Employer Wellness

Many organizations recognize the need for a accross the board strategy to help their staff members be the best they can be. They also know that thriving and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your wellness program should include a wide range of key components, including:

• A clear agenda or statement of goals.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• A strong leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overriding vision.
• A measurable strategy (what’s valuable gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Starting Your Employee Wellness Program

Establish carefully to make sure that your wellness program is viewed as part of a broad responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of each employee. Yes, creating a strong plan takes a lot of effort and time (and at times resources). But planning is critical and well worth the cost needed. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might begin by delivering a survey of employee needs and interests. If you take this route, pay attention to the results and plan accordingly. If you do not, the workers will not support the program.

Gathering information about what you’re already offering is also a great idea. For example, you might be surprised by your corporation or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another significant step is to set an agenda and/or measurable objectives and goals to help you outline priorities, timelines and the resources necessitated to start the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Senior Leadership

The leader of your wellness program must be able to wear countless hats. The leader’s duties include:

• Developing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested workers.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the organization (to senior managers and fellow staff members alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Creating and maintaining leadership skills such as giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avert becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term objectives and goals at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a successful wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many people as possible in the program. By way of example, you’ll want to form a Workplace Wellness Program Committee made up of a diverse group of workers to offer advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to get valuable information from all parts of the employer.
• Design ambassadors who will help you enable the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always keep in mind how you will monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Evaluation allows you to:

• Identify areas of excellence.
• Identify factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Gain management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).
• Better be aware of problems that need attention.
• Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you are able to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The cost of your EAP.
• The expense of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expenditure of your drug plan.
• Accident rates and safety records.
• Employees’ participation in wellness programs (and whether they’re staying in the programs).
• Changes in employees’ health habits.
• Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle issues.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other perceivable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan provides ongoing information to employees (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is critical in an effective communications plan. By way of example, you may recognize individuals who have helped established the program or provide tangible rewards for meeting objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether staff members are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some advance from them. Showing that a wellness program has economic benefits is frequently an significant factor in maintaining strong backing from the top.

If you focus on the key components of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while organizing and delivering it, you will create a solid foundation and leave a legacy that endures.