Posted by admin | Posted in Health Program Ideas, Screening and Intervention Programs, Wellness Program Incentives | Posted on 05-05-2009
According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of good 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, change behavior, and set up environments that support good health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest effect in producing lasting change.”
Workplace Wellness Program: Action Steps
The process of building a Company Wellness Program involves:
• Identifying the current health status of your employees
• 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 Worksite Wellness Program
• Conduct an business assessment
• Obtain upper management support
• Establish a Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee
• Get employee input
• Design objectives and goals
• Design and implement program activities
• Select incentives
• Assess outcomes
One of the ways the government plans to better the nation’s health is through accross the board Corporate Wellness Programs. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help workers live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior modification programs. In fact, one of the goals and 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 workers that participate in a accross the board Corporate Wellness Program at their workplace to 75 percent.