Health Wellness ProgramHealth and Wellness Programs and Wellness Program Consulting

• Make sure that your building’s stairways are clean, attractive and safe, and post signs encouraging workers to use the stairs.
• Organize a wellness newsletter or intranet.
• Encourage the Activity Tracker and promote staff members to track their physical exercise every week.
• Be creative, and make the most of the workspace you have. By way of example, mark off a safe walking path inside or around the building. You might also set up a training circuit, highlighting features of the worksite such as stairs.
• Provide physical activity opportunities at different times to accommodate night-, shift-, and part-time workers.
• For workers in remote or satellite offices, offer equal access to key pushes via the intranet. Adapt challenges to suit their environment and take advantage of local facilities and resources.
• Make physical exercise available to employees with special needs. Adapt information and activities for any employee who are visually impaired or physically disabled as well as for people who speak English as a second language.
• Educate staff members about physical exercise using information from reputable sources such as the Alberta Centre for Active Living.
• Offer facilities that invite worksite physical activity. Possibilities include bike racks, physical activity room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.
• Have walking meetings.
• Encourage employees to walk to co-workers’ offices rather than e-mailing or phoning.
• Set up a stretching room. This low-cost initiative requires only a room, stretching mats, stability balls and medicine balls. Put up posters that show stretches and exercises.
• Provide incentives such as shoe bags, ball caps, T-shirts or water bottles to reward employee participation.
• Loan out pedometers for three months, so that employees are able to learn how many steps they usually take and how much exercise they need to add to get basic health benefits.
• Make space for employees to plant and maintain a flowerbed or garden at the workplace. Use any resulting produce for meetings and potluck lunches or donate it to charity.
• Develop a workplace health & wellness fair.
• Hire a certified fitness specialist to create and manage an workplace fitness facility.
• Supply workers with active wear that displays the corporation logo.

• Organize a launch event to foster excitement about upcoming activities and to create a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.
• Design and encourage monthly or bi-monthly corporation programs that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, employee tournaments and dragon boat racing. Urge families to join in by including all-ages programs such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.
• Start a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of workers to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward workers who complete the swim. Set up a challenge between workers and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.
• Post a sign-up board where employee can join a group or find a buddy to participate in activities of interest.
• Create a organization badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each employee playing once a week. Display the results as the tournament progresses.
• Establish an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in several activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.
• Create a point system in which one minute of activity equals one point. Set a target, and post a chart where all workers have the potential to track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.
• Develop a stair climb challenge. Post a chart at the top of the stairwell, and advocate employees to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday. Set up teams, and award a prize to the first group to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.
• Post and reward a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.
• Establish a walk “across this country” Select a route, figure out how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge employees to do it. Give or loan pedometers to employees, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you can’t afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who is able to walk across this country first.
• Design a walk to work club. Acknowledge employees who either walk to work or walk to public transit.
• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.
• Design a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined total of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites might compete with each other and with senior staff.
• Challenge employees to walk 10,000 steps a day. Buy pedometers for all participating employees or, if you can’t afford that, make pedometers available at a reduced rate. Provide tips for increasing daily steps, and reward employees who succeed.

There is no one correct way to approach wellness programs but winning programs share common success factors. These include management support and responsibility, employee participation, adequate resources, and a policy concerning health that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Company Wellness Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the objective is to eventually have a long-term, comprehensive wellness program, some companies prefer to start with a single program at a basic level. By way of 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 workers are to ensure workers needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach supports a chance to show the effect on workers and the workplace so senior staff will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching plan.

Other companies plan a variety of initiatives to meet the needs of the different types of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to advance a sound employer case, complete with a health plan, before attempting any type of program. Corporations want to ensure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall employer vision and mission.

Worksite Health Promotion Program: Success Factors

Whether your business 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 senior staff;
• employee participation in planning;
• programs that meet employee needs;
• a realistic budget; and
• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a team must follow to accomplish its objective of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Organizations also need game plans, even if they do not call them by that name.

Good planning will help to ensure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that expenditures have the potential to be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small problems from becoming bigger.

