Health and Wellness Leads : Assembling a Employee Wellness Program

Ideally, you will advance an central plan for a Company Health Promotion Program before beginning to plan specific wellness programs. For example, you have the potential to start by getting the following components in place:

• reinforcement from management
• a Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee or team
• information about the wellness needs and interests of employees
• a budget
• program objectives
• an assessment plan

Even if you have few monetary and/or human resources(HR), you have the potential to still take a “micro” approach. By way of example, you might focus on only one specific issue. Creativity, enthusiasm and planning have the potential to help you overcome limitations.

This article will give you some with some ideas for establishing Workplace Wellness Programs. Even the smallest steps can have an influence.

Whether you choose to start with a single program or cultivate something larger, planning is important. First consider the big picture and then look after the details.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Determine an action. What health-related program will fit the bill and best suit the employees and company?
• Promote. How can you most effectively get the word out to staff members? What are the opportunities for promotion? Consider everything, because staff members have access to and pay attention to different types of messages. In a typical workplace, staff members get information from e-mail, newsletters, bulletins, brochures, meeting announcements and fellow staff members.
• Deliver. Who is the best individual or group to put the program into action? Ask other employers about approaches they have utilized. Decide on your budget before making a decision.
• Evaluate. What should you evaluate to determine success? Do you need hard data and/or testimonials from individual participants?

We recommend the following when creating your program:

• creating and communicating clear objectives
• targeting your audience
• deciding on the type of program or campaign

The Elements of a Worksite Wellness Program

Programs to encourage wellness in the workplace don’t need to be restricted to one area. You might think workplace wellness only involves promoting positive personal health, e.g., Blood Pressure clinics, brochures on heart disease, “lunch and learn” classes on eating habits and short-term physical activity programs.

These activities are important, but workplace wellness should also be part of organization’s business strategy and go beyond traditional programming.

Taking a broader approach, the National Quality Institute recently identified three key components of a healthy workplace:

• physical environment
• social environment and personal resources
• health practices

Specific Program Ideas

Physical Environment

Look after workers’ health and safety and establish regulations to support their health and safety. Consider providing the following:

• Safe bike storage and shower and/or change facilities for cyclists and other commuters.
• Fridges for staff members to keep snacks and meals fresh and/or healthy snacks in snack machines and cafeterias.
• Ergonomic assessments.
• Subsidies to help workers join local recreation centres.
• Classrooms/conference rooms available for booking activities such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation and aerobics.
• Safe and pleasant stairways that invite workers to use them.
• Assessing the potential for violence at work with plans to deal with such risks.
• Good lighting and sound and air quality.

Social Environment

Human relationships and communication, as well as ways of doing business, have the potential to affect an employee’s mental and physical health. Companies should consider the following:

• respectful workplace policies that provide safe worksites
• policies on flex time
• policies on working from home
• employee satisfaction surveys
• leadership coaching
• resiliency training
• Employee Assistance Program(EAP)s

To develop a positive social culture or climate, consider employees’ needs, which include:

• being respected
• a sense of belonging, purpose and mission
• freedom of expression
• protection from harassment and discrimination

What you’ve “always done” may not address current employee needs. Making sure that people enjoy being at work is not an easy task, but making the right changes has the potential to have a huge impact.

Health Practices

Offer programs and set policies that help employees remain healthy or improve their health while at work. Consider offering the following:

• “Lunch and learn sessions” on healthy habits such as sleeping better, eating on the run, healthy snacks, using a pedometer, pole walking, work-life balance, time management, stress management, resiliency, parenting and reading nutrition labels.
• Tobacco cessation clinics or subsidies to help employees quit.
• Health risk appraisals, including fitness assessments.
• Programs to address the concerns raised in the health risk appraisals.
• Healthy snacks offered at meetings and conferences.

Personal Company Wellness Program Tips

If there is no wellness program at your worksite, don’t let that stop you from keeping healthy. Perhaps your example will spark a movement toward a healthier workplace.

Here are a few ideas to think about:

• Be active at work. There are countless ways to bring exercise into your workday. Walk to work, even if it’s just one way. Hold walking meetings. Bike to work. Use the stairs. Walk to a workmate’s office rather than sending an e-mail.
• Eat well at work. Pack a healthy meal. Keep a bottle of water at your desk or workstation. Eat breakfast and eat regularly during the day. Take turns bringing a basket of fruit for co-workers’ snacks. Order healthy snacks for gatherings.
• Maintain work-life balance. Work efficiently so you can leave on time. Conduct short, effective meetings. Leave your work at work and be sure not to take it home. Minimize social chit-chat. Arrange your office to enhance your work. Avoid clutter. Create and prioritize to be sure that the most significant things get done first.

There is no limit to the number or variety of Workplace Health Promotion Programs. A key to success is planning well and ensuring that you can evaluate the outcome so that you can sustain momentum.

Talk to other wellness practitioners to find out what works well for them. Listen to your co-staff members to determine their needs and interests. And do not forget to promote, promote, promote.