Employee wellness plans and employee wellness programs

Health screenings are important programs to identify chronic disease in their early stages. Once identified, wellness behavior modification programs can help prevent a disease from progressing. Working with local hospitals and other corporations, you can get information on offering assessment and behavior modification programs that could better your employees’ health and save your corporation money in absenteeism, treatment for disease complications, and reduced productiveness. Below are some ideas to assist you in getting started.

Based upon your Employee Needs & Interest Survey and the demographics of your workplace, consider offering periodic screenings to find specific health risks such as:

• Blood Pressure (BP) Checks to identify workers with pre-hypertension or hypertension (high blood pressure),
• Cholesterol Screenings for total, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol) and/or Triglycerides
• Blood Sugar Screenings fasting or non-fasting to screen for possible diabetes,
• Body composition, such as body mass index (BMI) or body fat measures
• Bone density for potential risk of osteoporosis,
• Cancer screenings such as, skin examinations, mammograms, or PSA screenings,
• Vision checks for glaucoma, or visual acuity
• Other health screenings depending on your worker population and needs

Your local hospital, employer physician practice, or health department may provide assistance. However, if you have employees you may want to concentrate on programs that will keep them healthy rather than screening for early identification of chronic disease. The focus of your wellness program might be healthy lifestyle practices to decrease risk and prevent disease.

In addition to the health screenings, consider offering a Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment to all employees. The Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment will help to identify factors that may lead to additional risks, such as smoking history, stress levels, perception of health, family history, job satisfaction, support systems, and mental health. Often the assessment results are included on the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, which supports a more inclusive snap shot of health risks. The summary results offer the significant information to plan appropriate interventions.

Employee Health Promotion Program Interventions

The key to the performance of screenings and Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) is the interventions or follow-up programs. The data collected during the screenings increases awareness and frequently motivates employees to consider making healthier changes. It’s the follow up interventions that provide the important backing and assistance needed for employees to actually make and maintain those changes. The interventions are able to include individual follow-up and ongoing counseling, individual or group health coaching on the risk factors, behavior modification programs, and/or corporation backing. Examples include:

• Strategies to lower Blood Pressure
• Managing diabetes
• Taking care of your heart
• Healthy eating
• Weight loss strategies
• Growing physical activity
• Tobacco Cessation

Of course, this is for individual information only. Any follow-up interventions planned by the corporation would be based on interest expressed by the employee.

Based on the results and your Employee Health Promotion Program Committee goals you can plan the best strategies for your business and employees. Consider the area resources available to support services, such as health associations, hospitals, medical providers, and/or public health agencies.

Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals, are an assessment tool or questionnaire scientifically designed to identify health risks and outline information to assist  American citizens in making healthy changes that impact their health and prevent chronic conditions.

Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals have four standard elements in worksite settings:
• A Questionnaire
• A Computer Program to Review Health Risk Factors
• Confidential Individual Reports
• Group Summary Report

Workers complete a lifestyle questionnaire that includes for example diet practices, height and weight, exercise habits, family history, stress perceptions, smoking history, and work satisfaction. Another significant feature to consider is readiness to change questions to determine participation interest. Including wellness screenings such as blood lipids and Blood Pressure (BP) results increases the advantages of an Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment by offering a more accurate health assessment and therefore improving lifestyle choice decisions and program options. Nonetheless, it is significant to determine if the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment can be used without including this information.

The health risk questionnaire information is entered into a computer program and an individual confidential report is generated that summarizes health risks as well as information on how to lower risk factors. Individual reports are totally confidential. Depending on the reason for implementing the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, it’s valuable to consider the type of report the organization will receive as well. A group report summarizing major risk factors and recommendations for programs to enable in order to lower employee and organization risks supports valuable information for your wellness program.

The Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) are able to be used to:
• Raise awareness to individual employee’s health status
• Encourage employees to make healthier lifestyle changes
• Coach high-risk workers
• Establish Company Health Promotion Programs based on the identified needs
• Review program effectiveness by comparing Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments completed at set intervals such as yearly.

There are a myriad of advantages to thinking of a part-time or full-time occupational and environmental health nurse (OHN). Occupational health nursing is the specialty practice that supplies for and delivers health and safety programs and services to employees, and worker populations. The practice focuses on promotion and restoration of health, prevention of illness and injury, treatment of work and non-work related injuries and illnesses, and protection from work related  and environmental hazards.

Onsite Heath Professional roles can include: Case management, Counseling, Workplace Wellness Program, Legal and regulatory compliance, Clinical services, and Hazard detection and controls. The American Association of Occupational and Environmental Health Nurses is the national association, www.AAOHN.org. The State Chapter also has a website with information including local chapter information to help you locate a contact near you, www.NCAOHN.org.

Health educators are able to design, conduct and evaluate activities that help improve the health of all your employees. They are subject matter experts who may be a significant asset regardless your program needs and objectives. They are able to help form a Company Health Promotion Program Committee and start numerous of its programs and services, for example or depending on the structure and time commitments of your Company Health Promotion Program Committee, they are able to also plan the entire program as well. Integrating the activities of the Committee and/or Company Health Promotion Program professional services within your operations, including within your safety and occupational health program will offer additional advantages!

We are planning Workplace Wellness Programs to help you feel better and stay healthy. In order to plan programs that best meet your needs and interests we would like your suggestions! Please take a few minutes to answer some questions about your interests. Your answers will be combined with those of others’ and reviewed to help plan programs for you. Do not sign your name.

Please complete the survey today and return it to__________. Thank you for your important input! Your help is important for drafting efficacious programs. Return the completed form by _____________.

Rate your interest on a scale of 1 – 3 with one (1) being of little or no interest; two (2) being of some interest and three (3) indicating that you are very interested. Indicate your response by circling or ‘Xing’ the number.

I am interested in:

Participating in wellness programs before work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs after work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs during my lunch break 1 2 3
Adopting healthy eating options to lose weight 1 2 3
Sports nutrition 1 2 3
Healthier cooking 1 2 3
Helping my children eat healthier 1 2 3
Quick, healthy meals for full lifestyles 1 2 3
Healthy snack options 1 2 3
Learning how to quit smoking 1 2 3
Attending classes to help me quit smoking cigarettes 1 2 3
Stress Mangement skills 1 2 3
Balancing work, family, and personal life 1 2 3
Time upper management skills 1 2 3
Participating in a beginning physical activity program 1 2 3
Developing time to exercise for busy people 1 2 3
Getting health information that I can read or watch at home 1 2 3
Learning about cancer prevention 1 2 3
Heart health options 1 2 3
CPR and First Aid 1 2 3
Team sports activities at work 1 2 3
Learning how to stretch 1 2 3
Learning how to improve intake of fruits and vegetables 1 2 3
Parenting Topics (age of children: ) 1 2 3
Onsite exercise classes: walking Yoga aerobic other: 1 2 3
Health evaluation such as Blood Pressure (BP), blood lipids, blood sugar 1 2 3

Program evaluation may be The last step, but it ought to be planned at the beginning of your efforts!  Assessment helps you identify what parts of the program are working well and what parts could use improvement.  Then, based on the evaluation data, adjustments are able to be made to fine-tune your wellness program.   Adjusting the program based on evaluation data is essential to its continued success.  

Evaluating your program does not have to be be terribly complex.  However, it is important to plan how you will monitor your wellness efforts and determine performance during the planning phase or Step 5.  Also be sure to to evaluate the program based on the objectives you already identified during your organizing process.  