Steps in Starting a Employee Health Promotion Program

Get senior staff 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 senior staff believes in and is committed to employee health.

Establish a planning committee. Participants can include representatives from employee groups as well as from human resources(HR), health and safety, and communications.

Gather information. To prove that your Corporate Health Promotion Program is constructive, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, prescription costs or WCB expenses. Assess what workplace facilities are available to support employees to make healthy choices such as showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Assess employee needs through a survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the outcome.

Develop 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 upper management approval. Support for employee time and a budget are needed.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that foster awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills, and offer social interaction. (Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Company Wellness Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that offer information about neighborhood resources.) Workplaces can also make it easier for staff members to make healthy choices by offering flextime to allow staff members to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with neighborhood or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for gatherings has the potential to ensure that healthy foods are available.

Review 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 expenditure. Just do it. Get support from upper management, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.

How does it feel to walk into your worksite? Do people look happy? Is the place illuminated and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a gloom come over you, and count the hours until you are able to leave?
The importance of the worksite environment on the wellbeing and health of employees is profound. First there is the physical look, feel, smell, and sounds of the place. Then you’re affected by the policies, like whether others are allowed to light up around you. As time passes, more subtle factors begin to affect you. Do your attempts to live a healthier lifestyle get recognized at work, or are they sabotaged? Are your managers inspiring you by being positive role models? Do you get regular opportunities to discover healthier behaviors?
In a supportive environment, workers feel that the company they work for supports them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles. And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Staff Members who feel cared are naturally more loyal and constructive.
The following ideas will help you transform your workplace environment into one that actually supports the wellness of your employees and business.

Company Health Promotion Program Ideas for Fostering Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you arrive at a worksite, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there sufficient light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent food, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. How does it smell? Sound? Do the staff members have sufficient space?
• Vending machines with healthy meal choices like low-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other physical activity opportunities workplace or nearby
• Cafeteria offers healthy foods that may include a salad bar with low-fat dressing
• Natural light is used whenever possible; all lighting is appropriate and adequate
• Heating and ventilation is adjustable, comfortable and healthful
• No cigarette machines, ashtrays, or smoking areas workplace
• Noise levels are safe and supportive of concentration
• Work station furniture conforms to ergometric standards
• Safety risks have been eliminated
• Lockers and showers are available for staff members who work out before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it difficult to evaluate a workplace. People get used to hectic conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It might provce useful to ask people who are unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also assist.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to impact behavior is through policies and procedures. If nurses aren’t allowed to work more than twelve hours in a row, there will be less medication errors. If parents are afforded flextime to manage their children’s needs, they’ll be less stressed. If employees are able to apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they’ll save them up instead of calling in sick to utilize them all.

Supportive corporate policies may include:

• Seatbelt use demanded in corporation vehicles
• Drug and alcohol policies are appropriate to the industry
• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced
• Flexible work schedules allow workers to exercise, go to children’s school conferences, etc.
• Tobacco-free policy is enforced
• Excessive overtime is discouraged
• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed
• Shift employees are scheduled to allow adequate rest
• Health Care Costs coverage rewards great health
• Rates of Absenteeism policy rewards staff members who don’t use sick days
• Employee Assistance Program available to help employees with chemical dependencies, depression, family problems
• Meaningful consequences are used for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your business may have a policy concerning alcohol use during work hours, but if everyone looks the other way when someone comes back from lunch reeking of beer, the culture is one that permits drinking at lunch-and one in which written policies have the potential to be safely ignored. Prohibited behaviors must be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies become mere lip service instead of springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition And Incentives For Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are given for wellness achievements.
You are able to show you value the Employee Health Promotion Programs by celebrating your programs and those who have made lifestyle improvements in employer newsletters, on bulletin boards, and at annual banquets, meetings, and celebrations. Incentives are a direct way to render appreciation, too.
Wellness mentors are sought and applauded, too. Employees who support others’ efforts to better their health are noticed and appreciated. Peer modeling and mentoring classes have the potential to advocate those who enjoy assisting others to step forward into a new role.

