Wellness Library

Worksite health screenings can take a variety of forms. Common screening components may include:

• Blood Pressure and heart rate.
• Cholesterol (typically a finger-stick total cholesterol test, either fasting or non-fasting).
• Blood glucose (diabetes screening).
• Height and weight.
• Percent body fat and/or BMI (body mass index).
• Fitness level.
• Bone Mineral Density(BMD).
• Posture assessment.

Considerations when offering workplace screenings:

• Health screenings must be conducted by qualified, and at times, licensed individuals.
• Wellness screenings must be conducted in a location that allows for privacy and confidentiality.
• Time for discussion and explanation screening results must be afforded as part of the evaluation process.
• A process must be in place for referral for participants whose results are indicative of a need for further medical assessment.
• Screenings can be very costly to the central wellness budget OR there may be no expenditure to the program if participants are willing to cover the expenditure of the assessment themselves. By way of example, blood lipid and glucose testing usually costs twenty to twenty-five dollars per person, per exam. Employees may be willing to pay for assessment in exchange for the convenience of having the assessment at work.
• It generally works best to have scheduled appointments at intervals sufficient to allow time for the assessment and a brief discussion of results. Therefore, a registration and scheduling process must be devised.
• Some types of evaluation, such as fitness testing, require participants to bring casual clothes in which to do the testing. Staff Members must be notified of the need to dress in a specific manner for the evaluation.
• To ensure high attendance at evaluation activities, it is advisable to start promotion of the event with reminders to employees.
• Supply staff members with “screening preparation” standard procedures to remind them how to prepare for the most accurate assessment results.

Resources for workplace screenings:

1. Consult with a wellness consultant or health screening employer.
2. If employee participation is meager for on-Site health screenings, or if offering additional worksite evaluation is an option, check with the community health or outreach department of your local hospital, health education department, occupational health department or workplace health department as to screenings they might offer.
3. Local health clubs may also have qualified employee for some types of screenings, such as fitness testing or body fat measurement.

Points to Keep in Mind

Hiring Certified Professionals

Enlist professionally certified instructors to lead fitness classes (whether on or offsite) or to run worksite lunch and learn meetings.  It’s also a good idea to ask the instructor for references.

When you hire instructors, make sure that your insurance protects both the instructor and your business.

Risk Management

Whether we like it or not, liability is an issue these days.

Risk management plans don’t have to be complicated or pricey. By way of example, part of the plan may require that employees complete fitness appraisals and sign statements accepting the possible risks involved in physical exercise. It pays to be prepared. Safety and emergency policies and procedures decrease the risk of loss both to individuals and to your employer.

Ask workers to fill out a waiver when participating in both onsite and offsite activities. For liability reasons, workers must know the risks involved in participating in the exercise and know that they are waiving their right to sue.

The employee ought to not be asked to sign the waiver just before the exercise. The waiver may be invalid if workers state that they didn’t completely understand the risks.

Other Safety Tips

Here’s a list of some other safety tips to keep in mind when planning physical activity.

Look at the environment where staff members are active:

• Sidewalks must be clear of ice and snow, away from falling debris or snow, and have clearly marked curbs and safe crosswalks.
• Stairwells ought to be well-lit and in great condition and have handrails and safety features, so that workers are not locked out of floors.
• Fitness facilities must have proper flooring, great ventilation, and access to water and an emergency phone.

Provide medical evaluation for staff members participating in activities:

• PAR-Q
• PAR-MEDX for Pregnancy

Below are some other valuable safety factors:

• First-aid kit and automated external defibrillator on site.
• Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in place and practised.
• Commercial grade fitness equipment (not donated, “hand me down” equipment).
• Documented equipment inspection and maintenance schedule.
• Orientation of equipment and programs done by certified professional with a physical exercise background.

To make a difference in the lives of your fellow staff members, you first need to grasp that getting active is not only a matter of choice. Some things are within our individual control, but others are molded by the people and circumstances in which we live and work.

It’s Easier to Be Active When…

• We know what to do and have the confidence, skills and opportunity to do it.
• It’s fun. “Working out” at the fitness center does not appeal to everyone. Activities need to reflect what individuals enjoy.
• Our friends, family or co-staff members are active with us (or at least support us).
• We feel safe, thanks to well-lit streets or stairways.
• Sidewalks, walking/biking trails, parks and gyms are nearby.
• We have money to pay for equipment, instruction or memberships.
• We can walk, bike or take public transit to work.
• Active choices such as taking the stairs, having stretch breaks during gatherings and heading outside at lunch are “normal” in the workplace.
• Managers support and recognize employee efforts. Better yet, they take part.
• We can juggle our work hours to fit in physical activity.

