Employee Wellness Newsletter : Worksite Health Promotion Program Design Options

The program design options depend on the objectives and goals and desired outcomes of your program.  If your objective is to help staff members modify behavior, lower risk factors, or save healthcare money then your wellness program would be designed to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be necessary to support that design.  

There are different wellness program design levels depending on desired outcomes and budgets.  Each level has advantages and disadvantages.  The intentions or results are quite different, are not interchangeable in terms of obtaining similar results, and therefore ought not be confused.  For example, scheduling activities such as an employee health & wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having pamphlets available do not usually result in behavior change, but may expand awareness on a topic.  If the objective is behavior change then a different design is necessary, such as Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs and Company Support.  The outline below describes the wellness design levels with a brief explanation.

Awareness Programs:  At this level a business makes health information available and accessible to staff members.  This type of program can include brochures on a variety of topics, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc.   Also, most wellness fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors offering information and offering health screenings to staff members.  

Awareness programs are cheap and do not require extensive employee or organization time commitments.  Nonetheless, these programs do not usually result in behavior modification.  Growing awareness isn’t usually sufficient to generate lifestyle changes for most American citizens, unless used to arouse staff members to register for a program being provided at the organization or area on the topic.  An example of this would be offering information on the deleterious effects of smoking and inviting staff members who use tobacco to register for a smoking cessation class.

Education Programs:  Educational programs frequently offer more information on a topic and can also provide time for questions & answers, but are similar to awareness programs.  An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic.  These cost the corporation a little more than awareness programs; however, they are still inexpensive and do not require much time for planning or attending a session.  Again, expanding awareness and providing information may not lead to the desired behavior change unless ongoing backing or incentives are also planned.

Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs:  These programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or seminars to provide wellbeing and health education, address barriers and provide opportunities to practice the desired skills.  Behavior change programs therefore require additional company resources, cost more, and also require additional employee commitment, time and effort.  The results are often the desired beneficial lifestyle change, which if sustained can lead to potential cost savings.  

Examples are tobacco cessation classes, weight loss and weight management meetings, or an ongoing fitness program.

Environmental and Business Support:  Environmental reinforcement is frequently considered the highest and most important level to include when beginning your wellness program in order to support and maintain healthy lifestyles.  These types of design options include policy changes such as:

• Creating a smoke-free workplace
• Designating a walking path,
• Securing worksite fitness centers,
• Ensuring healthy vending machines choices,
• Offering healthy meal choices in the cafeteria, and/or
• Establishing flex-time policies.  

Other examples include subsidizing healthy vending machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing gym or weight loss and weight management program memberships; or providing insurance incentives/rewards for healthy behaviors.

Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of each of these options.  The more integrated the approach, the more successful the outcome will be.  For example, a company can have smoking cessation information available; can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of smoking and how to quit; can implement an onsite tobacco cessation program, supply self quit smoking kits, or support staff members to go to a community program; and/or on an environmental reinforcement level can establish a smoke-free workplace and grounds, offer lower medical insurance for non-smokers, or support pharmacological quit smoking aids for free.

Corporate Wellness Program: Components for Success

There are several main components that need to be considered to see to the effectiveness of your Employee Health Promotion Program or Employee Health Promotion Program.  These include:  

• Senior Leadership Backing & Employee Participation
• Active Workplace Wellness Program Committee
• Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
• Goals and Objectives are Established
• Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources & Budget
• Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
• Assessment of Outcomes and Program