Workplace Wellness Program

Why it’s important and how to do it

The Employee Health and Wellness Program Vision

A Employee Health and Wellness Program vision statement is a concise statement that summarizes the purpose and objectives of your company’s commitment to establishing a Workplace Wellness Program. Taking the time to clarify and describe your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program vision can provide a focus and a consistent direction for your Strategies for years to come. The vision statement reminds leaders and staff members of the link between staff member health and the company’s ability to achieve its overall mission.

Answer the following questions and you’ll have the components needed to build a simple and effective Employee Health and Wellness Program vision for your company’s culture of health:

• What do you want your Employee Health and Wellness Program to accomplish?
• How do you intend to accomplish it?
• How does this Employee Health and Wellness Program mission support or further the company’s mission?

A sample Employee Health and Wellness Program vision statement might be . . .

To have staff members who perform at their best and who enable XYZ Corporation to be an industry leader in printing quality and customer service (company’s mission), XYZ Corporation is committed to offering opportunities for healthy behaviors during the workday (how) in order to encourage staff members not to smoke, to be active, and to eat healthfully (what).

The Employee Health and Wellness Program Brand

In the same way that your company’s name and brand image provide visibility for your business, your Strategies toward establishing a Employee Health and Wellness Program will benefit from being easily recognizable to staff members:

• A consistently used Employee Health and Wellness Program brand on all communications conveys to staff members that the commitment to a culture of health is here to stay.
• A Employee Health and Wellness Program brand institutionalizes the culture and makes it more likely to withstand changes in staff and budget.

Do what you can to engage staff members in establishing the identity (brand) for your company’s Workplace Wellness Program. Not only are they more likely to accept the name, it’s also a great way to announce to staff members the company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program commitment. Here are two possible approaches to involving staff members:

Option 1: Have a Employee Health and Wellness Program contest

1. Announce the Employee Health and Wellness Program contest guidelines and deadline.
2. Have the Health and Wellness Committee review the ideas submitted, and choose a name.

If, for example, your organization, Premier Building and Design, is in the commercial construction business, you might receive the following Employee Health and Wellness Program ideas from staff members:

• Cornerstone: Feeling well is what it’s all about
• Premier Elements: Building healthier staff members
• Custom Build: Building health builds wealth
• Building Health: Designing better staff member health

After reviewing the entries, your Health and Wellness Committee determines that it likes the name “Premier Elements” and the subtitle “Building health builds wealth”. Your committee awards the “name the Employee Health and Wellness Program contest” prize to the two staff members, those who submitted the pieces of the name that represent the final product.

Premier Elements: Building health builds wealth

3. Choose a Employee Health and Wellness Program logo to go with the name.

The Employee Health and Wellness Program logo is an important piece of the branding

• Review any ideas submitted for Employee Health and Wellness Program logos.
• If you’re fortunate enough to have a graphic design professional at your organization, enlist her or his help with developing the Employee Health and Wellness Program logo!
• As an alternative, choose a piece of clip-art that fits with the Employee Health and Wellness Program name you’ve selected. For example, the organization referenced above might look for a symbol that conveys building, health and wealth.

Option 2: Health and Wellness Committee determines the name and brand

1. Have your Health and Wellness Committee brainstorm Employee Health and Wellness Program names.
• To get ideas flowing, ask members to write down all health-related words and words associated with your company or industry.
• Try clustering words together as in the construction organization example above.
2. Once your Health and Wellness Committee has narrowed down the possibilities to about three ideas, have committee members vote to select a name for your culture of health.
3. Choose a Employee Health and Wellness Program logo to go with the winning name.
4. Announce the company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program and the corresponding Employee Health and Wellness Program name. Explain that employees on the advisory committee chose the name.

Sample Employee Health and Wellness Program meeting agendas and topics for discussion

Is your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program Health and Wellness Committee new?  Has it existed on paper but been inactive for a while?  In either case, some of the following may be appropriate agenda items for your first Employee Health and Wellness Program meetings.   You may also want to revisit these topics each year.

•    Clarify roles of Health and Wellness Committee members
­    Are members accountable for implementing changes or recommending changes?
­    How long are members’ terms on the Health and Wellness Committee?
­    How will new members be selected?

•    Determine Health and Wellness Committee meeting frequency and processes
­    Establish dates, times, and locations.
­    Determine how agendas will be set.
­    Plan for recording and distributing meeting notes.

