Health Promotion Programs – Building Program Support.

As with any wellness program, the two crucial elements for the success of your wellness program are senior management support and worker involvement. Senior management sets the vision and provides the resources from which action plans flow.

Genuine support from upper management also lends credibility to the wellness program. It’s key that upper management be visible supporters and role models for your Wellness Program.

Workers need to be involved on a few levels so that they feel ownership of the wellness program. Workers are the wellness program stakeholders!

All employees should have an opportunity to provide input and feedback through needs and interest surveys and health promotion program investigation tools.  The information accumulated should be used to plan health promotion programs that target those needs and interests to ensure participation, buy-in, and support.

There are a few methods to identify staff member needs and interests such as -

o  Conducting Staff Member Focus Groups

o  Discussing Wellness Interests During Department Meetings

o  Distributing and Summarizing a Needs and Interest Survey

o  Including an Opportunity to Provide Suggestions on Each Evaluation Tool

Any one or combination of a few techniques will ensure that the health promotion program meets what staff members want.  Click here for a sample Needs and Interest Survey.

Step 3 provides additional information on deciding wellness program needs.  But first, establishing a Wellness Committee can help you involve senior management and personnel, determine need, and plan your wellness program.