Posted by admin | Posted in Health Program Ideas, Screening and Intervention Programs, Wellness Program Incentives | Posted on 19-03-2009
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.