Ponder how you could establish some of these conditions in your workplace. By taking these steps, you’ll make it more likely that staff members both want and are able to be active during work.

Workplace physical activity pushes that focus only on individuals have limited success. Research shows that reaching people in various ways gives the best chance of long-term success.

A plan directed at multiple echelons is also called an “ecological approach.”

The sort of evaluation you choose depends on when you do it and the kind of information you gather.

This section outlines when to use three types: formative, process and summative evaluations.

During the Development Stage

Use formative evaluations in the planning stages to ensure that your program is built on solid information. These evaluations also help you to foster effective and appropriate materials and procedures.

Examples of formative evaluations include:

• records of management commitments to the program
• employee interest surveys
• workplace environmental assessments
• pre-testing of program materials

During Your Initiative

A process assessment is used when the initiative is underway. These evaluations help you:

• track what is going well and what isn’t (and how to revise your program)
• discover if you are reaching the workers you want to reach
• describe the program to others
• monitor who is participating in the plan

During or Following Your Initiative

Summative evaluations take place when the initiative is already in place or completed. Use this sort of assessment to measure what employees like about the initiative and what could be improved.

All three types of evaluations are useful. The assessment you choose is dependent upon the time and monetary resources you have available.

What Do You Wish to Achieve?

Think about why you’re evaluating and what your evaluation is going to measure.

If you’re trying to find out whether program has been efficacious, see if you stuck to your mission statement and met your goals and objectives.

If you do not have a mission statement or goals and objectives, decide with senior staff and your employee Corporate Wellness Program Committee how your organization will track success.

By way of example, you can measure success by changes in:

• Physical measures (e.g., strength, flexibility, waist circumference of employees).
• Psychological measures (e.g., employee morale, satisfaction levels, stress levels).
• Productivity measures (e.g., decrease in absenteeism rates, increased employee work rate).

Thinking About employees

If you’re considering making improvements to the plan, think about whether the plan is still relevant and appropriate for workers. See if there are any obstacles to participation in the program or to participation in physical activity during work.

As workers are the ones participating in the program, it’s important to give them a chance to offer feedback on the physical activity plan.

Choosing an Assessment Method

Decide on your evaluation method. Both measurable results (e.g., absenteeism rates or questionnaire responses) and descriptive results (e.g., one-on-one interviews or focus groups) can be used to evaluate. The method you choose will depend on the time and funding available and what you want to measure.

Deciding How to Do the Assessment

Plan when and where you will do your assessment (and who will be evaluated). For more information, read the “Types of Evaluations” section on this website.
You might want to pilot test your assessment (e.g., with participants of the Employee Health Promotion Program Committee) before sending it out to employees. The employee Employee Health Promotion Program Committee might also want to evaluate the initiative’s planning process.

Doing the Evaluation

• Compare your results to baseline information (i.e., evaluation results from before the launch of your plan). If you do not have this information, save your evaluation results to compare with later results. You can also look at other information you may have, such as employee satisfaction survey results.
• Analyze and share meaningful and simple-to-be aware of results with management and staff members.
• Evaluation results can be used to improve the current physical activity program and/or to advance new pushes in future.

Before initiating your Workplace Physical Activity Program, summarize the information you’ve collected and plan your next steps.

At this point, you have

• gained support from management for the Workplace Physical Activity Program
• formed an Employee Health Promotion Program Committee
• assessed what is possible in your workplace
• found out what employees want and need in a Workplace Physical Activity Program.

Based on this information, you’re now ready to advance your action plan to boost physical activity at your workplace.

With the Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee, take the following steps.

• Combine the results of the employee survey with the workplace environmental assessment, and report to upper management and staff members.
• Prioritize the possibilities at each of the “levels” (individual, social, corporation, community, policy) in the workplace listed in “Keys to Success”. By way of example, suppose a large group of workers show an interest in biking to work. Since these people may want to shower and change after their commute each day, you could give showers and changing facilities priority in your workplace. Bike racks could also be important for making employees’ bikes secure during the workday.
• Consult the list of practical suggestions found this website.
• Create a mission statement (one which aligns with your organization’s overriding mission statement) to define your purpose and help guide your process. Setting goals/objectives will help you achieve your mission statement.
• Put together a plan or blueprint approaching what you have learned. Make program and exercise recommendations with timelines, identify resources and assign responsibilities. Revisit the list of tasks outlined in “Step 2: Forming an Employee Committee.” Seek upper management approval to move ahead.
• Once your plan is in place, it’s important to encourage it to staff members. Organizing a launch is a good way to do this. A formal kick-off additionally demonstrates upper management responsibility. If staff members aren’t aware of the plan, they can’t take advantage of it!
• Decide what you need to track to show that you have reached your goals. Measure these factors before you start. This way, when you evaluate later, you will know if there has been a change.

