Team salad bars

• Vending machine changes

• Diet analysis by a nutritionist

• Produce on parade

• Consuming disorder support group

• Restaurant education

Physical Activity/Exercise Category

• “Elevoiders” – stair climbing

• Poker walk

• Mall walking program

• Facilities – showers, bicycle lockers, exercise space, etc.

• Team treks

• Walk-a-block trails

• Recreational tournaments

• How-to-select equipment talks

• Running maps

• Bicycling maps

• Deskercises (mini stretches for desk jockeys)

• Fit-over-forty club

• Tennis shoe Tuesday

• Walk 100 miles in 100 days

• Walking “buddies”

• NW Trek!

Miscellaneous Category

• House calls

• Meet your benefits providers

• Dental health

• Fire safety

• Ergonomic assessments

• Self-help learning

• CPR/first aid course

• Hearing test

• Hand washing campaign

• Cancer screenings

• Back class

• Passports to health

• Vision screenings

Stress Management Category

• Comedy hour

• Stress Pest

• Humor newsletter

• Money management seminars

• Time management seminars

• Relaxation class

• Better sleep campaign

• Relaxation room

Other departments within an organization will likely focus on related areas of staff member safety and injury prevention. Wellness activities are a natural partner to many other HR, staff member motivation, and safety programs.

Body mechanics, ergonomics, and safe working practices are three areas which might  be coordinated together.

• Soft Tissue Sprains and Strains –  This injury category continues to remain the number one financial loss for workers’ compensation. Many medical insurance dollars are also spent on back pain, other sprains, and strains. Health Promotion and safety efforts can focus on –

• Warm up stretches before starting work or periodic stretching during work. These can do much to prevent soft tissue injury. Provide training to work groups so they could begin a stretching program. These groups can then continue their own.

• The wellness committee might consider contracting a fitness expert to come in and conduct stretching “refreshers” for employee groups throughout the year.

• Provide body mechanics training on an annual basis or more frequently when possible. These training sessions should focus on work related tasks and safety, in addition to feature a segment on home tasks and body safety.

• Partner with your corporation’s workers’ compensation carrier to assist in providing body mechanics training, job safety analysis, and other preventive services which may help personnel work safer, smarter, and avoid injury.

• Implement a safety concerns suggestion box. Make certain to encourage personnel to report safety and/or injury concerns. Make certain to help senior management to establish policy to recognize and reward personnel who offer safety suggestions, provide tips, and solution ideas.

• A periodic presentation featuring a local medical provider addressing such topics as safe body mechanics, recovering from a back injury, appropriate spine care, etc.

• Partner with executive management and supervisor teams to recognize and reward work groups who are successful with safety and injury prevention.

• The ergonomics of an employees’ workstation/work place design is important and applicable to every group.

• Give ergonomic training opportunities to interested personnel volunteers. These individuals can then assist other personnel to assess their work areas for safety, comfort, and injury prevention.

• It is often more effective to have an observer evaluate staff for helpful and friendly comfort suggestions rather than it’s for person to assess themselves.

• One suggestion is to have staff remind one another about correct posture, to take breaks, to stop and do quick mini stretches, etc.

• Take before and after photos of work areas as changes are made. This will help to demonstrate how small adjustment changes can often make large comfort changes.

• Partner with the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier to help develop ergonomic policies and practices and to provide worker training.

Tying wellness activities into holiday themes is a strategy widely used to develop interest and participation. However, be aware that offering holiday activities in the workplace can develop issues.

Your worksite may have policies and guidelines already in place about issues like appropriate decorations themes, work time, etc. Make certain to check with senior level management regarding all guidelines and policies.

Do not forget to include and acknowledge the holiday celebrations of the various cultures or groups represented in your workforce. It’s ordinarily safer to use graphics, themes, and wording that aren’t specific to one culture, as others may feel left out.

In truth, acknowledging diverse holidays, if done respectfully, can help familiarize your workforce with values and practices of different cultures and ethnic groups.

Several topical ideas for holiday themes include –

• Health Promotion committee members distribute “healthful heart valentines” to each staff member for Valentine’s Day.

• Thanksgiving “turkey trot”. Staff Members who exercise three times a week for at least one-half hour between November 1 and 15 are entered into a drawing for a free turkey (can be purchased at the local supermarket or donated).

• Chinese New Year tai chi demonstration. Consider a follow-up workplace introductory tai chi class offering.

• Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/etc. holiday food potluck. Members of different cultural or ethnic groups bring in a dish reflective of their holiday traditions.

Each individuals can say a few words about the origin and tradition behind the food. In this holiday theme, food does not have to be low fat or in particular healthful, since the purpose is enhancing cultural diversity, not counting calories.

Pre/Post Holiday Weigh In

Holiday weight gain may be a big health challenge. This wellness activity is fun, low-key, and helps workers monitor their weight during the holiday season.

