Company Health And Wellness Programs

We all know that physical activity is an important part of health and wellness. But sometimes it’s hard to find time for physical activity.

Lack of time is the number one barrier that individuals  say avoids them from participating in exercise on a regular basis.

The good news is that even short sessions of exercise help your health. Research has shown that 10-minute sessions that add up to between 30 and 60 minutes a day can produce meaningful health benefits.

Additionally, there are numerous ways busy individuals  can use to be more active. These strategies include –

• multi-tasking

• being active at work

• being active with loved ones

• scheduling activity into daily life

Different strategies work for different people . Being familiar with the different strategies is key to adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle.

Read on to take a look at strategies you can attempt. With enough commitment, some of them are sure to work for you.

Strategy #1 –  Multi-tasking

The first strategy you can try is multi-tasking. This means doing things you already do, but in a more physically active way.

This way you get done what you need to get done and you get exercise at the same time.

For  instance, you are already travelling to work and other places. Instead of taking the car or the bus every time, try using active methods of transportation like bicycling, rollerblading, walking and skateboarding.

When you can’t use active transportation for a whole trip, attempt to be active for at least part of the trip. When you are riding the bus, for instance, get off a few blocks early and walk the rest of the way.

Active transportation benefits your body by increasing your activity level, and it also benefits your neighbourhood and the environment by decling the number of cars on the road.

You can also get exercise while doing housework and chores.

When you’re working around home, attempt to be creative and look for the active choice. for example, when you’re cleaning the crack between the fridge and the counter, why not move the fridge so you are able to clean the area better and build your strength at the same time?

For outdoor work, choose the old-fashioned way of doing things, as they are generally more active. for  instance, use a snow shovel rather than a snow blower.

Strategy #2 –  be Active at Work

Many Americans spend eight hours a day or more working at a sedentary job. Here are several simple ways to keep your body moving during the workday.

The exercise will revitalize you and help you be more productive.

When you are working at your desk, attempt sitting on a stability ball or disk for part of your day (30 minutes to an hour). This gives your back and abdominals a workout.

Take active breaks at least once a day. During your coffee break, attempt doing some yoga, stretching or taking a quick walk.

You might find that walking up and down the stairs a few times does a better job of rejuvenating you than the java jolt.

Speaking of the stairs, take them instead of the elevator whenever you can. the stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

Organize walking meetings at work. Getting outside and having meetings in a less formal establishing is a great way to be active, makes the workday more fun and encourages creative ideas for work projects.

Strategy #3 –  be Active With Your Loved Ones

Do exercise with your family, friends, neighbours and pets. With this strategy, you and your loved ones are doing some excellent multi-tasking together –  enjoying quality time with each other and getting some exercise that you all need to be healthful.

Go for walks, swims or bicycle rides together. Play Frisbee, soccer and other games and sports together. When you take your kids to the park, play with them instead of just watching them play.

Many community facilities offer courses that keep you and your children active at the same time. Research these courses and take one or two.

You can even be active when you are watching your kids do activities without you. for example, if your child plays hockey, take the opportunity to walk up and down the stairs in the stands a few times.

If you feel self-conscious about doing it alone, why not gather a group of parents to do it together?

Strategy #4 –  Schedule Exercise into Your Day

Schedule your exercise directly into your daytimer. Make sure to set a specific time and place for exercising. Make your exercise appointments a priority, just as important as any other appointment you put in your daytimer.

To help you stay committed to your exercise appointments, you could want to make appointments that involve other individuals  -  such as by meeting with a fitness trainer, taking an exercise class or jogging with a friend.

When you are not sure how many appointments to make or what you must be doing during your appointments, attempt consulting with a personal trainer. A personal trainer can help you create a exercise plan and schedule.

The bottom line –  figure out what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to other individuals  about how they keep active and what strategies they use.

Be creative and patient while you figure out what strategies work best for you. and be aware that your “best strategy” may change from time to time.

With enough effort, you’ll discover what works for you. Then, run with it!

Given the huge growth of wellness programs over the last two years, it was inevitable resistance would creep up among watchdog groups.