To succeed in encouraging physical activity during work, you must learn what workers need and want. They are the people whose actions you are trying to effect, so it’s critical to be aware of their needs and gain their support.

The Employee Interest Survey

Ask staff members questions that allow you to evaluate such key characteristics as age, sex, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical exercise participation.

It’s significant to know this information so that your physical exercise initiative meets employees’ needs. Workers will not participate in something they’re not interested in.

Ask workers what they want, and then enable changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. For example, workers may not wish to do activities that make them sweat, because they do not want to shower at work.

Ask workers what the business could do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during the workday. If there’s a common trend throughout your organization, a single change could affect a lot of individuals.

By way of example, suppose a large group shows interest in biking to work. They may want to shower and change after their commute. You might give priority to installing workplace showers and changing facilities. Secure bike storage might be important as well.

If you’re starting a program that requires going outside, begin in the spring. By the time winter arrives, participation is already a habit.

Involving workers is key to building physical exercise participation rates. People are more willing to take part in and support physical exercise drives when they are involved in decision making.

The following tips will help you produce your own employee interest survey:

• Keep it short (no longer than 10 minutes to complete).
• Make sure workers know why you are doing the survey.
• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and tough to analyze, ask people to choose from a drop-down list of possible responses.
• Ask for comments and ideas in one open-ended question at the end.
• Make it confidential and anonymous. Do not request information that may identify a person.
• If you’re including a list of potential programs or environmental changes, be sure your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.

Workplace Physical Activity Programs: Forming an Employee Committee

Although backing from the top is essential to a efficacious plan, backing from other staff members is also valuable.

Once you get the go-ahead from management, identify others who are interested in the project and form a Company Health Promotion Program Committee to help determine the next steps. Depending on the size of your workplace and the amount of employee time management is willing to contribute, this Company Health Promotion Program Committee may be advisory or may plan and carry out the program.

The Workplace Wellness Program Committee could include employees from human resources, occupational health and safety and finance. It’s also a good idea to involve employee from other areas who have an interest in promoting physical activity. Terms of reference will define the boundaries of the project. For example, it’s significant for the Workplace Wellness Program Committee to have clearly defined and understood tasks. Possible tasks include the following:

• Assessing your workplace environment
• Carrying out an employee interest survey.
• Establishing a mission statement and goals.
• Writing a physical activity or wellness policy declaring the organization’s responsibility to physical activity.
• Brainstorming program ideas.
• Promoting, communicating and marketing the plan.
• Coordinating specific activities.
• Deciding how the initiative will be evaluated.
• Continually assessing what is or isn’t working and adjusting the plan.

Before making plans to encourage physical exercise during the workday, it’s valuable to discover what is “doable” in your workplace.

You do not want to raise employee expectations by offering something that’s impossible due to funding or space limits. For example, it’s not realistic to suggest putting in a gym if there’s no space for it. Be open, however, to creative ways around limitations.

Workplace Physical Activity Programs: Finding out What’s Possible in Your Workplace

Check with recreation departments or fitness facilities for maps of the local walking trails or underground pedways. Great walking trails may be right around the block from your workplace.

Below are some inquiries to help you assess your workplace:

• What facilities or opportunities does your work space have that make it easier to be physically active during the workday? For example, do you have stairs, bike racks, showers, space for a fitness facility, factory walking lanes?
• What nearby facilities or opportunities might employees use to be more physically active during the workday? Are you near sidewalks, walking trails, community centres, bike lanes for active commuting and/or exercise facilities?
• What resources are available?
• Can the initiative access funds, personnel, space, equipment, facilities?
• What is the structure of your organization? By way of example, consider employee size, working hours, number of sites, unusual shifts, length of lunch breaks and ability to use flex time.

Gaining upper management support is vital to the success of a physical exercise program.

Whether the changes you’d like to see involve the work environment, overall policies or specific programs, successfully implementing your ideas is dependent upon upper management backing.

Support from senior staff is critical for three reasons:

• You need their agreement to involve staff members in a workplace plan.
• When management pays attention to and supports plan, workers also view the plan as worthwhile.
• Senior Management has the authority to give work time and money to support the plan.

It’s significant to keep senior staff involved throughout a physical exercise program, but at three points you’ll need backing for:

• An overriding concept, including a go-ahead to assess what workers want to do within the limitations of your workplace environment.
• A detailed plan (based on the assessment above) coupled with resources to carry out the plan.
• Reviewing the program to better it along the way or to advocate for continuing or expanding the program.

