Limited resources, especially in small employers, can prevent a company from setting up a Company Health Promotion Program. Reasons can include:

• lack of fiscal resources;
• lack of employee;
• lack of senior-level reinforcement;
• sparse knowledge of the wellness concept and;
• issue about making wellness available to all employees.

According to the Wellness Councils of America, some small corporation owners may have an incorrect 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”.  Perhaps they don’t be aware of that it need not be costly and that they don’t need special employee. They may not know 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 Corporate Wellness Program that works for them. They keep the cost 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 large workplace. Many employees prefer to work for a small business, he says, because it provides more opportunities to work closely with others and cultivate a sense of community.

In his report, Dr. Lowe says the most thriving businesses with fewer than 100 staff members have:

• excellent employee benefits;
• policies that reward a balance between work and personal life;
• flexible schedules;
• competitive salaries;
• excellent leadership with an emphasis on teamwork;
• environmentally responsible organization 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 components of a good Workplace Health Promotion Program.

Tips and Ideas

There are multiple ways to include wellbeing and health in a small company. You do not necessarily need a wellness consultant or a fancy fitness center. What you do need is support from senior staff and a Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee of a few committed people. Here are some ideas that your workplace can consider.

Communications and Promotion

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

Active Living and Healthy Eating

• Urge employee to sign up for the Stairway to Health stair climbing competition.
• Get pedometers for workers and track their steps.
• Rent a nearby school or community health club and offer exercise classes.
• Bring in a local fitness instructor to give classes or lead stretch breaks. Costs can be shared with employees.
• Install secure bicycle parking.
• Serve healthy alternatives at corporation gatherings and lunches.

Policy and Employer Programs

• Hire an ergonomics specialist to evaluate workstations.
• Develop 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 rewards and incentives to be healthy.
• Offer wellness rewards and incentives as rewards and recognition for a job well done.
• Conduct an organization health audit.
• Become a partner with the community (for example, daycare, gyms, festivals, parks, restaurants).
• Distribute the workload. Set up a Employee Wellness Program Committee.

Small corporations may not have much time, money, or human resources available for a Employee Wellness Program. But they often have a huge advantage over sizable companies-a positive workplace culture. That is a good foundation for a Employee Wellness Program. When employees are satisfied, enjoy their work environment, they are more beneficial, and tend to be healthier.  With a bit of creativity and passion, small corporations can cultivate thriving Employee Wellness Programs. Obtain support from senior staff, establish a Employee Wellness Program Committee of two or more and discover the possibilities!

Early efforts to set up healthy workplaces focused on safety at the worksite and injury prevention for workers.

More recently, programs are designed to support  staff members to choose healthier behaviors like increasing physical activity levels or stopping smoking. Campaigns to increase awareness, educational sessions to expand knowledge, opportunities to acquire new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for staff members to make healthy choices are frequently included. This approach is taken because the workplace is a good way to reach individuals, since most adult Canadians spend a large part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are 2 aspects that contribute to the health of workers, workplace wellness is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation-the environment at work.

How the workplace affects health.

Increasingly, it is recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people’s health. When people are satisfied with their job, they are more beneficial and tend to be healthier. When staff members feel that the environment at work is harmful, they feel stressed. Stress has a big impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productiveness.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified 5 components of workplace culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the corporation overall-credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. The underlying idea is that corporations must truly care about the wellbeing of their workers.

Companies today who want to attract and retain good staff members have leaders who know the importance between employee satisfaction and employee health and believe that workplace wellness is a corporation strategy.  Their management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving staff members in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and offering support to balance life at work and home.

Employers know that workers are looking for jobs that pay well, have great benefits, are interesting, and include excellent health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more significant than ever for corporations to enhance job satisfaction and be sure that workers enjoy being on the job. Workplace wellness benefits both employers and workers.

How does workplace wellness advance the employer?

A workplace wellness program can help a organization to:

• attract and keep employees;
• reduce the costs of disability, drugs, and absenteeism;
• cut the effects of a stressful workplace;
• decrease health expenditures or keep them contained; and
• better morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

How Do Workplace Health Promotion Programs Profit staff members?

workers of corporations that have a Workplace Health Promotion Program are likely to have:

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to better their health;
• a better (less stressful) workplace;
• increased protection from injury;
• improved health and wellness;
• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;
• increased productivity and success at work;
• reduced personal medical costs; and
• a more relaxed/flexible approach to health problems.

Both employers and employees have a responsibility for creating a healthy workplace. Staff Members are expected to arrive at work in great health, and the business is expected to offer an environment that allows employees to maintain great health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the company’s success.

Workplace wellness is much more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about creating a “people first” approach to doing business. It’s about taking care of staff members, adopting a beneficial work environment, and paying attention to the factors that keep staff members healthy and happy at work. A good Employee Wellness Program has an influence on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing.

