Posts from — December 2008

Company Health and Wellness Program evaluation is critical for effective Wellness and will help you get  Senior Management support.

Why evaluate your Employee Wellness Program?

Company Health and Wellness Program evaluation answers these questions:
• What change(s) occurred in the target population?
• ‘What’s in it’ for Senior Management?
• Are the resources that are being used worth the outcomes that are reached?
• Were Company Health and Wellness Program outcomes expected? (Unexpected outcomes may have  occurred.)
• What Company Health and Wellness Program areas need improvement?

Company Health and Wellness Program Fact of Life:

Company Health and Wellness Program evaluation left to “chance” or until “there is time” will never  happen.

• Company Health and Wellness Program evaluation should be considered as an fundamental part of  the whole plan for Wellness and not as something extra.

Where do you start?

Keep it simple. Company Health and Wellness Program evaluation does not have to be complicated.
• Get baseline data.
• Baseline data is the health status of the target population at the beginning of the Employee  Wellness Program.
• Begin by collecting just 3 or 4 key items as the baseline. You will have better success  collecting follow-up information later if you only need to get a few pieces of data.
• Don’t rely only on health indicators that require lab evaluation. Also use self-report  information and health indicators that are measurable without lab tests.

• Collect data that relates to readiness.
• You should always be ready to communicate to leadership the ways that your Company Health and  Wellness Program impacts readiness. Plan ahead to collect data that will demonstrate this connection.
• Think like Senior Management: what Company Health and Wellness Program outcomes will be  important from Senior Management point of view?

• It’s never too late to incorporate Company Health and Wellness Program evaluation into Employee  Wellness Programs.
• If your Company Health and Wellness Program is already up and running and you didn’t plan for  data collection ahead of time, start collecting data NOW.
• If you don’t have baseline data, then collect interim data and compare that to end-of-program  data.
• Or, you can compare final Company Health and Wellness Program outcomes to similar initiatives  elsewhere.

If you can’t make any comparisons to other data, use resources like The Community Guide  (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/ ) that have already evaluated the effectiveness of Company Health  and Wellness Program components. Compare the components of your Company Health and Wellness Program to  those that have been proven effective elsewhere.

Take the time to plan Employee Wellness Programs before they are implemented.

Strategic planning enables better use of all your resources. Include all the steps below when you plan  a Wellness activity.
• Do your homework – Identify the science and research that support your initiatives. Look for similar  Employee Wellness Programs that already exist.
• Determine the specific health need(s) – Use these needs to target initiatives to problems that are an  issue for your population.
• Organize a team – A team is a resource multiplier. Network and build as many partnerships as you can.
• Make a plan, but don’t start completely from scratch. Make a written plan for your Employee Wellness  Program. Look for every opportunity to take advantage of resources that already exist. Don’t reinvent  the wheel.
• Select a focus – Choose one or two main target areas for Employee Wellness Programs. Address all five  stages of change in the target areas rather than trying to hit every possible Wellness topic.
• Determine your resources – What assets do you have? What assets will you need? How can you fill the  gaps?
• Get Senior Management support – Think like Senior Management. Communicate the value of Wellness from  Senior Management’s perspective.
• Begin the activity- Be flexible. Be prepared for unexpected challenges.
• Market the activity – Keep your Company Health and Wellness Program visible for Senior Management,  line and medical personnel, Company Health and Wellness Program participants, and potential partners  and volunteers.
• Collect and assess outcomes – Outcomes indicate Company Health and Wellness Program impact. Begin  with just a few outcomes – you don’t have to collect everything. Remember that it’s never too late to  start measuring Company Health and Wellness Program impact.
• Evaluate, improve and re-evaluate – Use member feedback and Company Health and Wellness Program  outcomes to determine Company Health and Wellness Program impact. Establish areas in need of  improvement. Use outcomes to determine if expended resources were worth the results.

Think ahead: what unexpected challenges might come up as you begin your Employee Wellness Program? How  could you adapt and change the Company Health and Wellness Program to meet those challenges?