In Washington, lobbyists have spearheaded a push for Congress, the DOL and IRS to crack down on “punitive” health promotion programs.

Namely, the groups seek to limit wellness programs in which employees’ share of their healthcare costs are directly tied to their willingness to participate in a wellness program.

HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules prohibit businesss from building negative financial incentives for workers with health risks.

For example, you can’t raise someone’s premium share because he or she smokes. What you are able to do is offer a discount if someone completes a use of tobacco cessation program.

Reason –  the law does allow for financial incentives to workforce who willingly participate in wellness programs.

The watchdog groups seek greater regulation to be certain incentives and discounts are used only as rewards for healthful behavior, not as a thinly veiled form of discrimination against high-risk workers.

• Commit to workplace physical activity in policy statements and commit funding to physical activity initiatives.

• Clearly communicating the benefits of being physically active during the workday reinforces the corporation’s commitment to helping all staff members be active.

Use meetings, bulletin boards, newsletters and e-mail to reach as many employees as possible at least once a year.

• Offer flex time for physical activity. Invite staff members who actively commute to work or exercise at lunchtime to make up any missed time later in the day.

• Allow staff to work part time, so that they can participate in physical activity.

• Include a exercise account in your benefit plan to pay for or subsidize fitness memberships, assessments, classes, counselling or instruction.

• Provide interest-free loans for workers to buy bikes or good walking shoes/runners.

• Conduct periodic surveys of staff exercise preferences, and offer a selection of choices to suit those interests and needs.

• Hire licensed individuals  to lead stretch breaks or physical activity programs or classes. for help in finding accredited fitness leaders, visit Alberta’s Provincial Fitness Unit.

• Recognize employees who participate in exercise. Survey employees first to determine how they prefer to be recognized, e.g., through company newsletters, appreciation lunches, rewards and/or thank you notes.

• Provide child care and other family-friendly amenities during physical activities that occur after work.

• Prevent scheduling meetings over lunch.

• Be sure to encourage active breaks in lieu of coffee breaks.

• Have active fundraisers rather than bingos. for example, staff members might climb the Calgary Tower stairs or take turns riding a stationary bike for 24 hours.

• Make birthday celebrations active times. Instead of a lunch, invite the birthday person to select an activity. Options could include a session with a yoga instructor or an evening ski trip.

• Promote a casual dress day. One study found that employees who dress casually were more physically active.

A recent survey finds almost 42 percent of businesss with 200 or fewer workers have some sort of disease management (DM) program.

That’s a gigantic increase from four years ago, when just 28% of smaller businesss offered such health promotion programs.

There’s more to come, too. Fifteen% of respondents that didn’t currently have a disease management component to their medical plan hope to add one by 2011.

The highest-demand disease management programs are for diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Source –  Small Employer Benefits Survey, PDR Consulting Group, 9/1/2008.

• Be certain that your building’s stairwells are clean, attractive and safe, and post signs encouraging staff members to use the stairs.

• Establish a wellness newsletter or intranet.

• Promote the Activity Tracker and encourage staff members to track their physical activity every week.

• be creative, and make the most of the workspace you have. for example, mark off a safe walking path inside or around the building.

You may also set up a training circuit, highlighting features of the worksite such as stairs.

• Offer physical activity opportunities at different times to accommodate night-, shift-, and part-time employees.

• for employees in remote or satellite offices, offer equal access to key programs via the intranet. Adapt challenges to suit their environment and take benefit of local facilities and resources.

• Make physical activity available to workers with special needs. Adapt information and activities for any staff who are visually impaired or physically disabled in addition to for people  who speak English as a second language.

• Educate staff members about physical activity using information from reputable sources like the Alberta Center for Active Living.

• Offer facilities that invite onsite physical activity. Possibilities include bike racks, an exercise room, change rooms with lockers and showers, and safe and attractive grounds for walking.

• Hold walking meetings.

• Be sure to encourage employees to walk to coworkers’ offices in lieu of e-mailing or phoning.

• Make certain to set up a stretching room. This low-cost initiative requires only a room, stretching mats, stability balls and medicine balls. Put up posters that show stretches and exercises.

