Wellness Programs : Building a Health Promotion Program.
There is no single right way to approach wellness programs but winning wellness programs share common success factors. These include commitment from management, employee involvement, adequate resources, and a health policy that goes hand in hand with the corporation’s mission, vision and values.
Health Promotion Program – A Range of Approaches
Despite the fact that the goal is to eventually have a long-term, robust health promotion program, some companies prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level.
For example, the first steps may be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthful eating; or they could launch a pilot project to determine 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 upper management will be more willing to consider a bigger and more far-reaching strategy.
Other companies plan a variety of health promotion programs to meet the needs of the different types of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to develop a sound organization case, complete with a health strategy, before trying any kind of health promotion program.
Corporations want to ensure that a new health promotion program is fully integrated with their overall business vision and mission.
Health Promotion Program – Success Factors
Whether or not your company chooses to think big from the outset or to begin with something smaller, always rememberthe following key success factors –
• support and participation from management;
• worker involvement in planning;
• wellness programs that meet staff member 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 if 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 could be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning avoids small problems from becoming bigger.
Steps in Developing a Wellness Program
Obtain upper management support. You could need to create a company case to convince managers that the health promotion program is a company strategy-that worker health and job satisfaction affects their productivity. Employees need to see evidence that upper management believes in and is committed to worker health.
Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from staff member groups in addition to from human resources, safety and health, and communications.
Collect information. To prove that your health promotion program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the health promotion program starts. You could wish to look at worker satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug costs or WCB expenditures.
Assess what worksite 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 gathered. Include wellness 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 staff member feedback or changes in the corporation’s structure.
Get upper management approval. Support for staff time and a budget are needed.
Put activities in place. Offer a selection of activities that develop awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills, and provide social interaction.
Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Employee Wellness Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that provide information about community resources.
Workplaces can also make it easier for employees to make healthy choices by providing flextime to allow employees to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing wellness programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings can ensure that healthy foods are offered.
Evaluate the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.
A health promotion program doesn’t 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.