• Look at the “what if’s?”
• What if your classroom space is suddenly no longer available?
• What if you can’t hold the Wellness Fair in the usual place?
• Have a ‘Plan B’ (or even Plan C or Plan D) in mind for when the “what if’s” happen.

• Build a team that can help with the Company Health and Wellness Program
• Who else could teach the health education class if the regular instructor cancels at the last  minute?
• Know what areas of expertise your staff has besides their ‘main’ job. For example, find out  who has excercise instructor credentials besides just the physical therapist.
• Don’t wait for a crisis before you build a network of staff members that you can call on.

• Be ready to roll your sleeves up
• Jump in to fill a gap if you need to.
• YOU may have to help restock the milk case in the dining center when the Dairy Month ‘Milk  Mustache’ contest results in increased sales during lunch.

• Be willing (and ready) to respond to feedback about the Company Health and Wellness Program
• Get member feedback while the Company Health and Wellness Program is ongoing. Then be ready  to adapt to those suggestions.
• For example, if kids in a pediatric obesity Company Health and Wellness Program fight the  idea of completing exercise logs, then get a verbal summary of their activity for the week instead.

• Simplify Company Health and Wellness Program
• If part of your Company Health and Wellness Program is not working, try making that part less  complicated.
• For example, if getting follow-up information is not going the way you planned, then make the  process to get information easier OR decrease the number of pieces of information that you collect.

• Use lemons to make lemonade
• What do you do when the Company Health and Wellness Program doesn’t turn out exactly as you  planned? Look for what did turn out. Often, the ‘unexpected outcomes’ produce positive results.
• For example, one company’s database to collect sick call data was made obsolete by a regional  system. However, the company database was able to be used in a different way to track vaccination  information that improved delivery of care to Employees.

Why use small steps toward behavior change?

Small steps give participants immediate feedback on the changes they make towards better health.  Measuring these small steps is also an excellent way to collect interim Company Health and Wellness  Program effectiveness data.

Company Health and Wellness Program small steps make a big difference

Small steps for Company Health and Wellness Program participants

• Walk to work.
• Use fat free milk instead of whole milk.
• Each day think of two things you are grateful for.
• Do sit-ups while you watch TV.
• Drink water before a meal.
• Take 10 deep breaths to relieve tension.
• Eat half your dessert.
• Skip second helpings and buffets.

Measuring small Company Health and Wellness Program steps

• Use short pre- and mid-point surveys to ask:
• How many glasses of water do you drink a day?
• How often you do eat fast food?
• How often do you skip a meal?
• How often do you engage in physical activity?
• How many servings of fruits and vegetables do you eat each day?

Use the results to show participants how their health behaviors are changing for the better.

• Ask participants to rate their health status and/or stress levels before and after an intervention.
• Add up individual (or team) steps and mark the progress on a map towards a far away destination.
• Be innovative! Do not rely only on weight loss, BMI, or cholesterol tests as health status progress  indicators or behavior change feedback.

Wise words for taking small Company Health and Wellness Program steps

• The first wealth is health. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• We are what we repeatedly do. (Aristotle)
• The victory is not always to the swift, but to those who keep moving. (CDC)
• There are 1440 minutes in every day…schedule 30 of them for physical activity. (CDC)

Why Company Health and Wellness Program follow up?

Getting feedback from Company Health and Wellness Program participants serves two purposes: to obtain  data that quantifies a Wellness Program’s impact, and to find ways to improve a Employee Wellness  Program.

Building follow up into your Company Health and Wellness Program

Keep it simple

• Keep follow up to information you absolutely require. A three-question survey is more likely to get a  response than one with 20 questions.
• Use email or phone for follow-up. Use personal and business email addresses; use cell phone and unit  phone numbers.
• Go to the Employees: go to the unit or somewhere else they will all be gathered, and get follow up  information there.
• Give participants a stamped envelope addressed to you, with a printed form listing the information  you will need.

Keep it structured

• Tell participants right from the beginning that you will be doing follow up after the Company Health  and Wellness Program is finished. Be specific about the information you will collect.
• If you need to do hands-on measurements, find out if participants will be coming back to your  location for another reason (like another clinic appointment). Ask them to stop by while they are in  the building – or, better yet, go to where they will be.
• Ask participants where they will be the next time you will be collecting data. They may already know  their next duty station if they will be PCSing soon.
• Plan ahead for follow up and put it on the schedule. Planning to do follow up “when you have time”  usually means follow up will never get done.