• Provide incentives such as shoe bags, ball caps, T-shirts or water bottles to reward staff participation.

• Loan out pedometers for three months, so that employees can find out how many steps they usually take and how much activity they need to add to get basic health benefits.

• Make space for staff members to plant and maintain a flowerbed or garden at the workplace. Use any resulting produce for meetings and potluck lunches or donate it to charity.

• Plan a workplace health fair.

• Hire a certified fitness expert to design and manage an onsite exercise facility.

• Supply workers with active wear that shows off the business logo.

Thinking about an obesity-related disease management program for your company? Here is what you need to know.

In order to be effective, the health promotion program must meet participants’ individual medical and psychological needs, not to mention your own organization’s need to control long-term medical costs.

Just how wide-reaching should the program be? After all, it doesn’t make sense to pay for services your workers don’t want or can’t use.

Mary Beth Chalk of Resources for Living suggests that obesity programs can be broken down into four tiers of employee need, from which your organization’s ROI can also be measured.

Tier 1 –  Education

Tier I staff members struggle with weight management problems but don’t need a health Coach.  Instead, they could benefit from a self-directed program that provides weight-management related materials online, targeted mailing, and/or access to nurse call line.

Precisely how to measure Return On Investment –  utilization. Do workforce click on the Web site? Do they return to the site regularly? Do individuals  use the nurse line? Your wellness program vendor ought to provide you detailed use stats.

Tier 2 –  Clinical supervision

When the worker has been diagnosed as obese – a Body Mass Index  score over 30 is obese, over 35 is clinically obese – he or she’d do better working with a wellness coach in a clinically supervised wellness program.

Three keys to getting maximum results –

1. Periodically have participants rate their relationship with their wellness Coaches. Not everyone clicks, so a change could  be in order.

2. Coordinate your disease management care with your employee assistance program (EAP)services. Reason –  Inability to control weight is often closely tied with psychological health issues – and one can negatively affect the other.

The more closely your employee assistance program and obesity program managers work together, the higher the chance for success.

3. Beware of the fade-out effect. Many employees in weight-loss programs get off to a great start and then fall back into old habits. People  should re-commit to the program after three sessions, four months and nine months.

To measure ROI, look at utlization, goal achievement and reduced presenteeism. of course, presenteeism is notoriously challenging to measure with reliable dollar figures. So how can you overcome that problem?

• Start with employees’ salaries. Let’s suppose one participant earns $40,000 each year.

• Ask workers to self-report how energetic and productive they feel on the job, on a percentage scale. Then have supervisors estimate the employee’s productivity and split the difference. for this example, let’s assume it averaged to 50 percent.

• Collect scores again six months and one year into the program and then multiply the difference by salary.  The result is your estimated productivity Return On Investment.

In the example above, if the staff member earning $40,000 improves from 50 percent to 75 percent after one year, the productivity related ROI is $10,000.  

Tier 3 –  Medical management

At this level, the obese employee needs a higher level of care than a health coach can offer.  The employee has chronic medical conditions related to obesity – like diabetes, high blood pressure, and/or sleep apnea – and needs a doctor case manager.

Specifically, the staff member needs to set up regular visits with the physician and develop a treatment plan.

To measure Return On Investment (ROI), start with the lower-tier criteria, then track quarterly and year differences in FMLA or paid absences, and prescription drug costs. Then compare it to the per-participant cost of the obesity program.

Tier 4 –  Morbid obesity

At this level, the employee has been diagnosed as morbidly obese – Body Mass Index over 40 – and is considered a potential candidate for gastric bypass surgery.

Return On Investment (ROI) is measured through ongoing health claims in addition to the previous criteria.

• Organize a launch event to create excitement about upcoming activities and to create a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.

• Organize and promote monthly or bi-monthly business events that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, staff tournaments and dragon boat racing.

Make certain to encourage families to join in by including all-ages events like relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.

• Begin a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of staff members to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward staff members who complete the swim.

Be sure to set up a challenge between staff members and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.

• Post a sign-up board where staff can become a member of  group or find a buddy to participate in activities of interest.

