Health Wellness ProgramHealth and Wellness Programs and Wellness Program Consulting

Many businesses recognize the need for a all-inclusive strategy to help their workers be the best they are able to be. They also know that successful and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your wellness program ought to include a wide range of key elements, including:

• A clear agenda or statement of goals and objectives.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• An effective leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overall vision.
• A measurable strategy (what’s valuable gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Starting Your Employee Health Promotion Program

Plan carefully to ensure that your wellness program is seen as part of a broad responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of each employee. Indeed, creating a strong plan takes much work and time (and occasionally resources). But planning is essential and well worth the expenditure needed. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might start by conducting a survey of employee needs and interests. If you do this, pay attention to the results and plan accordingly. If you do not, the staff members will not support the program.

Collecting information about what you’re already offering is also a great idea. By way of example, you may be surprised by your business or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another significant step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable goals to help you outline priorities, timelines and the resources necessitated to start the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Upper Management

The leader of your wellness program must be able to wear countless hats. The leader’s duties include:

• Establishing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested employees.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the company (to senior managers and fellow workers alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Establishing and maintaining leadership skills such as giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avoid becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term goals/objectives at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a thriving wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many people as possible in the program. For example, you’ll want to form a Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee made up of a diverse group of workers to provide advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to get valuable information from all parts of the employer.
• Create ambassadors who will help you implement the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always keep in mind how you will monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Assessment allows you to:

• Ascertain areas of excellence.
• Determine factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Grasp management’s backing for your efforts (and maintain that backing).
• Better be aware of concerns that need attention.
• Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you are able to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The expenditure of your Employee Assistance Program.
• The expenditure of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expenditure of your drug plan.
• Accident rates and safety records.
• Employees’ participation in wellness programs (and whether they’re staying in the programs).
• Changes in employees’ health habits.
• Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle concerns.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other noticeable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan supports ongoing information to workers (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. For example, you may recognize people who have helped established the program or offer tangible rewards for achieving goals/objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether or not workers are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some benefit from them. Showing that a wellness program has financial benefits is often an valuable factor in maintaining strong backing from the top.

If you focus on the key elements of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while organizing and delivering it, you will create a solid foundation and leave a legacy that endures.