•    Plan Employee Health and Wellness Program communication with leadership
­    Does a leader sit on the group or does the coordinator report on progress (and to whom)?
­    How frequently do leaders want reports on Employee Health and Wellness Program progress?

•    Select a name and brand for your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program

•    Create a vision statement for your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program

•    Identify existing allies Employee Health and Wellness Program for promoting staff member health within your company
­    Who do Health and Wellness Committee members know who could be relied on to support workplace changes necessary to establish a culture that promotes health?

•    Brainstorm challenges your company may face in working to establish facilities, policies and Employee Health and Wellness Program practices that promote staff member health
­    What do committee members regard as opportunities? How about potential Employee Health and Wellness Program obstacles?

•    History of past Employee Health and Wellness Program efforts
­    If relevant, summarize past Employee Health and Wellness Program efforts. Discuss what your company learned from those efforts.
?    What has the company tried over the last few years?
?    What has worked well?
?    What hasn’t worked well?
?    How, if at all, was success of previous Employee Health and Wellness Program efforts measured?

A representative Health and Wellness Committee is a cornerstone of a successful Workplace Wellness Program, regardless of the size of the company.

Membership of your Health and Wellness Committee

Aim for a committee of a manageable size (no more than 15 members, depending on your company’s size). Your Health and Wellness Committee should represent all employee groups (e.g., full-time and part-time staff members, managers and front-line employees, salary and hourly employees, union representation, HR, marketing or communications, legal, and occupational health/safety).

Here are some additional considerations:

• Health and Wellness Committee members can be selected by leadership or can be selected from among volunteers.
• Determine in advance how long Health and Wellness Committee members will serve and how new members will be selected. Balance the need for continuity with the need to bring fresh ideas and energy to your company’s Workplace Wellness Program.
• It’s not necessary, or even desirable, to have your healthiest staff members on the Health and Wellness Committee. Ideal Health and Wellness Committee members are those who best can represent their peers, motivate others and support the implementation of the Workplace Wellness Program.
• Consider offering an incentive or recognition to Health and Wellness Committee members. It legitimizes their positions and encourages participation. Some companys that have implemented stipends have generated enough staff member interest that the selection of Health and Wellness Committee membership becomes a competitive process. The Health and Wellness Committee responsibilities become a formal component of the member’s job accountabilities.

Role of your Health and Wellness Committee

In some companys the Health and Wellness Committee is accountable for the implementation of the Workplace Wellness Program. In other companys, the Health and Wellness Committee plays an advisory role. In either case, the group members can be asked to:

• Attend regular meetings of the Health and Wellness Committee.
• Help establish a vision and name for the company’s Workplace Wellness Program.
• Represent their peer group by sharing ideas, needs, concerns and feedback from their work areas and colleagues about proposed Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies, policies, and programs.
• Make available feedback on the possible obstacles to proposed Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies and offer suggestions for addressing those obstacles (e.g., how does a proposed policy fit with the schedules of staff members?).
• Suggest effective Employee Health and Wellness Program communication Strategies and solutions to challenges. For example, what is the best way to communicate with staff members who work the third shift? How will staff members react to a proposed message from leadership?
• Be a voice of support for a culture of health, carrying the message from the Health and Wellness Committee to their work areas and colleagues.

Functioning of your Health and Wellness Committee

Meet. Schedule regular Health and Wellness Committee meetings on paid work time. Your Health and Wellness Committee may want to meet frequently at first, then slightly less frequently as your health improvement strategy is more established. If your Health and Wellness Committee is new, it might be useful to ask members to provide information about themselves and their interests.

Communicate. Set up regular and frequent channels of communication with Health and Wellness Committee members so they are up to date and engaged. An email list is frequently the easiest way to do this. Encourage communication to flow both ways: from Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator to members and from members to coordinator.

Check-in. At least once a year, evaluate how effectively the Health and Wellness Committee is functioning. Is the Health and Wellness Committee serving its original purpose? Ask committee members for their feedback. Do they feel like their work is making a difference? Do they feel like their input is valued and taken into account when planning and implementing initiatives? Do they understand their expected Employee Health and Wellness Program roles and responsibilities? Are there members who want to rotate off of the committee? How will new members be selected?

Starting a Employee Health and Wellness Program need not be costly, but will require the commitment of some financial resources. If possible, include the Employee Health and Wellness Program in your company’s annual business plan and budget as you do for other efforts important to your company’s success.

How much to budget for the Workplace Wellness Program?

