Employee Wellness Plans : Company Wellness Program: Establish Goals and Objectives  

A Company Health Promotion Program without goals is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a little thoughtful planning, you increase your chances for a successful experience.  Clear goals are necessitated to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program objectives and goals are different from one corporation to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Nonetheless, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a successful wellness program!

Company Wellness Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Corporate Wellness Program. The mission statement is the central expression of what the Corporate Wellness Program Committee wants to accomplish by launching a wellness program.  It is valuable to consider how your Corporate Wellness Program fits in with the company mission statement, contributes to the central mission and supports the company bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the company operations.  

Below are some examples of Company Wellness Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Company, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Company Health Promotion Program to assist  in planning Company Health Promotion Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee to foster healthier lifestyle choices to reduce health risk factors, better central well-being, and maintain a beneficial, active work force.”

Workplace Health Promotion Program Goals

The objectives and goals further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, management expectations and employee interests, examples of objectives and goals can include:

The objective(s) of XYZ Worksite Health Promotion Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Decrease absenteeism by one day per employee
• Cut down on musculoskeletal injuries by ten percent
• Lower unnecessary emergency room visits
• Cut down on or contain medical care costs
• Improve dietary habits of staff members
• Cut down on health risk factors  

Employee Wellness Program Objectives

Specific Worksite Health Promotion Program objectives help meet your long-term goals/objectives.  Both short term and long term objectives must be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the goals/objectives.  In addition to objectives for the expected participant outcomes, process objectives must also be developed for the program process itself.  For example, process objectives may include the number of staff members you want to participate in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be offered, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives must be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to create both your long and short-term objectives and goals:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be monitored or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  By way of example, the mission for a weight loss program that has an central goal of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Participants (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per attendant (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Participants (who) will go to 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of an intention for coaching workers with high cholesterol might be:

To cut the total cholesterol (specific what) of elevated risk staff members with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions available at the workplace (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to cut the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process goal for a smoking cessation program with an overall intention to support  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week smoking cessation program, ten percent of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each attendant will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process objective) and ten percent of those who quit will still be tobacco-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including instituting your Company Health Promotion Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!