• Arrange a business badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each staff member playing once a week. Post the results as the tournament progresses.

• Organize an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in a few activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.

• Create a point system in which one minute of activity is equivalent to one point. Make certain to set a target, and post a chart where all workers can track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.

• Co-ordinate a stair climb challenge. Post a chart at the top of the stairwell, and encourage workers to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday.

Make sure to set up teams, and award a prize to the first team to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.

• Post and promote a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.

• Organize a walk “across the United States ” Choose a route, figure out how many steps it’d take to walk that distance and challenge staff members to do it.

Give or loan pedometers to workers, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, when you can’t afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Make certain to set up a challenge between workers and managers to see who can walk across the USA  first.

• Co-ordinate a walk to work club. Acknowledge employees who either walk to work or walk to public transit.

• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.

• Coordinate a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined sum of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites could compete with each other and with management.

• Challenge staff members to walk 10,000 steps a day. Purchase pedometers for all participating staff members or, if you cannot afford that, make pedometers available at a lowered rate.

Give tips for increasing daily steps, and reward staff members who succeed.

Create a culture of wellness within your organization

Create Exemplary Management Support

In the most successful Health Promotion Programs, senior managers lead their companies by example.  And they work to ensure that the senior level management structure not only allows, but actively encourages their workers to participate.

Organize a Health Promotion Advisory Team

Health Promotion committees serve as the eyes, ears, arms and legs of the wellness program, representing colleagues ideas and concerns, and helping reshape the organizational culture toward health.

Conduct an Assessment of Financial and Human Assets and Liabilities

Successful Wellness Programs are built upon a foundation of information, including claims review, demographic analysis of the workforce, senior management and staff member surveys, health risk data, history of organizational wellness, and health benefit plan design.

Create Obviously Stated Vision, Mission and Outcomes

Establish a clear vision of wellness program direction, expectations and measures to answer the questions, “Where are we going and how will we know when we get there?”

Create a Comprehensive and Strategic Health Promotion Program

A multi-component plan ought to consist of strategically developed and implemented awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment programs, in addition to policies and activities that target appropriate health risk behaviors and needs of the staff.

Identify an Incentive and Reward Strategy

Incentives show the organizational commitment to the health promotion program and motivate individuals to participate. Incentives vary widely from program to program, but can include such things as time off, reduction in medical insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to health and fitness centers, free pedometers, etc.

Communicate to Employees

Your wellness program ought to be simple and concise, use an identifiable brand, and rely on a variety of media to communicate with workers and managers.

Evaluate Outcomes

Evaluate health promotion program participation, satisfaction levels and behavioral change. You could want to track the number of workers’ compensation claims, productivity, turnover morale and absenteeism.

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Wellness Program – Management Support.

Create Exemplary Management Support

Goal –  A Wellness Program established into the organization’s culture.

Focus – Create support and excitement for the wellness program from all levels of the corporation –  upper management, mid-level management, and grass-roots staff.

Obtaining upper-level management’s buy-in is essential to launching an effective health promotion program.  The workforce must understand that upper-level management is supportive of the health promotion program.

Actions –

Develop an Senior Management Executive Team to determine high-level decisions – positions that must be included are the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Communications Officer, and other appropriate division-level managers and health promotion program specialists, as necessary.

The Senior Level Management Executive Team will –

• Communicate to all levels of executive management about the wellness program and drive the integration of the Wellness Program as a part of the organization culture.

• Ensure that organizational resources are available for health promotion program planning and implementation.

• Be certain to encourage staff to participate and to assist in “recruiting” other staff, get the momentum going, and keep it growing.

• Share success stories within the organization, and continue to raise the perceived value of participation.

Organize a Health Promotion Advisory Team

Goal – Develop a working committee that consists of workforce and essential functional parts of the organization.

Focus –  to assist in reshaping the organizational culture to support employee-wellness activities by serving as messengers and supporters for the health promotion program.

Wellness Advisory Committees serve as an essential part of the infrastructure of your Wellness Program.  The team members are the eyes, ears, arms, and legs of the wellness program.