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for establishing a Employee Health and Wellness Program that results in improved employee health. Organizations differ in how much money they need and how much they can make available for the Workplace Wellness Program. Consider the following common expenses in developing an adequate Employee Health and Wellness Program budget:

• Employee Health and Wellness Program staffing costs (either internal salaries or consultant fees)
• Employee Health and Wellness Program data collection costs (including health risk assessment costs, if relevant)
• Employee Health and Wellness Program incentives for healthy behaviors (such as discounts on premiums for non-smokers)
• Costs of Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies to be implemented (such as costs of covering tobacco quit medications or costs of subsidizing healthy foods in the cafeteria or vending machines)
• Employee Health and Wellness Program administrative and communications expenses

In times of tight finances, be prepared to justify your requested Employee Health and Wellness Program budget. Arm yourself with data on potential short- and long-term outcomes of the proposed Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies. Itemize the Employee Health and Wellness Program expenses of past initiatives and share projected expenses for initiatives planned for the upcoming year.

Sustaining Employee Health and Wellness Program Financing

A dedicated Employee Health and Wellness Program line item in your company’s budget makes it more likely to be regarded as a need, rather than as a “nice-to-have” amenity that could be cut when funds run low.

One of the best Strategies for ensuring continued financial support for the Employee Health and Wellness Program is frequent communication to leadership, including:

• How many staff members have you reached through the Workplace Wellness Program? Has morale increased? Have health risks decreased, e.g., fewer staff members smoking, more staff members active?
• How well are you managing the Employee Health and Wellness Program resources you’ve been given? Where and how has your budget been spent? Keep track of the staff time necessary for each initiative and be able to present the numbers at any time.
• Anecdotal Employee Health and Wellness Program success stories from staff members. Don’t underestimate the power of a good story to put a human face on your success.

Supplemental sources of Employee Health and Wellness Program Financing

If necessary, have the individuals accountable for establishing a Employee Health and Wellness Program look for ways to supplement available internal funds. Are there grants or other financing available that can help support your Employee Health and Wellness Program ? What community Employee Health and Wellness Program resources could you use to meet some of your needs?

Locating an individual to guide your company in establishing a Employee Health and Wellness Program

Without a qualified Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator to guide and manage your company’s creation of a culture of health, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s essential that the creation of a culture of health be someone’s priority, not all companys need a full-time coordinator.  There are a number of ways to gain the time of a qualified coordinator.

Be careful not to confuse Employee Health and Wellness Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Workplace Wellness Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator:

• knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Workplace Wellness Programs
• competent working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Employee Health and Wellness Program data
• competent managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• competent in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies.

What will a Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator do?

The Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator is accountable for guiding a process that establishes workplace facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Workplace Wellness Program:

• act as a liaison between leadership and the Employee Health and Wellness Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Employee Health and Wellness Program
• establishe and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies
• facilitate Health and Wellness Committee meetings
• guide your company in determining measurable objectives for the Employee Health and Wellness Program
• recommend effective Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies and objectives.

Where can we find a qualified Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator?

Explore the following when looking for a Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator:

• Existing employees: Are there individuals on employees who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to serve as a Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Employee Health and Wellness Program position.
• New employees - Can you hire an individual to be your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Employee Health and Wellness Program Consultation - Various companys (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Employee Health and Wellness Program consultation on building a culture of health within a workplace.

An outside Employee Health and Wellness Program consultant can advise an internal Employee Health and Wellness Program coordinator and your Health and Wellness Committee on determining priorities and determining Strategies. Or, you can contract with a Employee Health and Wellness Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you select the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.

Strong and visible leadership support for the Employee Health and Wellness Program promotes health and is essential to securing necessary Employee Health and Wellness Program resources (staff, time, and money) and implementing recommended changes.

1. Identify a Employee Health and Wellness Program champion

In a small company, there may be a single leader who is the clear choice to champion the Workplace Wellness Program. In a larger company, look for an executive with the authority to influence others in the highest levels of the organization regarding the Workplace Wellness Program. The Employee Health and Wellness Program champion need not be the fittest member of leadership. Rather, look for a Employee Health and Wellness Program leader with the disposition to be a visible and vocal supporter of workplace policies that encourage healthy behaviors. Organizations with multiple sites can consider whether it would be useful to have an executive Employee Health and Wellness Program champion at each site.