In order to evaluate your program you must have a system to document specifics as you go along.  This can be as simple as maintaining file folders on programs that are offered, or a computer document with a table or spreadsheet summarizing information collecting.  Consider:

• Program topic and numbers of employees who participated
• The numbers of brochures taken by employees or distributed and on what subject matters
• The number of participants in a behavior change program and how many met their goals as well as how many attended all of the sessions
• Numbers of workers who continued the healthy behavior change following the program?
• Overall employee satisfaction with the program or each topic.  

Depending on your goals and objectives, gather desired data and compare it to previous data gathered during the initial assessment to determine if the goals and objectives were met.  Such data might include

• Absentee rates
• Injury rates
• Health risk factors Insurance expenditures  

Summarize and Report Corporate Wellness Program Results

Once you have collected all of the evaluation information it needs to be reviewed with the Employee Health Promotion Program Committee and summarized.  You will probably have beneficial results and some areas where a change is needed or additional focus needed for continuous improvement.  This not-so beneficial information can be used to make any needed changes as well as to plan for next year and is valuable to include in your report.  

It is significant to communicate the wellness program outcome to both upper management and workers.  Consider how upper management usually receives reports on operations and productivity issues and include the annual wellness program report in the same format.  At some corporations the reports are made during upper management meetings using presentation styles such as authority point slides.  At other corporations, graphs and bar charts are the norm or a list of the objectives and the summary outcomes announced.  

No matter the format, it’s significant to convey the outcomes and successes achieved, including any anecdotal stories, as well as areas for improvement.  Be sure to link the outcomes to the company mission and bottom line whenever possible.

Workers want to receive the same information!  You might use the same communication channels used when informing staff members of the wellness program:

• Employer newsletters,
• Bulletin boards,
• E-mails  

Also consider celebrating successes and recognizing achievements by:

• Posting pictures from events
• Highlighting effectiveness stories
• Posting pictures of successes
• Having a celebration
• Recognizing champions  

Armed with data, Worksite Wellness Program topic preferences and objectives – and a Worksite Wellness Program Committee rearing to get things done – it is now time to decide how best to take action.  This website supplies tools to help you!  You can read about the various types of wellness programs available by other employers to get an idea of what could possibly work for your business.  There are Statewide Resources listed along with national non-profit groups offering resources, and specific examples of resources available on various wellness subject matters.  In addition, keep looking under Steps to an Effective Program for ideas to get you started!

If your planning phase was well executed, you ought to simply have to follow through with the plans you have already made.  

Important Workplace Wellness Program considerations include:

1. Formally Introduce the Employee Health Promotion Program and consider policy statements that state the significance of the wellness program.  Examples include a general policy concerning the responsibility to employee health and safety as well as specific policies such as No Smoking, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity.
2. Communicate Your Program: The best planned program with great wellness programs won’t be beneficial if your workers are unaware of it or do not know the options or how to participate.  Communicate your wellness program using a variety of methods to ensure the message and “how-to’s” are heard!

   Employee Health Promotion Program Communication Strategies might include:

   • Newsletter articles
   • Postings on the company’s intranet or internet
   • A designated Champion of the program
   • Formal or informal meeting to announce program, “the kick-off”
   • Flyers / pamphlets / brochures / table tents,
   • Bulletin boards / kiosk where all material is promoted or found,
   • Email / phone messages,
   • Mailings or distributions  

3. Use Corporate Health Promotion Program Incentives:  You’ll be amazed to learn what people will do for a free T-shirt.  Incentives are able to both support and excite participation among staff members.  Consider both formal or organization incentives and informal or program rewards/prizes from local resources to reinforce participation in Corporate Health Promotion Programs. Either way, it’s important to provide incentives that are attractive and meaningful to your staff members.

   Formal Employee Wellness Program Incentives:

   • Discounts on employee medical insurance premiums or co-pays, or contributions to 401K programs, employee stock options, or other mechanisms.  
   