Managers Model And Support Healthier Behavior

Nothing might say “We promote you to exercise often” better than a manager going on a bike ride during the lunch hour–or your supervisor sitting next to you in a weight management class. Wellness activities promote relaxed interaction between people from different departments and at different echelons in the chain of command. That promotes relaxed communication and a feeling of solidarity that is pure gold.
Managers can also provide support for staff members who are working on bettering their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “good job” or “nice to see you at the health club” has the potential to put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers can also help by allowing workers the flexibility to go to wellness events.

Ongoing Company Health Promotion Programs

It’s significant to give workers the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and significant part of the corporation, not a corporation fad. That can activate as soon as a new employee is hired.
New staff members are oriented to the wellness program as one of the employee benefits. Information about the program ought to be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who encourages the new employee to take part.
The staff members are familiar with the ongoing wellness programs.
The wellness programs and wellness coordinator are visible in the corporation. Opportunities to participate are abundant and it’s easy to sign up.
A wide variety of awareness classes are offered. There are topics of interest for everyone.

These are fun and simple programs that are able to be done within your corporation to excite healthy lifestyles during a contest or during other times. The objective is to promote employee participation. Some examples:
• Establish a sub-committee of enthusiastic staff members who will help encourage the physical activity program by offering ideas, suggestions and encouragement to fellow staff members.
• Create monthly mailbox brochures to encourage a contest or support fitness-related education/encouragement information.
• Send a weekly voicemail on each member’s phone with encouraging wellness messages.
• Provide regular cumulative health progress reports.
• Provide reduced fat or heart-healthy lunch selections weekly in your cafeteria or have workers bring a healthy snack to share, with a recipe book compiled at the end of the contest or specified time period (such as a National Nutrition Month in March).
• Distribute employee gifts (pedometers or other novelty item related to some aspect of your contest theme) as registration begins.
• Allocate for workers “Fitness 15-Minute Walk Breaks;” corporation time to walk, physical activity, etc. If appropriate, you could use a space not currently used to set up a treadmill, elliptical, bicycle, some free weights and relaxation music.
• Hold a T-shirt design contest.
• Create posters to map contest (or fitness) progress and to serve as reminder of your goals/objectives:
   • Use push pins or other identifiers for each individual to put up in the office showing how they have progressed – workers have the potential to get very creative with this and design pins that reflect their personalities.
   • Use a bar graph to compare progress.
   • Use a “thermometer” type graphic and illustrate progress – consider a different, fitness-related graphic all together and color it in as you progress.
• Offer aerobic dance or walking videos in your conference or break rooms.
• Compile a list of organized events in the community that offer opportunities to get employees working out by participating as a group (below are just a few):
   • Race For The Cure
   • March of Dimes Walk America event
   • Juvenile Diabetes Research
   • Foundation Walk to Cure
   • American Heart Association’s Heart Walk
   • American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life
   • American Lung Association’s Lung Run
   • Local marathons or special neighborhood walks or runs
• Establish or go to a health-and-fitness retreat.
• Hold a soup-and-salad luncheon followed by a hula-hoop contest!
• Use the mall as an alternate walking location during inclement weather.
• Create “Move it Mondays” – allow workers to take an extra ten minutes during lunch for physical activity.
• Designate “Tasty Tuesdays” – provide employees with low-calorie treats/snacks.
• Establish “Walking Wednesdays”- allow staff members to take an extra ten minutes at lunch to walk, or “Wacky Wednesdays” that allow staff members to explore new exercises.
• Establish “Thirsty Thursdays” – make healthy smoothies or juice drinks for staff members.
• Establish “Fresh Fruit Fridays” for employee – offer seasonal produce treats.
• Send weekly exercise tips to workers via the most effective communications vehicle in your workplace.
• Partner with another employer representative for local media events coordinated through your advertising or communication department.
• Encourage departmental teams to challenge each other (examples: Customer Service, Marketing, Health Support).
• Establish walking clubs with executive/supervisory leadership.
• Seek out local aerobic opportunities or classes through churches, neighborhood groups, college, YMCA, etc.
• Contact several local area gyms and ask if they can or will offer group discounts for exercise programs, waive enrollment fees, or set up a 12-week program as opposed to signing an extended contract.
• Have a Frozen Yogurt Social – “Reap the Benefits of Fitness.”
• Map out a walking track around the building including the number of laps required for one mile.

