Employee Wellness Newsletter : Employee Wellness Program Activities: Design and Implementation

When planning a accross the board Corporate Health Promotion Program, make sure that it consists of a variety of awareness, lifestyle modification, supportive environment programs, policies and activities that target risk behaviors, and the needs and interests of the workers. It will be important to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as smoking sections and the employee cafeteria.

Tips on starting a Corporate Health Promotion Program:

• Create activities based on your planned objectives and goals addressing the specific needs of your workers. Focus on those subject matters that are of greatest interest to your workers and the greatest needs of your company, in that order. Avoid subject matters with narrow appeal.
• Keep it simple. Design the Employee Wellness Program so it’s easy for the participants to be aware of and track.
• Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements.
• Choose activities in which every employee can participate.

Suggestions for your Company Wellness Program:

• Challenges. Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior that continues for 4-8 weeks and focuses on specific topics (such as physical exercise, diet, or stress management).
• Learning experiences. This includes courses, videos, and classes.
• Behavior changes (such as smoking cessation). You may or may not offer interventions at the worksite. However, you ought to bolster individuals to make lifestyle changes that they want to make even without an external incentive.
• Education on disease management. For example, support and education groups for diabetes, high Blood Pressure (BP), etc.
• Learing new skills. For example, CPR and first aid.
• Preventive screenings like Blood Pressure, blood lipids, and vision.

Source: Adapted from the Building Healthy Texans Worksite Wellness Toolkit.