They represent their colleagues by sharing ideas and concerns about the health promotion program.

Actions –

The Health Promotion Advisory Committee will –

• Make sure to work with upper-level management and the Health Promotion Program coordinator in the design, implementation, and investigation of the health promotion program.

• Create methods to enhance the acceptance and success of the activities of your Wellness Program by stimulating worker ownership of the wellness program.

• Hold periodic meetings to keep the committee informed of upcoming plans and events and to provide feedback to the health promotion program coordinator about their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, and those of their peers.

• Recommend policy and environmental changes that are aimed at bettering the health and safety of workforce.

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Health Promotion Program – Vision and Mission.

Goal – Create a baseline of information and identify human and organizational needs.

Focus –  Review a selection of information to better understand past and current conditions regarding healthcare utilization, organizational culture, demographic overview, and health promotion programs.

Data collection plays an important role in planning, monitoring, and reviewing  a wellness program. It’ll also set the baseline for continued and future investigations of wellness program efficiency, effectiveness, and feasibility.

Actions –

• Claims review (health care, pharmaceutical) –

• What have been the 10 most costly major illness categories in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars compensated for each?

• What have been the 10 most costly therapeutic courses of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars compensated for each?

• What have been the 10 most frequently prescribed and filled therapeutic courses of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?

• Demographic analysis of staff member population (may include dependents) –

• List your number of staff members, by gender, for each of the past five years and the percentages of males and females by age groups.

• Think about any other factors that might have affected the health of your workers and their use of the healthcare system.

This might include mergers, acquisitions, workplace trauma, staff member strikes, layoffs, early retirement offers, etc.

Management survey –

• Conduct surveys of mid-level management to understand their concerns and measure their level of interest and buy-in.

• Employee-interest survey –  Gather information to find out what the staff want and to measure the level of participation, satisfaction, and “success” of any previous activities.

Risk data (health-risk assessments) –

• Is there any data from health-risk appraisals over the past five years?

Participation in similar activities –

• List and describe all wellness programs that have been implemented over the past five years, including participation rates.

Design of the health plan, and anticipated changes –

• Have there been any significant changes in the health plan’s design in each of the past five years, like a change from an health maintenance organization (Health Maintenance Organization) to a PPO, increased co-payments or deductibles, or increased worker contributions?

Create Obviously Reported Vision, Mission and Outcomes

Goal –  Establish a clear vision of health promotion program direction, expectations, and measures.

Focus – Establishing a vision, mission, goals and goals to keep your Wellness Program focused toward its desired outcomes. It will answer the questions, “Where are we going?” and “How will we know when we get there?”

Actions –

• Identify two to five obviously stated goals. Make certain that your wellness program is capable of having an impact in the area desired, and make certain that you’re capable of measuring that impact.

Example Goal – Staff Members having access to healthier food options

• Establish two to five measurable goals that especially state what your wellness program is going to accomplish, by when, how, and how it’ll be measured.

Example Objective –  Modify all vending machines to include 50% healthful food options.

• Identify several activities that will help you achieveyour objective. Activities are very specific.

Example Activity – Make certain to work with vending machine owners to identify healthful food choices and restock with 50 percent of items that are healthier food choices.

• Identify who is going to do what, by when, and what resources are needed.

Example Detail –  the Program coordinator will contact XXX Vending Corporation by September 30.

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Wellness Program Incentives.

Create a Comprehensive and Strategic Health Promotion Program

Goal –  A robust Health Promotion Program plan.

Focus –  Development of a plan that consists of a variety of awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment program, policies, and activities that will target risk behaviors, needs, and interests of staff members.

Your Health Promotion Program should provide an integrated, strategic approach specific to the needs, goals, and culture of your company, designed throughout an annual cycle.

It’ll be important to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as tobacco use, vending machines, and the staff cafeteria. Also, it is useful to examine what company wellness or health-promotion activities are offered under your existing health-benefit plan.

Actions –

• Create activities based on your health promotion program objectives and the specific needs of your employees. Focus on those topics that are of greatest interest to your employees and the greatest needs of your organization, in that order. Prevent topics with narrow appeal.