• support from management
• a Workplace Wellness Program Committee or team
• information about the wellness needs and interests of employees
• a budget
• program objectives
• an assessment plan

Even if you have few financial and/or human resources(HR), you can still take a “micro” approach. By way of example, you could focus on only one specific issue. Creativity, enthusiasm and planning can help you overcome limitations.

This article will provide you with some ideas for establishing Company Health Promotion Programs. Even the smallest steps have the potential to have an impact.

Whether you choose to begin with a single program or foster something larger, planning is critical. First think about the big picture and then look after the details.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Determine an action. What health-related program will fit the bill and best suit the employees and company?
• Promote. How can you most effectively get the word out to workers? What opportunities exist for promotion? Consider everything, because workers have access to and pay attention to different types of messages. In a typical workplace, workers get information from e-mail, newsletters, bulletins, brochures, meeting announcements and fellow workers.
• Deliver. Who is the best individual or group to put the program into action? Ask other corporations about approaches they have used. Decide on your budget prior to making a decision.
• Review. What should you evaluate to determine success? Do you need hard data and/or testimonials from individual participants?

We recommend the following when organizing your plan:

• organizing and communicating clear objectives
• targeting your audience
• deciding on the sort of program or campaign

The Elements of a Worksite Wellness Program

Initiatives to reward wellness in the workplace do not need to be restricted to a single area. You might think workplace wellness only involves promoting beneficial personal health, e.g., Blood Pressure (BP) clinics, pamphlets on heart disease, “lunch and learn” classes on eating habits and short-term physical exercise programs.

These activities are valuable, but workplace wellness ought to also be part of business’s business plan and go beyond traditional programming.

Taking a broader approach, the National Quality Institute recently detailed three key components of a healthy workplace:

• physical environment
• social environment and personal resources
• health practices

Specific Program Ideas

Physical Environment

Look after workers’ health and safety and establish regulations to support their health and safety. Consider providing the following:

• Safe bike storage and shower and/or change facilities for cyclists and other commuters.
• Fridges for staff members to keep snacks and meals fresh and/or healthy snacks in snack machines and cafeterias.
• Ergonomic assessments.
• Subsidies to assist workers join local recreation centres.
• Classrooms/conference rooms available for booking activities such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation and aerobics.
• Safe and pleasant stairwells that invite employees to use them.
• Assessing the potential for violence at work with plans to deal with such risks.
• Good lighting and sound and air quality.

Social Environment

Human relationships and communication, as well as ways of doing business, are able to affect an employee’s mental and physical health. Businesses should consider the following:

• respectful workplace policies that provide safe worksites
• policies on flex time
• policies on working from home
• employee satisfaction surveys
• leadership coaching
• resiliency training
• Employee Assistance Program(EAP)s

To cultivate a positive social culture or climate, consider employees’ needs, which include:

• being respected
• a sense of belonging, purpose and mission
• freedom of expression
• protection from harassment and discrimination

What you’ve “always done” may not address current employee needs. Seeing to it that individuals enjoy being at work is not an easy task, but making the right changes has the potential to have a huge impact.

Health Practices

Provide programs and set policies that help staff members remain healthy or better their health while at work. Consider offering the following:

• “Lunch and learn sessions” on healthy habits such as sleeping better, eating on the run, healthy snacks, using a pedometer, pole walking, work-life balance, time management, stress management, resiliency, parenting and reading diet labels.
• Tobacco cessation clinics or subsidies to help workers quit.
• Health risk appraisals, including fitness assessments.
• Programs to address the concerns raised in the health risk appraisals.
• Healthy snacks offered at gatherings and conferences.

Personal Corporate Health Promotion Program Tips

If there is no wellness program at your worksite, do not let that stop you from keeping healthy. Perhaps your example will spark a movement toward a healthier workplace.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Be active at work. There are a myriad of ways to bring exercise into your workday. Walk to work, even if it’s just one way. Have walking meetings. Bike to work. Use the stairs. Walk to a workmate’s office instead of sending an e-mail.
• Eat smart at work. Pack a healthy meal. Have a bottle of water at your desk or workstation. Eat breakfast and eat regularly during the day. Take turns bringing a basket of fruit for co-workers’ snacks. Order healthy snacks for gatherings.
• Maintain work-life balance. Work efficiently so you are able to leave on time. Conduct short, effective meetings. Leave your work at work and don’t take it home. Minimize social chit-chat. Arrange your office to enhance your work. Avoid clutter. Create and prioritize to ensure that the most valuable things get done first.

There’s no limit to the number or variety of Worksite Wellness Programs. A key to success is planning well and ensuring that you can evaluate the outcome so that you can sustain momentum.

