Create a culture of wellness within your company
Create Exemplary Management Support
In the most successful Health Promotion Programs, senior level managers lead their organizations by example. And they work to ensure that the executive management structure not only allows, but actively encourages their staff to participate.
Organize a Wellness Advisory Team
Health Promotion committees serve as the eyes, ears, arms and legs of the health promotion program, representing peers ideas and concerns, and helping reshape the organizational culture toward health.
Conduct an Assessment of Financial and Human Assets and Liabilities
Successful Wellness Programs are built upon a foundation of information, including claims review, demographic analysis of the workforce, senior level management and employee surveys, health risk data, history of organizational wellness, and health benefit plan design.
Develop Clearly Announced Vision, Mission and Outcomes
Establish a clear vision of wellness program direction, expectations and measures to answer the questions, “Where are we going and how’ll we know when we get there?”
Create a Extensive and Strategic Health Promotion Program
A multi-component plan ought to consist of strategically created and implemented awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment programs, in addition to policies and activities that target appropriate health risk behaviors and needs of the staff members.
Identify an Incentive and Reward Strategy
Incentives show the organizational commitment to the health promotion program and motivate person to participate. Incentives vary commonly from program to program, but can include such things as time off, reduction in health insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to health and fitness centers, free pedometers, etc.
Communicate to Employees
Your wellness program must be simple and concise, use an identifiable brand, and rely on a selection of media to communicate with employees and managers.
Evaluate Outcomes
Evaluate health promotion program participation, satisfaction levels and behavioral change. You could want to track the number of workers’ compensation claims, productivity, turnover morale and absenteeism.
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Wellness Program – Management Support.
Create Exemplary Management Support
Goal – A Wellness Program established into the organization’s culture.
Focus – Develop support and excitement for the wellness program from all levels of the corporation – upper management, mid-level management, and grass-roots personnel.
Obtaining upper management’s buy-in is essential to launching an effective wellness program. The staff members must understand that upper management is supportive of the wellness program.
Actions –
Create an Upper Management Executive Team to determine high-level decisions – positions that should be included are the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Communications Officer, and other appropriate division-level managers and health promotion program specialists, as necessary.
The Upper Management Executive Team will –
Communicate to all levels of senior management about the wellness program and drive the integration of the Health Promotion Program as a part of the organization culture.
Ensure that organizational resources are available for wellness program planning and implementation.
Make sure to encourage staff to participate and to assist in “recruiting” other staff, get the momentum going, and keep it growing.
Share success stories within the company, and continue to raise the perceived value of participation.
Organize a Health Promotion Advisory Team
Goal – Create a working committee that consists of staff and essential functional parts of the corporation.
Focus – to assist in reshaping the organizational culture to support employee-wellness activities by serving as couriers and supporters for the health promotion program.
Health Promotion Advisory Committees serve as an essential part of the infrastructure of your Health Promotion Program. The team members are the eyes, ears, arms, and legs of the wellness program.
They represent their coworkers by sharing ideas and concerns about the wellness program.
Actions –
The Wellness Advisory Committee will –
Make certain to work with upper-level management and the Health Promotion Program coordinator in the design, implementation, and analysis of the wellness program.
Create methods to enhance the acceptance and success of the activities of your Health Promotion Program by encouraging worker ownership of the wellness program.
Hold periodic meetings to keep the committee informed of upcoming plans and events and to provide feedback to the wellness program coordinator about their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, and those of their colleagues.
Recommend policy and environmental changes that are aimed at bettering the health and safety of staff.
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Wellness Program – Vision and Mission.
Goal – Develop a baseline of information and identify human and organizational needs.
Focus – Review a selection of information to better understand past and current conditions regarding healthcare utilization, organizational culture, demographic overview, and health promotion programs.
Data collection plays an important role in planning, monitoring, and investigating a health promotion program. It’ll also set the baseline for continued and future evaluations of health promotion program efficiency, effectiveness, and feasibility.
Actions –
Claims review (health care, pharmaceutical) –
What have been the 10 most costly major illness categories in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?
What have been the 10 most expensive therapeutic courses of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?
What have been the 10 most frequently prescribed and filled therapeutic classes of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?
Demographic analysis of staff member population (may include dependents) –
List your number of staff members, by gender, for each of the past five years and the percentages of males and females by age groups.
Think about any other factors that may have affected the health of your personnel and their use of the health care system.
This could include mergers, acquisitions, workplace trauma, worker strikes, layoffs, early retirement offers, etc.
Management survey –
Conduct surveys of mid-level management to understand their concerns and measure their level of interest and buy-in.
Employee-interest survey – Gather information to determine what the workforce want and to measure the level of participation, satisfaction, and “success” of any previous activities.
Risk data (health-risk assessments) –
Is there any data from health-risk appraisals over the past five years?
Participation in similar activities –
List and describe all wellness programs that have been implemented over the past five years, including participation rates.
Design of the health plan, and anticipated changes –
Have there been any significant changes in the health plan’s design in each of the past five years, such as a change from an health maintenance organization to a PPO, increased co-payments or deductibles, or increased worker contributions?
Develop Obviously Announced Vision, Mission and Outcomes
Goal – Establish a clear vision of wellness program direction, expectations, and measures.
Focus – Setting a vision, mission, objectives and objectives to keep your Wellness Program focused toward its desired outcomes. It’ll answer the questions, “Where are we going?” and “Precisely how will we know when we get there?”
