Posted by Health Wellness | Posted in Health And Wellness In The Workplace | Posted on 10-05-2009
According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people alter their lifestyle to move toward a state of ideal health. Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle change can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, alter behavior, and establish environments that support great health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”
Workplace Wellness Program: Action Steps
The process of creating a Corporate Wellness Program involves:
• Identifying the current health status of your employees
• Determining the appropriate programs and interventions to offer
• Promoting and launching the programs
• Building in motivational incentives/rewards
• Measuring the effect
• Revising programs based on evaluation outcomes
It may even include developing policies and procedures that support employee participation in wellness activities at your workplace (such as flextime).
Steps to Starting a Company Health Promotion Program
• Conduct an business assessment
• Obtain senior staff reinforcement
• Establish a Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee
• Get employee input
• Establish goals/objectives
• Design and enable program activities
• Choose incentives
• Assess outcomes
One of the ways the government plans to better the nation’s health is through accross the board Worksite Wellness Programs. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help staff members live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior change programs. In fact, one of the goals of Healthy People 2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to stimulate the proportion of staff members that participate in a accross the board Worksite Wellness Program at their worksite to 75 percent.