Talk to other wellness practitioners to find out what works well for them. Listen to your co-workers to determine their needs and interests. And do not forget to promote, promote, promote.

Your wellness program ought to include a wide range of key elements, including:

• A clear agenda or statement of objectives and goals.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• An effective leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overriding vision.
• A measurable strategy (what’s significant gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Beginning Your Worksite Wellness Program

Plan carefully to see that your wellness program is seen as part of a broad responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of each employee. Indeed, creating a good plan takes a lot of effort and time (and at times resources). But planning is important and well worth the cost required. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might begin by delivering a survey of employee needs and interests. If you take this route, pay attention to the results and plan accordingly. If you don’t, the employees won’t support the program.

Collecting information about what you’re already offering is also a great idea. By way of example, you may be surprised by your company or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another significant step is to create an agenda and/or measurable objectives to help you determine priorities, timelines and the resources needed to start the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Upper Management

The leader of your wellness program must be able to wear numerous hats. The leader’s duties include:

• Implementing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested staff members.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the business (to senior managers and fellow staff members alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Creating and maintaining leadership skills such as giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avert becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term objectives at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a successful wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many people as possible in the program. By way of example, you’ll want to form a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee made up of a diverse group of workers to support advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Assist you to get valuable information from all parts of the organization.
• Create ambassadors who will help you implement the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always keep in mind how you will monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Assessment allows you to:

• Identify areas of excellence.
• Ascertain factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Gain management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).
• Better understand issues that need attention.
• Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you are able to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The cost of your Employee Assistance Program(EAP).
• The cost of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expenditure of your drug plan.
• Accident rates and safety records.
• Employees’ participation in wellness programs (and whether they’re staying in the programs).
• Changes in employees’ health habits.
• Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle problems.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other noticeable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A great communications plan provides ongoing information to workers (including senior managers) and creates excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is critical in an effective communications plan. By way of example, you might recognize individuals who have helped established the program or provide tangible rewards for meeting goals/objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether staff members are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some advance from them. Showing that a wellness program has financial benefits is often an significant factor in maintaining strong reinforcement from the top.

If you focus on the key elements of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while planning and delivering it, you will lay a solid foundation and leave a legacy that endures.

One possible solution to this challenge is to make physical activity a part of the work day. Clearly, being active at work is beneficial for employees. But employers also advance from having fit, energetic and healthy employees who are more beneficial.

The challenges

Your job takes up much your time. In addition to the hours you invest actually on the job, there is the time needed to get to and from work and take lunch and rest breaks during the work day. In the end, there are a limited number of hours left over for the rest of your life. This work life imbalance is especially true for Alberta, where statistics show that we work exceptionally difficult.

Many jobs today are sedentary, and many American citizens drive to work. The pressures of work may also cause us to eat lunch at our desks and skip breaks. Then, after work or on the weekends we juggle household chores, family responsibilities and social engagements.

Workplace Health Promotion Programs: Get started on a workplace fitness program

Upper Management plays a key role in creating a culture that promotes health. The leaders at your workplace impact the various policies and the informal or formal practices, and these policies and practices affect your attitude towards healthy active living.

Start by talking to your boss about the advantages of a healthy active workplace. The best way to guarantee the success of a organization exercise program is to have the management on side and cheering you on.

Ask your boss to consider taking these actions:

• Send a memo or message about the significance of health and healthy living that encourages employee to take an active break each day.
• Provide for flexible work hours that help employee to be more physically active. By way of example, they might need to take a longer lunch break to attend exercise class, making up the time by coming to work early or remaining late.
• Provide a meeting room or other suitable office space for noon-hour yoga or exercise classes, and hire a teacher to lead them, or use videos.

If your boss agrees to support a workplace physical activity program, do not forget to show appreciation.

You don’t need an on-Site gym

Only very sizable employers have the potential to afford onsite fitness facilities such as exercise equipment or squash courts. Still, most employers have the potential to take other affordable steps to support employees who wish to become more active.

By way of example:

• Arrange for discounted fees for staff members at a fitness club, recreation center or YMCA facility.
• Install showers and a place to hang a towel. (Make sure the showers are cleaned regularly and that women who use them will feel secure.)
• Install bike racks or a locked enclosure that is safe, conveniently located and well lighted.
• Have walking gatherings and set up lunch-hour walking groups
• Make staff members aware of safe and pleasant walking routes near the workplace, as well as nearby facilities that offer physical activity programs (such as walking, swimming, running, yoga, stretching).
• Hire a certified instructor to instruct employee about health, fitness and how to become more active.

Any size and type of workplace can support employees who wish to be physically active. It’s highly desirable to get senior staff on side. Even if your boss isn’t supportive, you have the potential to still discover ways to get moving more. Set up activities for groups and individuals, and promote your co-employees to join in.

