Employer Wellness

A Company Health Promotion Program without objectives and goals is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a bit of thoughtful planning, you increase your chances for a efficacious experience.  Clear objectives and goals are needed to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program goals/objectives are different from one organization to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Nevertheless, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a efficacious wellness program!

Worksite Wellness Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Employee Health Promotion Program. The mission statement is the overriding expression of what the Employee Health Promotion Program Committee wants to accomplish by launching a wellness program.  It is significant to consider how your Employee Health Promotion Program fits in with the business mission statement, contributes to the overriding mission and supports the business bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the business operations.  

Below are some examples of Worksite Wellness Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Employer, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Corporate Wellness Program to help  in starting Corporate Wellness Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Worksite Wellness Program Committee to develop healthier lifestyle choices to decrease health risk factors, improve overriding well-being, and maintain a productive, active work force.”

Company Wellness Program Goals

The goals and objectives further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, upper management expectations and employee interests, examples of goals and objectives can include:

The objective(s) of XYZ Workplace Wellness Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Decrease absenteeism by one day per employee
• Cut down on musculoskeletal injuries by ten percent
• Cut down on unnecessary emergency room visits
• Lower or contain healthcare expenditures
• Improve dietary habits of workers
• Lower health risk factors  

Workplace Health Promotion Program Objectives

Specific Corporate Health Promotion Program objectives help meet your long-term objectives and goals.  Both short term and long term objectives ought to be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the objectives and goals.  In addition to objectives for the expected colleague outcomes, process objectives ought to also be developed for the program process itself.  For example, process objectives may include the number of workers you want to take part in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be offered, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives need to be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to establish both your long and short-term goals and objectives:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be monitored or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  For example, a goal for a weight loss program that has an overriding intention of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Participants (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per participant (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Participants (who) will catch 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of an intention for coaching staff members with high cholesterol might be:

To cut the total cholesterol (specific what) of high risk workers with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions provided at the workplace (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to cut the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process mission for a smoking cessation program with an overall intention to assist  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week tobacco cessation program, ten% of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each participant will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process objective) and ten% of those who quit will still be smoke-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including instituting your Company Health Promotion Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!