Health And Wellness In The WorkplaceHealth And Wellness In The Workplace

Many companies recognize the need for a inclusive plan to help their employees be the best they have the potential to be. They also know that efficacious 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 goals and objectives.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• A strong leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an central vision.
• A measurable strategy (what’s valuable gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Starting Your Corporate Health Promotion Program

Create carefully to ensure that your wellness program is viewed as part of a sweeping responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of each employee. Yes, creating a good plan takes a lot of effort and time (and occasionally resources). But planning is critical and well worth the investment required. 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 take this route, pay attention to the results and plan accordingly. If you do not, the workers won’t support the program.

Gathering information about what you already offer is also a great idea. By way of example, you might be surprised by your employer or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another important step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable goals/objectives to help you outline priorities, timelines and the resources required to start the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Upper Management

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

• Creating a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested staff members.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the company (to senior managers and fellow workers alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Establishing 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 may want to stick to short-term objectives and goals 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 Company Health Promotion Program Committee made up of a diverse group of staff members to provide advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to get important information from all parts of the corporation.
• Organize 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.
• Gain management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).
• Better understand issues that need attention.
• Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you have the potential to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The expenditure of your Employee Assistance Program(EAP).
• The expense of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The cost of your prescription 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 issues.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other perceivable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A great communications plan supplies ongoing information to employees (including senior managers) and creates excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. By way of example, you might recognize individuals who have helped set up the program or provide tangible rewards for achieving goals.

Everyone needs to know whether workers are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some advance from them. Showing that a wellness program has financial benefits is frequently an important factor in maintaining strong reinforcement from the top.

If you pay attention to the key components of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while organizing and delivering it, you will lay a solid foundation and leave a legacy that lasts.