Developing a Health Promotion Program.

As companies today continue to compete in the global economy, cost containment strategies are going to be increasingly important. Controlling the rising cost of worker ill health is becoming a priority for corporate leaders.

The emerging corporate culture in the USA  is one which has an worker population centered in health, wellness and safety.

Developing a corporate strategy for wellness and disability management makes good corporation sense.  The following eight-step process ensures a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and results-oriented approach.

The following process works best in companies with strong leadership and a long-term commitment to employee health.

1. Identify Your Wellness Program Champion

This person ought to be a leader in your company and a strong advocate of health. Typically this is an individual who actively pursues his or her own personal quest for optimal health.

The health promotion program champion must’ve the resources and authority to drive the program forward.  The program champion’s key role is to ensure the strategic plan for health is aligned with the organization’s corporation goals, strategic focus and organizational values.

For  instance if the organization promotes that “our strength is our individuals ” the health promotion program must demonstrate how programs will nurture and protect that valuable resource.

2. Form Your Health Promotion Strategy Team

The Health Promotion Strategy Team ought to include decision makers and stakeholders from areas of the company that can influence health and the corporation’s bottom line.

These areas could include; finance, HR, training and development, health services, compensation and benefits, employee assistance services (EAP), marketing and advertising, facilities, safety and health, rehabilitation, cafeteria or food services and the union. A team of six to eight representatives is recommended.

The role of the Strategy Team is to develop and implement the strategic plan, look for opportunities to promote health, ensure the health promotion program is integrated into key areas of the business, streamline efforts, maximize business resources and health promotion program investigation.

3. Complete an Organizational Health Audit

The purpose of an Organizational Health Audit is to evaluate your existing health promotion programs and services, physical environment and policies and procedures that support health.

It’s also crucial to look at your organizational culture or “how things are done” around the company.

Members of the Strategy Team complete the Audit independently and then meet to discuss their evaluation. During the evaluation process, health issues and opportunities are discussed in preparation for the development of the strategic plan.

4. Analyze Your Corporation’s Cost Pressures

Cost pressures are identified by analyzing  a number of areas including; benefit costs, Worksite Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, drug usage, kind of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and employee assistance program (EAP) utilization.

This process assists to target areas that could be positively impacted by a wellness program and to provide a baseline for analyzing  change.

5. Conduct a HRA or Staff Member Needs and Interest Survey

The next step is to determine your staff member’s health risks, interests and readiness to change. A confidential health risk appraisal can accomplish many goals.

It provides a baseline from which to measure personal lifestyle changes, provides staff with relevant health information, arouses staff to take charge of their health and assists in health promotion program planning.

Most health risk appraisals provide individual reports and a corporate report identifying high-risk areas in the corporation.

Many businesses prefer to administer customized needs and interest survey to evaluate staff member needs.  The advantage of this approach is that the organization is able to gather information on the employees’ perceived health promotion program needs and interests.

This information may be incorporated into the strategic plan. Administering a recent survey also has the added advantage of fostering a sense of staff member ownership to the health promotion program.

6. Create Your Strategic Plan for Wellness

The strategic plan should incorporate information gathered from the Organizational Health Audit, your company’s cost pressures, and health risk appraisal data or worker survey results.

The strategic plan should include your wellness program mission, three or four goals and several wellness programs under each objective.  The strategic plan provides a framework to encourage, support and evaluate “best health practices.”

It’s also important that the plan align itself with the vision, objectives and objectives of the organization.

The sample strategic plan that follows was developed for blue jeans maker Levi Strauss and Co. (Canada) Inc. Levi Strauss and Co.’s mission statement and aspirations (how personnel interact with each other in a company environment) guided the development of the plan.

Levi Strauss and Co.’s aspirations include the following statement –  Above all, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and expert lives, and to have fun in our endeavors.

The health promotion program plan included a number of components to ensure that it embraced this statement including the following -

1. A vision statement, which tied in with the organization’s aspirations.

2.  An incentive system to encourage and reward the accomplishment of healthy milestones.

3. A recognition system to applaud success.

4. Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss and Co. locations to ensure a fun environment.

5. Opportunities to participate in small group educational health promotion programs to foster team support.

6. Initiation of support groups for employees completing health promotion programs (i.e. use of tobacco control support group).

7. Programs dealing with work and family balance.

Other information that was analyzed and used to develop the plan included -

1. Company demographics

2. Focus groups

3. Cultural audit

4. Top drug report

5. EAP utilization

6. Worker benefit services report

7. Health and dental claims

8. Operational performance summaries

9. Health risk assessments

7. Put together a Company Case to Support Your Plan

Your organization case for wellness provides the necessary details for approval at the upper management level.  The organization case includes -

1.  The Strategic Plan for Health

2. A proposed health promotion program budget

3. Marketing strategies

4. Program leadership options

5.  An implementation plan

6. Examination methodology.

In presenting the strategic plan it’s important to highlight how the plan aligns itself with the strategic direction of the corporation.

The health promotion program budget should include educational resources, advertising and marketing costs, rewards and incentives, leadership costs and supplies.

Marketing and Advertising strategies should address how the health promotion program are going to be promoted and rolled out to various groups within the business i.e. decentralized locations, high risk personnel, older personnel.

Program leadership should address how volunteers are going to be used, internal resources  and whether consultants have been proposed. All play an equally important role in the implementation of your health promotion program.

The wellness program implementation plan should incorporate the following types of programs that help create awareness of positive health practices, assist staff members in making lifestyle changes and programs, which support long-term change.

Awareness wellness programs create an awareness of the importance of healthful lifestyle practices and motivate staff members to take the next step. Examples of awareness wellness programs include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and lunch and learn seminars.

Lifestyle change health promotion programs are more extensive and longer in duration. They’re designed to assist employees in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle change health promotion programs are nutrition education programs, stress management programs, back care courses and smoking control programs.

A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies and procedures, the physical environment and creating a corporate culture that supports good health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups for staff that have completed 6-10 week wellness programs also provide a supportive environment for long-term change.

Investigating the effectiveness of wellness is ongoing. A formal analysis should be conducted yearly and might include; re-administering steps three to five, health promotion program participation statistics and a year end survey to revisit “soft” issues like morale, health promotion program satisfaction and future health promotion program direction.

8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan

Employee input is vital to the long-term success of your wellness program.  An Employee Advisory Committee must be formed to roll out the plan. Another key responsibility of this team is to solicit feedback from all levels of the business to ensure buy-in.

Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups are also important. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a key role in supporting positive health practices.

Regular meetings are advised with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address issues and orient new managers.

Conclusions

The World Health Corporation’s definition of health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.”

In order for us to create healthy workplaces, wellness programs must have a wellness program champion, have employee ownership, be senior management supported, results driven and strategically aligned with the overall corporation objectives of the corporation.

Wellness program that embrace these qualities will have a positive impact on an organization’s bottom line. Canadian research points to many case studies where onsite health promotion programs have resulted in reduced absenteeism, lower claims and increased productivity.

Organizations who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business” have one thing in common. They demonstrate a commitment to their most valuable resource â.” their individuals .

They understand the increased pressures associated with downsized businesses, a quickly changing workplace, an aging work force and the challenge of balancing work and family obligations.  And they share a common belief that healthful staff are happier, absent less and more productive.

References -

Design of Wellness Programs by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published by the American Journal of Wellness.

Pro Fit-ability by Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. May 1997.

Meeting Expectations by Laura Mensch. Employee Health and Productivity. August 1999

7 Steps to Health Promotion by Daphne Woolf and Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. February 1996.

Published in the Journal of Health Promotion for Northern Ireland, Issue 9, March 2000