Actions –
Identify two to five clearly reported objectives. Be certain that your health promotion program is capable of having an impact in the area desired, and be certain that you’re capable of measuring that impact.
Example Goal – Employees having access to healthier food options
Start two to five measurable goals that particularly state what your health promotion program is going to accomplish, by when, how, and how it will be measured.
Example Objective – Modify all vending machines to include 50 percent healthy food options.
Identify a few activities that will help you achieveyour objective. Activities are very specific.
Example Activity – Be certain to work with vending machine owners to identify healthful food choices and restock with 50% of items that are healthier food choices.
Identify who is going to do what, by when, and what resources are needed.
Example Detail – the Program coordinator will contact XXX Vending Company by September 30.
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Wellness Program Incentives.
Develop a Robust and Strategic Health Promotion Program
Goal – A comprehensive Health Promotion Program plan.
Focus – Development of a plan that consists of a selection of awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment program, policies, and activities that will target risk behaviors, needs, and interests of personnel.
Your Wellness Program should provide an integrated, strategic approach specific to the needs, goals, and culture of your company, designed throughout an annual cycle.
It’ll be crucial to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as use of tobacco, vending machines, and the staff cafeteria. In addition, it’s useful to examine what corporate health promotion or health-promotion activities are offered under your existing health-benefit plan.
Actions –
Create activities based on your wellness program goals and the specific needs of your staff. Focus on those topics that are of greatest interest to your staff and the greatest needs of your organization, in that order. Avoid topics with narrow appeal.
Keep it simple. Design the health promotion program so it’s easy for the participants to understand and track. Let personnel focus their learning efforts on their own behavior, not on the rules and regulations of the health promotion program.
Additionally, simplify the health promotion program administration. Let individuals record their own activities when possible; create a mixture of self-reported activities along with verified activities.
Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements. Link the activities throughout the year to allow for desired behavior repetition.
Choose activities that every staff member can participate in.
Examples –
Challenges – Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior and continue for 4-8 weeks and focus on specific topics (like physical activity, nutrition, or stress management).
Learning experiences (seminars, videos, classes) – One-time activities that last for a relatively short time and focus on a specific topic; these can precede “challenge activities” to prepare participants for behavior change.
Behavior changes (such as use of tobacco cessation) – Interventions may or may not be offered at the workplace; individuals must be encouraged to make lifestyle changes that they wanted to make even without the incentive.
Disease management (support and education groups for diabetes and hypertension) – These could be provided or supported by the corporation through disease-management providers, or by community, health, or religious organizations.
New skills (first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation) – These could be provided or supported by the company, or by community, health, or religious companies.
Screenings, wellness assessments, physical exams – A wellness assessment provides the business with aggregate data that can be used in wellness program planning and examination; preventive screenings and physical exams can be encouraged by awarding credits to employees.
Program support (membership or leadership in wellness committee or challenge team) – Reward those who work with you to help make your Health Promotion Program a success.
Community events – Reward participation in events like the Heart Walk or March of Dimes Walk; limit the number of these events that can be counted toward the annual total, and be selective about which events you allow to be counted.
Develop an Incentive Strategy
Goal – to motivate and reward worker participation and completion.
Focus – Develop a sense of interest in participation and completion of wellness activities.
Providing incentives and rewards will send an important message to the workers that the company is committed to improving their health and will share the rewards that these changes will bring. It also plays a significant role in motivating person to participate.
Actions –
Identify through workers what incentives they value most.
Identify what incentives the corporation can provide.
Integrate your incentives into your benefits strategy.
Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.
Offer participation incentives.
Avoid offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”
Prevent rewards for biometric changes.
Use incentives to promote your Health Promotion Program, through logos and branding.
Examples –
Paid time off, reduction in medical insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to fitness centers, free pedometers, etc.
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Wellness Program Communication.
Goal – Increase awareness of and participation in the Health Promotion Program.
Focus – Promote the Health Promotion Program to personnel to encourage participation in activities and benefits.
A well-designed communications strategy is paramount to successful wellness program awareness and participation. Even a “world class” wellness program design will not succeed if nobody knows that it is available or how to get involved.
Workers who don’t get involved in the health promotion program should be doing so because they select not to participate, not because they did not know about how, when, or where to participate.
Actions –
Conduct a Resources and Communications Audit to identify internal and external resources available to support your Health Promotion Program, as well as knowing how information are going to be disseminated.
Keep the health promotion program simple and concise – easy to read about, understand, and act upon.
Build the brand; make certain it’s something that employees can identify with. Add the brand to T-shirts, water bottles, mouse pads, stress balls, etc.
Use a selection of media –
Print – pamphlets, fliers, posters, banners, paycheck inserts, newsletter articles, bulletin boards, literature racks, post cards.
Electronic – Web, intranet, e-mail, closed-circuit televisions, sign lines, audiovideo productions.
Staff meetings and business events; word of mouth.
Use existing channels of communication – what works best in your organization – and be sure to know about all points of contact and systems of distribution.
Timing for communications –
Prior to activity to develop awareness and to educate.
During activity to stimulate participation.
After an activity to report results.
Between activities to maintain momentum and interest.
Consistency of communications –
Use branding; maintain a consistent look, feel, and tone of messages.
Maintain this consistency throughout the wellness program.
Surveys and forms –
Collect information.
Disseminate information.