Keep it catchy

• Give participants something to go along with the request for information. For example, if you send an  email to ask for information, send along a yummy recipe or a timely excercise tip.
• Schedule a ‘reunion’ day to collect follow up information. Invite participants to come back and share  successes and challenges. Have some (healthy) munchies available.
• Have a silly contest – the team with the most follow up data wins something, like having their photos  posted on a prominently-placed bulletin board or an eggplant trophy, or some other fun thing.

Why bother to market your Employee Wellness Programs?

Because of the transient nature of the many worker populations, you must market your Employee Wellness  Programs all the time. Your goal should be to keep your Employee Wellness Programs as visible as  possible.

Innovative marketing can increase awareness of your Company Health and Wellness Program for:
• Potential Company Health and Wellness Program participants
• Senior Management
• Line and medical personnel
• Potential partners and volunteers

Innovative Company Health and Wellness Program marketing ideas

Involve Senior Management in your marketing Company Health and Wellness Program as often as possible.
• For example: invite Senior Management to judge a Company Health and Wellness Program logo  contest.

Link your Employee Wellness Programs to national advertising campaigns
• …like the Great American Smokeout and the Dairy Council’s Milk Mustache campaign.

Work closely with personnel in the home office.
• Submit articles about your Employee Wellness Programs that coincide with National Health  Observances. For example: highlight your Asthma Program in May, which is National Asthma Awareness  Month.
• Let the home office know you can always provide an article to them when they run short on  material. (Then make sure you always follow through.)
Word of mouth is the most effective advertisement for your Company Health and Wellness Program
• Use real staff members in your advertising: enlist the help of successful Company Health and  Wellness Program participants or use Employees and other post personnel for your marketing materials,  when possible.
• Create “buzz” by incorporating an element of competition: which ‘team’ had the most steps  over the past week? Which department engaged most frequently in physical activity?

Make use of technology

• Use post television and radio resources.
• Use email whenever you can.
Don’t just market your Company Health and Wellness Program to potential participants, but market the  opportunities for others to be involved, as well.
• For example: does the Red Cross know you can always use a volunteer? Do other  departments/clinics know that you can always use personnel with some temporary down time?
Don’t be “old news”
• If you put advertising materials up, be sure to take them down in a timely manner.
• Update marketing logos and themes as appropriate.

What is Company Health and Wellness Program data?

Company Health and Wellness Program data is information that is collected about your Employee Wellness  Program. All Employee Wellness Programs should include data as an integral part of the Company Health  and Wellness Program plan.

Why should you care about Company Health and Wellness Program data?

Information tells the Wellness story. Information is the tangible proof of a Wellness Program’s impact.

Building data into Employee Wellness Programs

Why bother with Company Health and Wellness Program Data?

You need Company Health and Wellness Program data to:

• Evaluate whether or not your Company Health and Wellness Program is working.
• Answer the ‘so what?’ about the need for a Employee Wellness Program.
• Provide information to Senior Management about the impact of the Employee Wellness Program.
• Write a budget justification so you can secure Company Health and Wellness Program resources.
• Use Company Health and Wellness Program resources efficiently and market your Company Health  and Wellness Program more effectively.

Where to start collecting Company Health and Wellness Program data:

• MAKE A PLAN to collect the data: decide what, when, and how data will be collected.
• Find out what data is ALREADY BEING COLLECTED.

o For example: use dairy sales data in the dining center to measure the impact of a  milk marketing/dairy month campaign.

• Begin collecting JUST A FEW small pieces of information. Be innovative!

o For example: BMI, APFT scores (before & after), tobacco quit rates

IT’S NEVER TO LATE TO START collecting Company Health and Wellness Program data.

