Employee Wellness Plans : Setting Up and Running Your Company Health Promotion Program

Many corporations recognize the need for a all-inclusive plan to help their staff members be the best they have the potential 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 objectives.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• A strong leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overriding vision.
• A measurable strategy (what’s significant gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Planning Your Worksite Health Promotion Program

Develop carefully to make sure that your wellness program is seen as part of a broad responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of all staff members. Yes, creating a strong plan takes an abundance of work and time (and sometimes resources). But planning is important and well worth the expenditure necessitated. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

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

Gathering information about what you already offer is also a good idea. For example, you may be surprised by your company or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another significant step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable objectives to help you come up with priorities, timelines and the resources needed to launch the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Senior Leadership

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

• Implementing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested staff members.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the corporation (to senior managers and fellow employees alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness 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 avert 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 successful 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 staff members to offer advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to obtain valuable information from all parts of the business.
• Develop ambassadors who will help you enable the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

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

• Ascertain areas of excellence.
• Ascertain factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Grasp management’s backing for your efforts (and maintain that backing).
• Better understand 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 cost of your Employee Assistance Program(EAP).
• The expense of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expense 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 perceivable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan supports ongoing information to staff members (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is critical in an effective communications plan. By way of example, you may recognize individuals who have helped established the program or provide tangible rewards for meeting goals and objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether or not employees are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some advance from them. Showing that a wellness program has economic benefits is frequently an significant factor in maintaining strong support from the top.

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