These are short informational “Health Tips” in an e-mail format on many different health-related topics. You have the potential to appoint someone within your organization to find specific topics on the Internet from sites that are in the public domain or topics can be purchased from employers. Some qualified sources include:
• Hope Health
• Sound Ideas, Inc.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health

These e-mails can be sent daily, weekly or monthly. Our experience indicates weekly is the best frequency.

If the majority of your staff members do not have e-mail, consider offering the information to them through:
• Bulletin boards
• Check stuffers
• Mailbox stuffers
• Newsletters

SAMPLE #1 Worksite Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Employee Health Promotion Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Layering for Exercise

One way to help ensure enjoyment of a winter walk (or run) is to make sure you’re dressed properly for the weather. And the secret to that, for a winter workout, is to dress in layers.
Layer 1 — Avoid 100 percent cotton in the first layer, next to your skin. Cotton holds moisture. Wear underwear made from manmade fabrics to wick perspiration away from skin.
Layer 2 — A zippered sweatshirt and sweatpants will keep you warm. Just open the zipper if you get too warm.
Layer 3 — If needed, over the sweatsuit, you have the potential to add a waterproof and windproof jacket. If it’s very cold, you may want to wear a jacket made with goose down.
Hands — Mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves.
Feet — Wear socks made from wool or manmade fabrics that keep your feet dry and warm. Avoid 100% cotton socks. Don’t wear sneakers or boots that fit too tightly … this will restrict blood flow and your feet will end up feeling colder.
Head — About 40% of your body heat is lost through your head. Wear a hat and cover your ears.
Lips — Don’t forget lip balm containing sunscreen … even in winter!

SAMPLE #2 Job Site Wellness E-mail Messages

From: Workplace Wellness Program
To: Wellness Team
Subject: Energy Boosts

Need an energy boost? Here are some ideas for tapping into your own energy sources — and most require little effort.
• Get an extra hour of sleep. No surprise here — it has the potential to make a tremendous difference in your energy level the next day.
• Eat less more often. Have small, balanced meals or snacks throughout your day for a steady supply of fuel and energy. Make note of which foods seem to boost your energy level.
• Drink enough water. Dehydration contributes to fatigue, which you are able to offset by drinking water throughout the day.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Both can contribute to dehydration and fatigue. They also seem to disrupt sleep patterns.

Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are learning sessions planned and organized by you to meet specific goals/objectives. Decide on a topic and choose a speaker. Select a site for the “Lunch and Learn” session, usually a lunchroom or break room. Depending on your budget and objectives, workers are able to brown bag the lunch or you might provide the meal. Meetings are able to be mandatory or elective, your choice.
Experience tells us the most success will be experienced if these Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs are elective and if the organization supplies lunch.
Goals for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

Education on a specific health concern. You may want to choose one of your group’s top diagnoses. Examples are:
• Diabetes – diabetes prevention and care by a certified diabetic educator
• Cardiovascular disease – cardiovascular health (individual counseling sessions with a nutritionist)
• Hypertension
• High cholesterol
• Flu and pneumonia
• Breast cancer – breast health or breast self-exam sessions are able to be taught by a trained instructor

Education on healthcare insurance benefits:
• Diabetes – what are the covered benefits, where to purchase diabetic supplies, support groups for staff members with diabetes.
• Workplace Health Promotion Program Benefits
• Well baby/child care.