   Click here for more information on health plan incentive ideas
   
   • gym/Fitness Center discounts or enrollment fee coverage
   • Public transportation vouchers
   • Flexible work time options
   • “Wellness Days” off work  

   Prizes or Informal Employee Wellness Program Incentives:

   • Cash – a most effective incentive!
   • Prize incentives and rewards such as gift certificates to heart-healthy restaurants; music player to use while exercising, emergency kits, or any other prizes that would encourage your employees.
   • T-Shirts, water bottles, or other inexpensive rewards

4. Assess community resources available to offer some of the wellness services.  The local health department or your employer medical care provider may be able to support  you with this information.  There are also vendors throughout the State providing great wellness services for employers.  They are available to help you strategize and find the best options available.

5. Launch your program as planned documenting information and outcomes as you go such as numbers of participants, dates of activities, and any other special details you are tracking.

The Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee must set out a plan for the entire year that outlines accomplishing goals/objectives, as well as supports details for marketing and evaluating the program. The plan is the detailed map of what types of programs will be offered, when and where they will be scheduled, how they will be marketed and evaluated, and what the budget is.  It is significant to plan your wellness activities based on your goals/objectives, as well as the budget since different strategies will yield different outcomes.  By way of example, if your mission is to broaden awareness on a topic, then distributing handouts or scheduling a one-time education session may be appropriate.  However, if your intention is to change behavior, then different strategies may be necessary, such as ongoing weekly meetings and support groups.  Click here to link to Program Design Options for additional ideas.

Company Wellness Program Marketing

Now is the time to plan your marketing strategies!  How can you market the wellness program and ongoing activities?  No matter how you decide to, market often, keep it fresh, and remind employees repeatedly!  Consider having an overall kickoff activity to inform everyone of the wellness program.  Senior Leadership should offer the introduction or invitation so that all employees are aware of their support and leadership in the program.

Possible marketing methods:

• Sending email messages, including reminders
• Design flyers,
• Hanging bulletin board postings,
• Composing articles,
• Mailing letters or
• Mailing special invitations.  

Other Company Health Promotion Program Considerations:

• Is the Company Wellness Program promoted to all workers or to a specific group?
• Do you have a Employee Wellness Program champion (someone who is joined with different groups in the organization, and well respected) who can help in your promotion efforts?
• If your marketing efforts don’t seem to be working, do you have a way to revisit and change your strategy?
• How will you determine effectiveness and evaluate your program?  And how will you collect the information needed to evaluate your program?  

Topics most frequently included in Worksite Wellness Programs:

• Nutrition
• Physical Activity/Exercise
• Tobacco Use Cessation
• Bone Health
• Cardiovascular Health
• The Spine
• Stress Reduction
• Chronic Disease Awareness & Prevention
• Self-care; Wise Medical Care Consumer
• Screening Services (BMI, Blood Pressure (BP), bone density, blood lipids, glucose, posture, vision, and other…)
• Ergonomic Assessments
• Health Fairs
• Kids/family Events
• Others topics that employees have interest in  

The topics and type of Employee Health Promotion Program planned depend on the needs and interest, overriding goal and resources available.  Program Design Options   include awareness programs such as brochures and/or education sessions, behavior modification programs such as smoking cessation and weight loss classes, and environmental or business backing such as no smoking policies or healthy selections in vending machines.  

The programs planned also depend on the demographics of your workforce.  If you have a young, healthy workforce, you may want to focus the wellness attention on keeping workers healthy and not need to screen for disease.  Instead you might want to focus on healthy lifestyle behavior such as exercise and great nourishment to prevent the on-set of disease.  Click here for more information on strategies for keeping workers well, identifying disease early, or returning workers to work who already have a chronic conditions.

It is also valuable to consider, and plan how you will evaluate the success of your wellness program.  The system needs to be shown for tracking certain data and recording events depending on the program goals.  Step 7 discusses program evaluation in more detail.   And Step 6 will launch your program!

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!