Approaching Senior Leadership

Prior to going to upper management to gain initial reinforcement for promoting physical exercise during work, do your homework.

• Prepare a organization case clearly outlining how the organization will profit by promoting physical activity during work.
• List the individual, social and corporate benefits of physical exercise and the benefits of being active during work.
• Present some cursory ideas about what the program could include. See the Success Stories and Ideas sections on this website to highlight what other workplaces have done.

Expect questions such as the following from management:

• How will this help our corporation?
• How can we arouse staff members to participate?
• How much will it cost to operate this program or make this change?
• How are we going to know a year from now whether or not this was a good use of time and resources?

Ask managers about the sorts of activities they would support. Often managers have ideas of their own they would like to see acted on to better the workplace.

Remember to include middle managers when gaining support for your program. They may prove to be very helpful when you need volunteers to lead teams in corporate physical activity challenges.

Can a small business support workplace wellness? Absolutely! In fact, in some ways it is easier to create a healthy workplace in a small business than in a sizable business.

Limited resources, especially in small organizations, can keep a employer from setting up a Employee Wellness Program. Reasons can include:

• lack of budget resources;
• lack of employee;
• lack of senior-level backing;
• sparse knowledge of the wellness concept and;
• concern about making wellness available to all staff members.

According to the Wellness Councils of America, some small company owners may have a flawed idea of what is involved in maintaining a Worksite Health Promotion Program. Some employers aren’t sure a program would truly work and others feel that trying to change personal lifestyle behaviours is intruding and “none of their business”.  Maybe they don’t understand that it need not be costly and that they don’t need special employee. They may not be aware that some employee would like to see some healthy changes and would help make things happen in their workplace.

It Can Be Accomplished

Many small companies have found ways to have a Employee Wellness Program that works for them. They keep the expenditure and effort to a minimum and still have results that are positive for everyone. In 2006, Graham Lowe wrote a report on the best places to work in Calgary. He said that healthy workplaces frequently have a “positive workplace culture”.  In a workplace with a positive culture, people feel appreciated, valued, and trusted.

Dr. Lowe says it is easier for a small workplace to have a positive workplace culture than for a sizable workplace. Many employees prefer to work for a small organization, he says, because it supplies more opportunities to work closely with others and foster a sense of community.

In his report, Dr. Lowe says the most efficacious organizations with fewer than 100 employees have:

• great employee benefits;
• policies that promote a balance between work and personal life;
• flexible schedules;
• competitive salaries;
• excellent leadership with an emphasis on teamwork;
• environmentally responsible business policies;
• procedures for seeking employee input; and
• a focus on placing employees’ personal wellbeing ahead of the personal gain of Senior Leadership.

All or most of these elements are also pieces of an effective Worksite Health Promotion Program.

Tips and Ideas

There are many ways to include wellbeing and health in a small corporation. You may not necessarily need a wellness professional or a fancy gym. What you do need is support from management and a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee of a handful of committed people. Here are some ideas that your workplace can consider.

Communications and Promotion

• Send out a regular “wellness” newsletter on paper or web-based. Or send out a simple message such as the weekly Healthy U Hot Tip.
• Utilized promotions that are ready-designed, such as Healthy Workplace Week.

Active Living and Healthier Eating

• Encourage employee to sign up for the Stairway to Health stair climbing competition.
• Get pedometers for employees and count their steps.
• Rent a nearby school or community fitness center and offer physical activity classes.
• Hire a local fitness instructor to give classes or lead stretch breaks. Costs can be shared with employees.
• Install safe bicycle parking.
• Offer healthy alternatives at organization meetings and lunches.

Policy and Employer Plans

• Enlist an ergonomics specialist to evaluate workstations.
• Create policies to support work-life balance (for example, mandatory vacations, flextime, limits to work and e-mail on personal time).
• Give a wellness subsidy for a variety of health and leadership activities and courses.
• Provide monetary incentives to be healthy.
• Give wellness rewards and incentives as rewards and recognition for a job well done.
• Conduct an business health audit.
• Become a partner with the community (for example, daycare, gyms, festivals, parks, restaurants).
• Distribute the workload. Set up a Workplace Wellness Program Committee.

Small employers may not have a lot of time, money, or human resources available for a Employee Health Promotion Program. But they often have a large advantage over sizable companies-a beneficial workplace culture. That is a strong foundation for a Employee Health Promotion Program. When staff members are satisfied, enjoy their work environment, they are more productive, and tend to be healthier.  With a little creativity and passion, small employers can foster successful Employee Health Promotion Programs. Obtain reinforcement from senior staff, form a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee of two or more and discover the possibilities!