Health and Wellness Leads : Workplace Wellness Program: Establish Goals and Objectives  

A Employee Health Promotion Program without goals/objectives is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a bit of thoughtful planning, you broaden your chances for a efficacious experience.  Clear goals/objectives are needed to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program goals/objectives are different from one employer to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Still, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a efficacious wellness program!

Company Health Promotion Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Employee Health Promotion Program. The mission statement is the overall expression of what the Employee Health Promotion Program Committee wants to accomplish by implementing a wellness program.  It is valuable to consider how your Employee Health Promotion Program fits in with the organization mission statement, contributes to the overall mission and supports the organization bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the organization operations.  

Below are some examples of Worksite Wellness Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Employer, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Worksite Wellness Program to support  in beginning Worksite Wellness Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Workplace Wellness Program Committee to cultivate healthier lifestyle choices to reduce health risk factors, improve central wellbeing, and maintain a productive, active work force.”

Corporate Wellness Program Goals

The objectives further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, upper management expectations and employee interests, examples of objectives can include:

The objective(s) of XYZ Corporate Wellness Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Decrease absenteeism by one day per employee
• Cut down on musculoskeletal injuries by ten%
• Lower unnecessary emergency room visits
• Lower or contain healthcare costs
• Improve dietary habits of employees
• Decrease health risk factors  

Workplace Wellness Program Objectives

Specific Employee Health Promotion Program objectives help meet your long-term goals and objectives.  Both short term and long term objectives ought to be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the goals and objectives.  In addition to objectives for the expected colleague outcomes, process objectives ought to also be developed for the program process itself.  For example, process objectives may include the number of staff members you want to take part in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be provided, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives must be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to establish both your long and short-term goals and objectives:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be monitored or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  For example, a goal for a weight loss program that has an overriding goal of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Members (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per colleague (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Participants (who) will go to 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of an intention for coaching staff members with high cholesterol might be:

To reduce the total cholesterol (specific what) of high risk workers with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions provided at the worksite (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to reduce the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process goal for a tobacco cessation program with an overall objective to assist  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week smoking cessation program, 10% of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each participant will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process mission) and 10% of those who quit will still be smoke-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including adopting your Employee Wellness Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!