Health Wellness ProgramHealth and Wellness Programs and Wellness Program Consulting

A lot of corporations recognize the need for a comprehensive strategy to help their workforce be the best they can be.

They also know that successful and sustainable health promotion programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your health promotion program should include a broad range of key elements, including –

• A clear agenda or statement of goals.

• A plan characterized by passion.

• An effective leader who’s creative and organized.

• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overall vision.

• A measurable strategy (what’s important gets measured!).

• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Planning Your Health Promotion Program

Plan carefully to ensure that your wellness program is seen as part of a broad commitment to maintaining the safety and health of all personnel. Yes, building a good plan takes a lot of effort and time (and sometimes resources).

But planning is essential and well worth the investment required.  As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You could start by conducting a recent survey of staff member needs and interests. When you take this route, pay attention to the results and plan accordingly. When you don’t, the personnel won’t support the wellness program.

Accumulating information about what you are already offering is also a good idea. for example, you could be surprised by your organization or company’s current wellness and health policies.

Another important step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable objectives to help you determine priorities, timelines and the resources required to launch the health promotion program. be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Leadership

The leader of your wellness program should be able to wear many hats.  The leader’s duties include –

• Developing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested staff members.

• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the organization (to senior level managers and fellow employees alike).

• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a health promotion program.

• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.

• Developing 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 might want to stick to short-term objectives at the starting so that you get immediate and visible results.

These first steps are the basis for a successful wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many individuals  as possible in the wellness program. for example, you’ll want to form a committee made up of a diverse group of staff members to provide advice during the planning phase. This approach will –

• Be certain to help you to obtain valuable information from all parts of the corporation.

• Create ambassadors who will help you implement the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always keep in mindhow you’ll monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Examination permits you to –

• Identify areas of excellence.

• Identify factors that affect participation in your health promotion programs.

• Gain management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).

• Better understand issues that need attention.

• Learn from mistakes and change the health promotion program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your health promotion program, you are able to measure such things as –

• Staff Member absences.

• Employee turnover rates.

• The cost of your worker assistance program.

• The cost of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.

• The fee of your drug plan.

• Accident rates and safety records.

• Employees’ participation in health promotion programs (and whether they are staying in the health promotion programs).

• Changes in employees’ health habits.

• Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle issues.

• Results of your environmental wellness audit.

• Other noticeable changes in areas like morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan provides ongoing information to workers (including upper-level managers) and fosters excitement about the health promotion program.

Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. for  instance, you might recognize individuals who have helped set up the wellness program or offer tangible rewards for achieving goals.

Everybody needs to know whether staff are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some benefit from them. Showing that a wellness program has financial benefits is usually an important factor in maintaining strong support from the top.

When you pay attention to the key elements of your health promotion program and communicate openly and continuously while planning and delivering it, you will lay a solid foundation and leave a legacy that lasts.