Education on the effect of enrolling in your health plan or local health department’s health education programs or disease management programs. Example programs:
• Diabetes
• Respiratory
• Low-Back Pain
• Cardiovascular
• Tobacco use

Community Resource Speakers for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs
• Local health plan office
• Local heart association
• Local cancer society
• Pharmacies – many pharmacists are available to speak on pharmacy-related concerns.
• Prescription Drug Businesses – many organizations have standard presentations developed for employers that are given no cost of charge to use at your own direction. Some examples are:
   • Know Your Numbers (high blood lipids) – Pfizer
   • Respiratory Wellness (flu and pneumonia) – Pfizer
   • Men’s and Women’s Health – Pfizer
• Local gyms/personal trainers/YMCA – can discuss walking safety, advantages of walking, swimming and aerobics.
• Yoga and/or Pilates instructors
• Running, cycling club representatives
• Local dieticians
• Stamp Out Smoking – Tobacco Coalition representatives

Topics for Wellness Seminars / Lunch and Learn Programs

• Bicycling – benefits and opportunities for cycling
• Nutrition and health (Heart Healthy lunch for all attendees)
• Heart health
• Women’s health concerns
• How to recognize the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke
• National Employee Fitness Day within the office setting – Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness representatives can promote event
• Exercise tolerance and healthy heart issues
• Initiating an exercise program – include the effect of seeing the doctor before beginning of any new exercise program
• Self-defense
• Domestic abuse
• Safety in general
• Exercise safety
• Walking/running benefits and safety tips Tobacco dangers and avoidance

Conducting an Employee Fitness Challenge at your workplace is a fun and exciting way to raise awareness among staff members about the effect of beginning and sustaining an physical activity program. It is a concentrated effort in which to engage them in physical activity for a specific time period that, hopefully, will help them start a healthy habit that will last a lifetime.
However, it is important to practice wellness all year. This section supplies a comprehensive list of Corporate Wellness Program ideas that have been implemented within wellness programs.
All ideas presented in this section have been successful for one or both of the entities. Each exercise/idea has the potential to be used as a stand-alone event, even if you do not conduct a fitness contest, or has the potential to be held in conjunction with your Employee Fitness Contest.
You may want to choose some of the ideas you think will work for your employees or think of others and begin your plan to create a better state of health.

Research studies have repeatedly shown that comprehensive Employee Health Promotion Programs, or Employee Health Promotion Programs, can lower healthcare and insurance costs, decrease absenteeism, and improve performance and productivity. Other benefits shown in research studies include improved ability to attract and retain key personnel, greater employee allegiance, and improved public image of the corporation.

Health Care and Insurance expenditures

A number of studies support evidence of reduced medical and insurance expenditures for participants in Employee Health Promotion Programs, particularly wellness programs involving exercise.

For $30 per person, the Bank of America started a Company Health Promotion Program for retirees using a risk assessment questionnaire, self-care books and other mailed materials. Insurance claims were reduced an average of $164 per year in this group while they increased $15 for the control group. Since they were able to document significant changes in risk behavior, they anticipate greater savings in future years.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks participants claim $300 less per case for a one-year savings of $700,000. Savings for conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle are $722 per case.

Coca Cola reported a reduction in healthcare|medical|medical care|healthcare} claims with an physical activity program alone, saving $500 per employee per year for the workers (60%) who joined their HealthWorks exercise program. Prudential Insurance Organization reports that the organization’s major medical costs dropped from $574 to $312 for each attendant in its wellness program.

Decreased Rates of Absenteeism

Rates of Absenteeism has been shown to be impacted by wellness programs. The evidence indicates a significant decrease in absenteeism and resultant dollars saved as a result of employee exercise program.

Pacific Bell’s FitWorks program lowered absent days .8 percent to save $2 million in one year. FitWorks participants also spent 3.3 days less on short-term disability for an additional savings of $4.7 million.

Focusing Worksite Health Promotion Program efforts on high-risk workers can lead a better outcome. A national manufacturing corporation reports a reduction of 12.2 percent in illness days for these workers.

A two-year study by The DuPont Corporation of the effect of its inclusive Workplace Wellness Program on absences among workers reports that blue-collar workers at intervention sites had a 14% decline in disability days vs. 5.8% decline for controls. There were a total of 11,726 fewer net disability days.

Enhanced Performance, Productivity and Morale

A number of employers with Corporate Health Promotion Programs report documented improvement in job attitude, work success, energy level, and/or overall morale among program participants–all vital factors in enhancing productiveness.