• Keep it simple. Design the wellness program so it’s easy for the participants to understand and track. Let workforce focus their learning efforts on their own behavior, not on the rules and regulations of the wellness program.

In addition, simplify the wellness program administration. Let people  record their own activities when possible; create a mixture of self-reported activities along with verified activities.

• Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements. Link the activities throughout the year to allow for desired behavior repetition.

• Select activities that every staff member can participate in.

Examples –

• Challenges –  Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior and continue for 4-8 weeks and focus on specific topics (such as physical activity, nutrition, or stress management).

• Learning experiences (seminars, videos, classes) –  One-time activities that last for a relatively short time and focus on a specific topic; these can precede “challenge activities” to prepare participants for behavior change.

• Behavior changes (such as tobacco use cessation) –  Interventions may or may not be offered at the workplace; person must be encouraged to make lifestyle changes that they wanted to make even without the incentive.

• Illness management (support and education groups for diabetes and hypertension) –  These may  be provided or supported by the organization through disease-management providers, or by community, health, or religious businesses.

• New skills (first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation) –  These might  be provided or supported by the business, or by community, health, or religious companies.

• Screenings, wellness assessments, physical exams –  A wellness assessment provides the business with aggregate data that could be used in wellness program planning and analysis; preventive screenings and physical exams could be encouraged by awarding credits to personnel.

• Program support (membership or leadership in wellness committee or challenge team) –  Reward those who work with you to help make your Wellness Program a success.

• Community events –  Reward participation in events like the Heart Walk or March of Dimes Walk; limit the number of these events that could be counted toward the annual total, and be selective about which events you allow to be counted.

Create an Incentive Strategy

Goal –  to motivate and reward worker participation and completion.

Focus – Develop a sense of interest in participation and completion of wellness activities.

Providing incentives and rewards will send an important message to the staff that the company is committed to improving their health and will share the rewards that these changes will bring. It also plays a significant role in arousing individuals to participate.

Actions –

• Identify through workers what incentives they value most.

• Identify what incentives the business can provide.

• Integrate your incentives into your benefits strategy.

• Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.

• Offer participation incentives.

• Prevent offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”

• Avoid rewards for biometric changes.

• Use incentives to promote your Wellness Program, through logos and branding.

Examples –

Compensated time off, reduction in health insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to fitness centers, free pedometers, etc.

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Health Promotion Program Communication.

Goal –  Increase awareness of and participation in the Wellness Program.

Focus –  Promote the Wellness Program to workers to encourage participation in activities and benefits.

A well-designed communications strategy is paramount to successful wellness program awareness and participation. Even a “world class” wellness program design will not succeed when nobody knows that it’s available or how to get involved.

Workers who don’t get involved in the wellness program ought to be doing so because they select not to participate, not because they did not know about how, when, or where to participate.

Actions –

• Conduct a Resources and Communications Audit to identify internal and external resources available to support your Wellness Program, in addition to knowing how information will be disseminated.

• Keep the wellness program simple and concise –  easy to peruse about, understand, and act upon.

• Build the brand; make sure it’s something that personnel can identify with. Add the brand to T-shirts, water bottles, mouse pads, stress balls, etc.

Use a variety of media –

• Print – pamphlets, fliers, posters, banners, paycheck inserts, newsletter articles, bulletin boards, literature racks, post cards.

• Electronic – Web, intranet, e-mail, closed-circuit televisions, sign lines, audiovideo productions.

• Staff meetings and corporation events; word of mouth.

• Use existing channels of communication – what works best in your business – and make certain to know about all points of contact and systems of distribution.

Timing for communications –

• Prior to activity to develop awareness and to educate.

• During activity to stimulate participation.

• After an activity to report results.

• Between activities to maintain momentum and interest.

Consistency of communications –

• Use branding; maintain a consistent look, feel, and tone of messages.

• Maintain this consistency throughout the wellness program.

Surveys and forms –

• Collect information.

• Disseminate information.