Innovative Company Health and Wellness Program data strategies

• Use local college/graduate students to help collect, input, and assess Company Health and  Wellness Program data.
• If your employer has an internship program, get to know the Internship Director. Make use of  intern resources – including having the Director and/or interns begin the data collection plan for your  Employee Wellness Program.
• Use data to let upper management know about the Employee Wellness Programs affect on the  employees.

Present this information at their monthly/quarterly meetings.
• Use innovative follow-up strategies to get data. Phone calls can be effective, but also  consider email, mailed surveys with return postage provided, and going to the units in person to  collect the information.
• Make data collection ‘fun’ for Company Health and Wellness Program participants.
o For example: use a team approach – the team with the ‘best’ overall results gets some  sort of award or recognition.
• ALWAYS relate the impact of your Company Health and Wellness Program to readiness.

Collaboration and Effective Employee Wellness Programs

Why should you collaborate?

Active, ongoing partnerships and cooperative efforts multiply Company Health and Wellness Program  resources in order to better serve Employees and their families.

How can you build collaboration into a Employee Wellness Program?

Get Ready…
• Brainstorm a list of every potential Wellness partner you can think of. Be innovative!
• Be a politician: introduce yourself to everyone BEFORE you need their help.
• Develop a plan to get Senior Management support from as high up the chain as possible. Make  sure to include specific ways that your Company Health and Wellness Program will impact force  readiness.
• Determine how YOU can help your organizations (not just what they can do for you).

Be Steady…
• Solicit input from everyone that your Company Health and Wellness Program will affect. Make a  special effort to talk to the staff members closest to Company Health and Wellness Program  implementation (those with “boots on the ground”).
• The most frequently asked questions should be: “What would you suggest?” and “How do you  think this would work best?”
• Identify someone who has done the same type of Company Health and Wellness Program before and  ask their advice. (Hint: the Company Health and Wellness Program has a list of many Wellness POCs.)
• Plan NOW to show Company Health and Wellness Program effectiveness. Establish who may ALREADY  BE COLLECTING information that will show the Company Health and Wellness Program is working.

Get Set…
• Step back and review your Company Health and Wellness Program from a potential partner’s  point of view.
• Brainstorm questions your collaborators might have, and have the answers ready.
• Be ready to frame your “selling points” in terms that are important to each specific partner.
• Put the Company Health and Wellness Program benefits in language your collaborators will  understand.
• Stress to potential partners how this Company Health and Wellness Program will provide  benefit to them.

And Go…
• Build as many partnerships as you can BEFORE you begin a Employee Wellness Program.
• Make your partnerships a two-way street: always let your collaborators know what you can do  for them – then follow-up and do what you say you would do.
• Maintain Senior Management support by offering a regular flow of information. Invite Senior  Management participation in the Company Health and Wellness Program and special events whenever  possible. (Hint: they make great judges if you have a contest.)
• Provide regular feedback to your collaborators.
• Don’t hog the spotlight: let your collaborators share in the visibility of the Employee  Wellness Program.

Employee Wellness Programs at the organization level are beneficial, right? Wellness statistics clearly  show that such Employee Wellness Programs are not only cost-effective to the organization but can  assist the worker in developing a healthier lifestyle. With the increasing cost of health care,  Employee Wellness Programs simply make sense. So where does the problem come in? Let’s examine the  topic from both perspectives.

Employee Wellness Programs: The Good

• A sampling of return on investment (ROI) for Employee Wellness Programs: Bank of America: 600%;  General Motors:370%; Pepsico: 300%; Citibank: 465%; and the Washoe County School District leading the  pack at a whopping 1,560%. (Campbell,J., Wellness Improvement Experts,  www.wellnessimprovementexperts.com, Albuquerque, New Mexico.)
• Companies with Employee Wellness Programs have found a 28 percent reduction in sick leave, a 26  percent reduction in adjunctive health care costs and a 30 percent reduction in disability and workers  compensation costs. (Health Affairs, Volume 21, No.2, March, 2002.)
• The Washoe county School District in Northern Nevada found a $15.60 return on investment (ROI) for  every dollar spent due to a 20 percent reduction in absenteeism. (Hardy,A. (2005). At the Top Of The  Class. WELCOA’s Absolute Advantage Magazine, 5(1), 14-20.)
• Employee Wellness Programs provide the structure, encouragement, incentives and ongoing support that  many individuals need in order to make lifestyle changes.
• Employees also realize returns on their efforts. FiServ, a financial services technology employer,  gave employees who filled out a health risk assessment a significant discount on their medical  insurance premium. (Holland, Kelley, The New York Times, July 22, 2007.)