A Johnson & Johnson study reported that employee attitude changes were greater at Corporate Wellness Program intervention sites with significant positive attitude changes noted in the categories of organization commitment, supervision, working conditions, job competence/security, and pay/benefits.

In a Canadian government study, the Canada Life Assurance Corporation experimental group realized a 4% increase in work rate after starting a organization physical activity program, compared to the control group. Further, 47% of program participants reported that they felt more alert, had better rapport with their co-staff members, and generally enjoyed their work more.

Swedish investigators found that mental effectiveness was significantly better in physically fit staff members than in non-fit staff members. Fit staff members committed 27% fewer errors on tasks involving concentration and short-term memory, as compared with the effectiveness of non-fit staff members.

The Bottom Line

The following sample of Company Wellness Programs wellness program results have been reported by individual employers:

Employer: Dollars Saved/Dollars Spent

• Bank of America (Fries): $5.96/$1
• PacBell: $3.10/$1
• Wisconsin School District Insurance Group: $4.47/$1
• Prudential Insurance: $2.90/$1
• Bank of America (Leigh): $4.73/$1
• General Mills: $3.50/$1

Summary

There is strong evidence that a sizable portion of the billions of dollars now being spent by employers on health-related expenditures is avoidable by means of Employee Wellness Programs. Well-planned, all-inclusive Employee Wellness Programs (Employee Wellness Programs and Employee Wellness Programs) have been demonstrated to be cost-effective, particularly when the Employee Wellness Programs is matched to the health concerns of the specific employee.

Free Corporate Health Promotion Programs and Low Cost Health Management Alternatives

Create a free Corporate Wellness Program or run a efficacious health management program in the office for little or no expense to your employer. The advantages of workplace wellness and learning how to start a health management program at work are many. The articles on health management have generated a variety of questions, mostly from wellness providers but also from companies trying to start their own wellness workplace programs. There are a number of things to do to start a efficacious health management program at work.

Ideas for Starting a Free or Low Cost Employee Wellness Program

Prior to starting a low cost or free wellness program for your corporation, learn more about what staff members desire. Survey staff members to learn more about their wellness concerns. Keep the survey confidential to protect employees’ identities. Typically the most popular workplace wellness subject matters are smoking cessation, weight loss concerns and heart and cholesterol health.

Look for Employee Wellness Program Freebies

Find out who will come in for no cost to talk to employees and explore partnerships with outside agents linked with workplace wellness. By way of example, contact a local branch of a well-known weight loss corporation and ask if someone can come in and talk to employees. Look for agencies that are willing to come in and talk about issues related to wellness at no expenditure to employees, in exchange for something from you.

Find Corporate Health Promotion Program Partnerships

Working with a weight loss corporation to set up a speaking engagement for workers is an excellent opportunity to explore a potential wellness partnership. The weight loss corporation may say that if ten workers join the program, they will have weekly meetings at corporation headquarters for the people who joined. The weight loss group also might offer corporation workers a discount if several people join the program.

Nonprofits an Untapped Health Leadership Resource

There are also plenty of nonprofit agencies who would be thrilled to visit a employer to discuss health management. But it’s up to you to offer them something in return. By way of example, if the MS Society came in and talked about the signs of MS, the employer might offer to organize an MS walk (in keeping with employer health management goals and objectives, right?), or an auction with employee and employer-donated items where the proceeds go to MS. The people at the nonprofit agencies would be glad to open a dialog with your employer and to talk about what they would want in return for a speaking engagement. In numerous cases, they won’t need anything at all for a first meeting.

Collecting Data and Analyzing Workplace Wellness Program Results

Gathering data and analyzing results of a Company Wellness Program can be tricky because of HIPPA laws. However, if at least 10 staff members joined the weight loss program, or 20 people take part daily in the all-new “Let’s Walk a Mile at Lunch” program, that sort of progress can speak strongly to senior staff. And, organization successes will potentially give senior staff more incentive to offer money for additional health management and Company Wellness Programs in the future.