Employer Wellness

There is no single correct way to approach wellness programs but successful programs share common success factors. These include commitment from management, employee participation, adequate resources, and a policy on health that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Corporate Health Promotion Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the objective is to eventually have a long-term, all-inclusive wellness program, some companies prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level. For example, the first steps might be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthy eating; or they might launch a pilot project to learn how interested staff members are to ensure staff members needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach provides a chance to show the impact on staff members and the workplace so upper management will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching plan.

Other corporations plan a variety of drives to meet the needs of the different sorts of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to advance a sound business case, complete with a health strategy, before attempting any type of program. Companies want to ensure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall business vision and mission.

Employee Health Promotion Program: Success Factors

Whether your business chooses to think big from the outset or to activate with something smaller, always keep in mind the following key success factors:

• support and participation from upper management;
• employee involvement in organizing;
• programs that meet employee needs;
• a realistic budget; and
• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a team must follow to accomplish its intention of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Businesses also need game plans, even if they do not call them by that name.

Good planning will help to be sure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that costs have the potential to be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small issues from becoming bigger.

Steps in Developing a Company Health Promotion Program

Obtain management backing. You may need to cultivate a company case to convince managers that the wellness program is a company strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction impacts their productiveness. employees need to see evidence that management believes in and is committed to employee health.

Establish a planning committee. Participants have the potential to include representatives from employee groups as well as from human resources(HR), health and safety, and communications.

Gather information. To prove that your Workplace Health Promotion Program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, prescription drug costs or WCB expenses. Evaluate what workplace facilities are available to support staff members to make healthy choices such as showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Evaluate employee needs through a survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Develop the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include program objectives, activities and how you are going to measure whether your objectives were met. Keep the plan flexible. You may have to change direction in response to employee feedback or changes in the company’s structure.

Get management approval. Support for employee time and a budget are needed.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that create awareness, broaden knowledge, develop skills, and offer social interaction. (Activities might include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Employee Health Promotion Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that offer information about area resources.) Workplaces are able to also make it easier for employees to make healthy choices by offering flextime to allow employees to fit exercise in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with area or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for gatherings is able to make sure that healthy foods are available.

Assess the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.

A wellness program doesn’t have to be complicated or a huge investment. Just do it. Get backing from upper management, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.