Employee Wellness Programs: The Bad

The flip side of the argument centers on basic human rights. Do we want/need our employer to tell us to  eat our veggies or lose 30 pounds? Some corporations are doing just that and at least one lawsuit has  resulted because of it.
• Three hundred corporations have requested assistance from a national employment and labor law firm to  institute more aggressive Employee Wellness Programs.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque  Journal, September 10,2007.)
• Clarian Health, based in Indianapolis, Will start reducing worker paychecks by $10.00 for every  worker who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 29.9 because not enough employees were utilizing  their wellness services.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)
• Scott Rodrigues filed a suit against his prospective employer, Scotts Miracle-Gro, because he  believed the employer’s antitobacco use policy violated his civil rights. The employer has a policy  against hiring employees who smoke and Mr. Rodrigues’drug screen was positive for nicotine.(Holland,  Kelley, The New York Times,July 22,2007.)
• worker advocates are concerned that health discrimination may not be covered under the Americans with  Disabilities Act.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)

Penalizing employees by hitting them where it hurts the most, in their pocketbook, does not appear to  be a a good approach to molding human behavior.
Such tactics may result in increased resentments and retaliation, primarily in the form of absenteeism  and presenteeism (decreased productivity on the job.) Voluntary, incentive-based initiatives, such as  the one in the Washoe County School District, can and do produce results. A positive attitude on the  part of management along with an opportunity for employees to have a stake in the decision-making may  yield the greatest dividends to both employer and worker.The motivation and resolve needed to change  unhealthy lifestyle habits can best be derived from the basic tenets of encouragement, respect and  support.

For well over a decade, research studies have been showing the effectiveness of Employee Wellness  Programs. For every dollar spent on Employee Wellness Programs, the returns have been cost savings of  between $2.30 and $10.10 in the areas of decreased absenteeism, fewer sick days, reduced WSIB/WCB  claims, lowered health and insurance costs, and improvements to worker performance and productivity.

Statistics do show that Employee Wellness Programs increase worker morale, improve the ability to  attract and retain key staff members, all while having more alert and productive employees. Some  Company Health and Wellness Program return on investment (ROI) statistics of note:

• Canada Life Insurance reported a return of $3.43 on Employee Wellness Program, and an overall Company  Health and Wellness Program return on investment (ROI) of $6.85 on each organization dollar invested on  reduced turnover (32.4 percent lower), productivity gains and decreased medical claims,
• DuPont’s Company Health and Wellness Program pilot sites saw a saving of 11,726 disability days and a  return of United States $2.05 for every dollar invested by the end of the second year,
• The Canadian government’s Company Health and Wellness Program return on investment (ROI) was  $1.95-$3.75 per worker per dollar spent (as reported by Dr. Roy Shephard),
• Municipal employees in Toronto, missed 3.35 fewer days in the first six months of their Company  Health and Wellness Program than employees not enrolled in the program,
• British Columbia Hydro employees enrolled in a Company Health and Wellness Program had a turnover  rate of just 3.5 percent compared with a Corporation average of 10.3 percent,
• Johnson & Johnson estimated an average saving of United States $224.66 per worker per year for the  four years examined after the program introduction, with the bulk of the savings being in the third and  fourth years,
• Pacific Bell reported that overall absenteeism decreased after implementing a Employee Wellness  Program,
• Coca Cola report saving $500 every year per worker after implementing a Employee Wellness Program,  with only 60 percent of their employees participating,
• Coors Brewing Co. reported that for every dollar spent on their Company Health and Wellness Program  they saw a $5.50 return, and the employees who participated reduced their absentee rate by 18 percent,  and
• Prudential Insurance Company reported that the benefits costs for employees participating in their  program were $312, as opposed to $574 for non-participants