Employee Wellness Newsletter : What is a Company Health Promotion Program?

According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people modify their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health. Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle shift can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, modify behavior, and set up environments that support great health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest influence in producing lasting change.”

Workplace Health Promotion Program: Action Steps

The process of assembling a Workplace Health Promotion Program involves:

• Identifying the current health status of your workers
• Determining the appropriate programs and interventions to offer
• Promoting and implementing the programs
• Building in motivational incentives/rewards
• Measuring the impact
• Revising programs based on assessment outcomes

It may even include planning policies and procedures that support employee participation in wellness activities at your worksite (such as flextime).

Steps to Starting a Company Wellness Program

• Conduct an corporation assessment
• Obtain upper management support
• Establish a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee
• Get employee input
• Develop goals/objectives
• Design and implement program activities
• Choose rewards and incentives
• Assess outcomes

One of the ways the government plans to better the nation’s health is through accross the board Worksite Wellness Programs. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help staff members live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior modification programs. In fact, one of the goals/objectives of Healthy People 2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to stimulate the proportion of staff members that participate in a accross the board Worksite Wellness Program at their worksite to 75 percent.