There’s no single right way to approach wellness programs but winning programs share common success factors. These include commitment from management, worker involvement, adequate resources, and a policy on health that goes hand in hand with the corporation’s mission, vision and values.

Wellness Program –  A Range of Approaches

Although the goal is to eventually have a long-term, extensive wellness program, some companies prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level.

For  instance, the first steps can be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthful eating; or they could launch a pilot project to find out how interested staff members are to ensure staff members needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious.

This approach provides a chance to show the impact on staff members and the workplace so management will be more willing to consider a bigger and more far-reaching strategy.

Other companies plan a variety of programs to meet the needs of the different types of people  that make up their workforce. and some decide to develop a sound business case, complete with a health strategy, before trying any kind of program.

Businesses want to ensure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall company vision and mission.

Wellness Program –  Success Factors

Whether your company chooses to think large from the outset or to begin with something smaller, always keep in mindthe following key success factors –

• support and participation from management;

• staff member involvement in planning;

• programs that meet employee needs;

• a realistic budget; and

• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a team must follow to accomplish its goal of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Organizations also need game plans, even when they don’t call them by that name.

Good planning will help to ensure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that costs may be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning avoids small problems from becoming bigger.

Steps in Planning a Wellness Program

Obtain management support. You could need to create a company case to convince managers that the wellness program is a company strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction affects their productivity. Employees need to see evidence that  upper management believes in and is committed to employee health.

Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from worker groups as well as from human resources (HR), health and safety, and communications.

Collect information. to prove that your program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You could wish to look at staff member satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug costs or WCB expenses.

Assess what workplace facilities are available to support workers to make healthful choices like showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bike. Assess worker needs through a recent survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Create the plan to reflect the information collected. Include program objectives, activities and how you are going to measure whether your objectives were met.

Keep the plan flexible. You might have to change direction in response to worker feedback or changes in the corporation’s structure.

Get management approval. Support for staff time and a budget are needed.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that create awareness, increase knowledge, create skills, and provide social interaction.

Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns like Corporate Wellness Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that provide information about community resources.

Workplaces can also make it easier for workers to make healthful options by providing flextime to allow workers to fit activity in when it’s convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings can ensure that healthful foods are offered.

Evaluate the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.

A wellness program does not have to be complicated or a huge investment. Just do it. Get support from management, bring a few committed individuals  together to generate some ideas and get started.

Studies show that untargeted health-promotion campaigns have little long-term impact.
Chronic conditions, which rob person and families of their health and happiness, represent major costs to corporations in the form of health care and disability costs, lost productivity, and absenteeism.
Health Promotion Programs should address risky behaviors that can help your staff members eat healthier, increase their level of exercise, help reduce stress, lower blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol, and quit smoking. Wellness programs should focus on helping staff members achieve and maintain their optimal health status.

Robust wellness programs focused on changing lifestyle behavior have been shown to yield a $3 to $6 return on investment for each dollar invested. It takes about three to five years after the initial wellness program investment to realize these savings.

Ninety-three percent of USA companies offer some type of wellness program for their workforce, but is it the right type?

Primary Kinds of Health Promotion Programs

Programs focusing on illness management. These health promotion programs monitor and treat specific illnesses. Disease management follows the 80/20 rule –  80 percent of health care costs are spent on 20 percent of staff.

Illness management is reported to have a $7 to $10 return on investment within a year.  The 20 percent of workers requiring the greatest medical expenditures today are normally different 20 percent who will cause the greatest medical expenses a year or two down the road.

Programs focusing on health enhancement and risk management. These wellness programs focus on lifestyle behavior change, and offer a $3 to $6 return on investment within two to five years, according to a 2004 report issued by the National Corporation Group on Health.

It’s crucial to note that a $3 to $6 return on an entire employee population produces a higher total savings than does illness management.

Good Data Drives Good Corporation Decisions

• Based on more than 120 scientific research studies, the National Company Group on Health stated that, within five years of wellness program implementation, overall benefit-to-cost ratios (return on investment) of –

• $3.48 in lowered healthcare costs per dollar invested.

• $5.82 in decrease absenteeism per dollar invested.