Before you begin laying out your Company Wellness Program you need to have a benchmark.  Attaining a thorough needs assessment is vital to the effectiveness of your wellness program for two reasons:  First it ensures that your Company Wellness Program activities will be targeted to meet your company’s specific needs so that outcomes are able to be achieved.  Secondly the needs assessment supports the information you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your wellness program.

It is frequently tempting to hurry through the assessment – especially when time is limited or those with experience already have an idea of needs.  Do not give in to this temptation!  It is critical that you be aware of what your corporation needs are, what upper management expects, and what workers want as well as expect, before you establish a Workplace Wellness Program.  

Consider and collect data on:

• Employee Demographic Information
• Employee Health Risk Factors
• Medical Claims
• Injury Rates & Causes
• Workers’ Compensation Claims
• Short and Long Term Disability Claims
• Absenteeism
• Company Culture Audits
• Employee perceived needs and health risks
• Senior Management’s expectations or desired outcomes

There are many ways to evaluate this information.  Although some of data gathering process may be time consuming, remember that it is nonetheless essential to plan programs that target specific problems.  This information will be essential to set goals and objectives and for evaluating program effectiveness.  How else can you know if outcomes have been achieved?

Options to help gather the information:

• Confidential Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) with a Employer Group Summary Report
• Wellness Screenings such as blood lipids, Blood Pressure and blood glucose click here for additional information on wellness screenings.
• Employee Needs and Interest Surveys
• Suggestion boxes placed around the organization
• Focus Groups or hosting a luncheon meeting as a focus group
• Sending out a confidential email questionnaire
• Review records and databases including OSHA logs, first aid reports, insurance expenditures  

Once your needs assessment is complete, the Corporate Wellness Program Committee can review the results and start creating and prioritizing program options.  Creating ought to be based upon goals and identified outcomes, Step 4 of the seven step process!

Organizing an active Workplace Wellness Program Committee provides opportunities for both upper management and employee involvement in the program.  The Committee ought to be a team of staff members and managers who formally meet to plan activities to promote healthier employee lifestyles.

Typical Functions of a Employee Wellness Program Committee:

• Analyzing needs & interests
• Brainstorming program ideas
• Planning activities
• Implementing communication plans
• Promoting programs to co-workers
• Serving as champions of the Workplace Wellness Programs
• Assisting with evaluation  

Your Workplace Wellness Program Committee should be representative of all echelons of the corporation.  Consider all sections of the workforce – multiple sites, shift employees, diversity (race, gender, ethnicity), and departments.   It’s also important to consider who will chair or co-chair the Workplace Wellness Program Committee and whether or not there are the finances to support a Workplace Wellness Program manager or occupational health consultant, even on a part-time or contractual basis.  Click here for more information on the benefits of a health consultant.  

Depending on your corporation size and resources, if you already have a corporation Safety Committee you might want to think about making it the Safety & Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee.  You are able to request volunteers or invite employees to participate.  

The number of Corporate Wellness Program Committee participants is dependent upon the size of your business; however, you need sufficient participants to get the work done and yet not too many to keep it manageable, usually at least 4 participants and maximum of 12 to 15 participants.  It’s valuable to include skeptics of wellness as well and not just those employees already living healthy lifestyles.  

Depending on your workplace, consider representatives from the following areas:

• Employee representatives from a cross section of different departments,
• Upper Management
• Health and safety professional(s),
• Human resources consultant(s),
• Employee benefits representative or someone from finance,
• Your EAP provider (if applicable), Click here for more information on EAPs
• Occupational health employee (if applicable).

Establish a strong Corporate Wellness Program Committee!  The Corporate Wellness Program Committee must meet often with a planned agenda and action items.  Effective Wellness Committees have a shared mission, vision and goals.  Members need to believe that their participation is worthwhile and appreciated, that their work is valuable, benefits the organization and co-staff members, and they are appreciated for their contributions. Refer to the NC Workplace Programs section for examples of what other employers have implemented.