• Participants weigh-in with a “trusted” confident before Thanksgiving.  The weigh-ins may  be conducted on the honor system, but weight ought to be recorded on a weight-tracking card. You may invite a local nurse or Weight Watchers representative to monitor weigh-ins.

• Employees set an individual goal of maintaining their weight from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.

• Weight cards are stored in a secure file location.

• Give weekly weight control hints. These must be posted next to the wellness bulletin board, sent via email, or provided in handout form.

• Or, alternate the weekly hints with healthy recipe options.

• Remind staff of the necessity to continue exercise during the busy holiday season.

• Weigh everybody the first work day following New Year’s Day. Record the weight on the tracking card.

• Staff Members who have maintained their weight or who have lost weight receive a prize and award certificate.

• Workers who gained weight receive a certificate of completion and an invitation to continue participation in a related health weight wellness activity.

National health observance campaigns can lighten workload and effort. Many of these well-developed observances have kits and materials which can either be downloaded for free or purchased inexpensively.

Monthly health themes, week Iong events, and nationally recognized days of the year are also good ways to have fun while participating in bigger events. Health observances are tied to almost every aspect of wellness and health. Things to consider –

• National observances present opportunities to work with other community agencies and organizations to coordinate larger events and celebrations.

• A wellness message is more likely to stick with people if the information is presented at work, in local supermarkets, and on TV.

• National Worker Fitness Day/Week (April) is a good place to begin.

• A word of advice – do not go overboard in attempting to tie a wellness program into these national observances, as there are so many. Select one to three events annually and stick with these.

Create and promote events well ensuring that employees will come to expect and anticipate these health promotion programs each year. It’s best to do several wellnesss well than many promotions poorly.

A lot of employees enjoy team related activities. These activities usually take place on an staff member’s time away from work and participation is totally voluntary in nature.

Even though the sports team isn’t part of an staff member’s regular work duties, when the team or activity is associated with the employer, the employer could be held liable in the event of an worker injury.

If the activity brings with it a risk of injury, it is necessary to address the possible risk and liability issues with the correct company department. Furthermore talk with your organization’s workers’ compensation carrier and/or legal counsel.

• Organize summer softball or volleyball teams, a winter ski outing, fall and winter smoke free bowling teams, a spring golf tournament, summer walks, etc.

• Provide brochures and catalogs from area Parks and Recreation departments and county park organizations so staff can take benefit of community leagues, trips and offerings.

• Invite an official from one of the above corporations to speak at a organization brown bag event, or invite an area Parks and Recreation instructor to provide a demonstration of a new class offering.

Family Friendly Activities

Periodically offer activities which can be taken home and shared with the entire family. Ideas for these include –

• Television Free Week (usually in April) – Create a chart for the children to use to record their TV-free participation.

• Make available a certificate to whoever who is TV-free for a week.

• When possible, offer several prizes (but not video rental certificates, video games or other TV-related items) for related categories, such as less than 5 hours of Television, no video games for a week, etc.

Stress Management

Many simple wellness activities and practices can help employees understand the role stress plays in effecting health, safety, and productivity. It is necessary to help employees understand simple stress management strategies for reducing stress levels.

• Stress kit check out. Have stress management tools available for staff member use during a scheduled break time. Consider providing relaxation music or programs including player and headphones; mat or blanket to lie on; neck pillow; eye mask; and stress massage rollers.

• Give a stress management brown bag event at which workforce can try different kinds stress management tools.

• Make sure to encourage workforce to take 10-minute relaxation/exercise breaks. Post reminders.

• Give a comfortable worker break area.

• Designate a “quiet room” for meditation and relaxation, if possible.

• Make certain to work with Management to keep supervisors informed about the effects of stress in the workplace. Supervisors are often the first step in assisting workers find different ways of managing work related stressors.

• Contact the Worker Assistance Provider (EAP) for a variety of stress management information and self-assessments.

• Offer stress management self-assessments to interested staff. Follow these up with a stress management videotape, a brown bag presentation, or a community guest speaker.

Mental Wellness

Emotions and psychological health greatly affect overall health and well-being. Every wellness program should incorporate some services, programs, resources or activities to address psychological health issues.

Mental health topics may be sensitive areas for personnel. Consequently, it is important to provide information in a variety of ways, worksite presentations being just one possibility.

For  instance, put domestic violence resource cards in the restrooms to provide useful information in a private setting that doesn’t embarrass whoever. Other considerations include –

• When planning to offer an oratory event or presentation a neutral class title will ensure potential participants won’t be put off by the name.

For  instance, “Parenting in 2004″, “Positive Parenting”, or “Parent University” is much more appealing than “Stress and Parenting”.

• Make sure to allot enough time when hosting EAP/psychological health workshops for a question and answer session so participants may ask specific questions.

Always remind participants that individual help is available through the employee assistance program also through their health benefits. Give written contact information for your EAP, but do so discretely.

• The Worker Assistance Program (EAP) is an great partner and resource for wellness programming in these areas.  The EAP can help find ways to address mental health, stress, coping, and other related issues.