2. Find existing Employee Health and Wellness Program allies

There may already be a number of individuals within your company who recognize the value of a Workplace Wellness Program. Think about who those individuals are in your company; consider areas such as occupational safety, union representatives, risk management, medical officers, and human resources when looking for a Employee Health and Wellness Program ally. Capture their stated support for the Workplace Wellness Program. Employee Health and Wellness Program support could include contributions of staff time or expertise, financial resources, agreement to endorse/support policy and environmental changes, or agreement to participate in, and voice their support for, changes in the workplace that will help to build a culture of health.

3. Build a business case for the Employee Health and Wellness Program

There is a reason that more and more businesses are finding a way to promote the health of the employees via a Employee Health and Wellness Program and policies: A Employee Health and Wellness Program makes good business sense. employees with healthy behaviors, on average, are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism)1 and incur lower healthcare costs than staff members with less healthy behaviors.2,3  As a result it would be foolish not to have a Workplace Wellness Program.

4. When developing a Employee Health and Wellness Program use what you know about leadership styles and the decision-making process within your company

Every company is different. Build leadership support for the Employee Health and Wellness Program in the way that makes the most sense for your company. Think about the following as you plan how to approach leadership for Employee Health and Wellness Program support:

• What are the current pressures and priorities facing executives? How could a Employee Health and Wellness Program and a healthier workforce support those priorities?
• How do the leaders prefer to receive data: written documents? verbal presentations?
• What kinds of Employee Health and Wellness Program information are likely to influence decisions? Do they want data and Employee Health and Wellness Program statistics specific to your company, or are state or national data sufficient? Are the leaders more influenced by internal factors or by what competitors are doing?
• Who would the leaders see as a reliable messenger for this Employee Health and Wellness Program information? Does someone from the risk management area carry more clout than someone from the human resources area?
• How do decisions really get made in your company? Informal committee meetings? Formal or informal meetings between executives? Plan accordingly and you increase the odds that the Employee Health and Wellness Program will become a reality.

5. Maintain Employee Health and Wellness Program support once you have it

Once you have appropriate Employee Health and Wellness Program support, ensure that you keep it by regularly updating the leaders on the health of the employees and progress toward establishing a culture that promotes health. Ask upper management how frequently they want to receive Employee Health and Wellness Program progress reports.

Source Information:
1 Bunn, JOEM, 2006, 48:10.
2 Foldes, Bland, An et al. Modifiable Health Risks and Short-Term Health Care Costs. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota internal research, submitted for publication.
3 Anderson, 2000, American Journal of Health Promotion, 15:1.

The workplace setting is a effective, but frequently overlooked, element in managing staff member health.  Here we will identify some of the best-practices in establishing a Employee Health and Wellness Program that supports your organization’s employee health strategy and allows staff members to take charge of their own health.  For example, a Employee Health and Wellness Program that includes a tobacco-free workplace policy increases the likelihood that staff members will try to quit smoking and will quit smoking successfully. Similarly, a Employee Health and Wellness Program that includes discounting healthy foods in your cafeteria and vending machines helps raise staff members’ consumption of healthy foods which supports your investment in disease management programs for staff members with diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. The following will guide you through the ten key steps in establishing a Employee Health and Wellness Program and workplace setting that promotes staff member health.

In an era of ever-increasing healthcare costs and fierce competition, businesses have a vested interest in the health of their staff members.  Studies have found that, on average, staff members with healthy behaviors (such as not smoking or being active for 30 minutes a day) incur lower healthcare expenses, are absent from work less frequently, and are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism) than staff members with unhealthy behaviors.

Workplace Wellness Program: Securing Upper Management Support

Employee Health and Wellness Program support from the highest level of leadership is essential to your success in establishing a culture of health within your workplace. Look for Employee Health and Wellness Program support from a leader who is respected by and can influence other leaders. (It’s not necessary that he or she be the fittest executive within your organization just that they directly support the Workplace Wellness Program.) You will be relying on this culture-of-health champion to advocate for changes that you recommend and to ensure the organization allocates adequate Employee Health and Wellness Program resources (staff, time, and money) to maintain and improve the workplace policies, physical setting, and social norms.

Capture Employee Health and Wellness Program Staff and Budget

The creation and maintenance of a Employee Health and Wellness Program within your company needs to be someone’s priority. However, unless your company is quite large, you likely don’t need to hire a full-time staff person for the Workplace Wellness Program.  There are a number of ways to find an individual with the necessary skills to guide and support your company’s Workplace Wellness Program.

