Employee Wellness Newsletter : Building a Worksite Wellness Program

There is no one correct way to approach wellness programs but winning programs share common success factors. These include responsibility from management, employee participation, adequate resources, and a policy concerning 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 corporations prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level. For example, the first steps could be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthy eating; or they could launch a pilot project to discover how interested employees are to ensure employees needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach provides a chance to show the impact on employees and the workplace so upper management will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching plan.

Other businesses 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 organization case, complete with a health plan, before attempting any type of program. Corporations want to be sure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall organization vision and mission.

Employee Wellness Program: Success Factors

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

• reinforcement and participation from upper management;
• employee participation 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 group 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 make sure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that costs can be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small issues from becoming bigger.

Steps in Starting a Employee Health Promotion Program

Get upper management backing. You may need to cultivate a corporation case to convince managers that the wellness program is a corporation strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction affects their productivity. workers need to see evidence that upper management believes in and is committed to employee health.

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

Accumulate information. To prove that your Employee Wellness Program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, prescription costs or WCB expenses. Evaluate what workplace facilities are available to support workers 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.

Establish 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.

Obtain management approval. Support for employee time and a budget are necessitated.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that create awareness, increase knowledge, cultivate skills, and support social interaction. (Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Corporate Health Promotion Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that support information about area resources.) Workplaces can also make it easier for workers to make healthy choices by providing flextime to allow workers to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with area or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for gatherings has the potential to make sure that healthy foods are offered.

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 support from management, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.