Starting facilities and Employee Health and Wellness Program policies, such as those allowing staff members to be physically active during the workday, does not need to be costly, but it does require adequate and sustained financing.  If possible, include the creation of a workplace setting that supports the Employee Health and Wellness Program as a permanent component of the operating budget; that helps to ensure it’s an ongoing priority for your company.

Employee Involvement in the Employee Health and Wellness Program

Setting up a cross section of employees to advise your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program ensures that improvements in workplace facilities, policies and practices address the true needs and obstacles of all groups of employees.   In addition, these staff members can serve as the front-line Employee Health and Wellness Program supporters of policies and practices with their peers.

Create a Employee Health and Wellness Program “Brand” and Vision

A Employee Health and Wellness Program vision and a brand are effective first steps in bringing a Employee Health and Wellness Program from an idea to a reality. What would you like your workplace environment to look like five years from now? A succinct Employee Health and Wellness Program vision statement summarizes for all (staff members and leaders alike) the reasons for establishing a Workplace Wellness Program. It also reminds everyone of the link between staff member health and your company’s ability to achieve its overall mission.

Branding your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program conveys to staff members that the company’s commitment and support of healthy behaviors is important and is here to stay. Choose a Employee Health and Wellness Program name and logo that resonate with staff members. Then use that brand on all Employee Health and Wellness Program communications with staff members about the policies, facilities and programs your company offers to promote healthy behaviors.

Determine Your Current Employee Health and Wellness Program Situation

Exactly how your company establishes a Employee Health and Wellness Program that promotes healthy eating, physical activity, and reduces tobacco use will depend on the unique characteristics of your company and employee population.

Determine how the current workplace facilities, policies, and unwritten norms support — or discourage — healthy behaviors.

Gather information on the health and health-related behaviors of your employee population.  The most common method is by using a validated health risk assessment. If you don’t have data specific to your staff members, you can estimate the prevalence of different health risks and behaviors within your employee population using state or national data.  Note: Information on employees’ health interests alone is not sufficient; but can be a useful supplement to health risk data and might help you set priorities.

Establish Employee Health and Wellness Program Goals and Priorities

Use what you’ve discovered about the health of the employees and about your current workplace setting to determine your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program priorities. From those Employee Health and Wellness Program priorities, define clear and measurable Employee Health and Wellness Program objectives for improving the health of the employees and your company’s culture. Well written objectives will provide the basis for planning and for measuring your progress.

Choose Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies

Focus your company’s Employee Health and Wellness Program resources (time, energy and money) on strategies that are most likely to produce results:  an increase in healthy eating, an increase in physical activity, and a reduction in tobacco use. There’s no need to guess at what might work. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reviewed thousands of studies and has identified the Employee Health and Wellness Program approaches most likely to result in significant, lasting, and widespread improvements in health behaviors. Those Employee Health and Wellness Program strategies are included in the physical activity, tobacco, and healthy eating sections of this website.

The formula for Employee Health and Wellness Program success is to make the healthier choices the easier choices.

Implement Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies

Once you’ve chosen your Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies, it can be useful to arrange the work on a timeline.  The “right” amount of time for implementing each Employee Health and Wellness Program strategy depends on the staff time, budget, and business demands of your company.  Work plans keep your efforts moving and help to ensure that plans to create a Employee Health and Wellness Program stay on track even if there are changes in staffing or other challenges.

Educate and Communicate About the Employee Health and Wellness Program

Ensure staff members are aware of the Employee Health and Wellness Program opportunities you’ve provided.   Planning your Employee Health and Wellness Program communications allows you to communicate regularly with staff members without overwhelming them at any one time.

Monitor and Report Your Employee Health and Wellness Program Results

At the same time that you plan your Employee Health and Wellness Program Strategies, think about how you’ll measure success.  It’s much easier to gather information – or to create systems for collecting information — before you start a Employee Health and Wellness Program strategy rather than as an afterthought.   Keep in mind that you’re likely to see improvements in staff member morale and/or behaviors before you see decreases in absenteeism or healthcare claims.

Report both your Employee Health and Wellness Program successes in building a healthy workplace environment (such as complete implementation of a policy that provides staff members time for walking during the workday), and Employee Health and Wellness Program successes in getting employees to take charge of their health (an increase in the number of staff members who contacted the stop-smoking program, or an increase in the number of fruit-cups purchased from the cafeteria following a promotion and price-cut).