The good news is that even short sessions of physical activity help your health. Research has demonstrated that ten-minute sessions that add up to between 30 and 60 minutes a day can produce significant health advantages.

Also, there are numerous ways busy individuals can use to be more active. These strategies include:

• multi-tasking
• being active at work
• being active with loved ones
• scheduling activity into daily life

Different strategies work for different individuals. Being familiar with the different strategies is key to adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle.

Read on to check out strategies you can try. With sufficient commitment, some of them are sure to work for you.

Strategy #1: Multi-tasking

The first strategy you can try is multi-tasking. This means doing things you already do, but in a more physically active way. This way you get done what you need to get done and you get physical exercise at the same time.

For example, you’re already travelling to work and other places. Instead of taking the car or the bus every time, try using active methods of transportation like biking, rollerblading, walking and skateboarding.

If you can’t use active transportation for an entire trip, try to be active for at least part of the trip. If you’re riding the bus, for example, get off a few blocks early and walk the rest of the way.

Active transportation benefits your body by building your exercise level, and it also benefits your neighborhood and the environment by decreasing the number of cars on the road.

You are able to also get physical activity while doing chores.

When you’re working around home, try to be creative and look for the active choice. For example, if you’re cleaning the crack between the fridge and the counter, why not move the fridge so you can clean the area better and build your strength at the same time?

For outdoor work, opt for the old-fashioned way of doing things, as they’re usually more active. For example, use a snow shovel instead of a snow blower.

Strategy #2: Be Active at Work

Many American citizens spend 8 hours a day or more working at a sedentary job. Here are a few simple ways to keep your body moving throughout the workday. The physical exercise will revitalize you and help you be more beneficial.

When you’re working at your desk, try sitting on a stability ball or disk for part of your day (30 minutes to an hour). This gives your back and abdominals a workout.

Take active breaks at least once a day. During your coffee break, try doing some yoga, stretching or taking a quick walk. You may find that walking up and down the stairs a few times does a better job of rejuvenating you than the java jolt.

Speaking of the stairs, take them rather than the elevator whenever you can. The stairs in your building are an opportunity to get your heart pumping.

Create walking gatherings at work. Getting outside and having gatherings in a less formal setting is a great way to be active, makes work more fun and encourages creative ideas for work projects.

Strategy #3: Be Active With Your Loved Ones

Do physical exercise with your family, friends, neighbours and pets. With this strategy, you and your loved ones are doing some great multi-tasking together: enjoying quality time with each other and getting some of the physical exercise that you all need to be healthy.

Go for walks, swims or bike rides together. Play Frisbee, soccer and other games and sports together. When you take your kids to the park, play with them rather than just watching them play.

Many community facilities offer classes that keep you and your kids active at the same time. Research these classes and take one or two.

You can even be active when you’re watching your little ones do activities without you. By way of example, if your child plays hockey, take the opportunity to walk up and down the stairs in the stands a few times. If you feel self-conscious about doing it alone, why not gather a group of parents to do it together?

Strategy #4: Provide Physical Activity into Your Day

Schedule your physical exercise directly into your daytimer. Set a specific time and place for exercising. Make your physical exercise appointments a priority, just as valuable as any other appointment you put in your daytimer.

To help you stay committed to your physical exercise appointments, you might want to make appointments that involve other people: such as by meeting with a personal trainer, taking physical activity class or jogging with a friend.

If you’re not sure how many appointments to make or what you ought to be doing during your appointments, try consulting with a personal trainer. A personal trainer can help you advance a physical activity plan and schedule.

The bottom line: see what works best for you. Experiment with the strategies. Find inspiration by talking to others about how they stay active and what strategies they use. Be creative and patient while you learn what strategies work best for you. And be aware that your “best strategy” may change from time to time.

With proper effort, you will discover what works for you. Then, run with it!

Employee Health Promotion Program: A Range of Approaches

Although the objective is to eventually have a long-term, inclusive wellness program, some organizations prefer to start with a single program at a basic level. By way of example, the first steps might be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthy eating; or they might launch a pilot project to find out how interested employees are to ensure employees needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious. This approach supports a chance to show the effect on employees and the workplace so management will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching plan.

Other businesses plan a variety of drives to meet the needs of the different sorts of people that make up their workforce. And some decide to advance a sound corporation case, complete with a health plan, before setting out on any sort of program. Organizations want to ensure that a new program is completely integrated with their overall corporation vision and mission.

Worksite Health Promotion Program: Success Factors

Whether your business chooses to think big from the outset or to activate with something smaller, always keep in mind the following key success factors:

• support and participation from upper management;
• employee participation in organizing;
• programs that meet employee needs;
• a realistic budget; and
• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a group must follow to accomplish its intention of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Employers also need game plans, even if they do not call them by that name.

Good planning will help to ensure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that expenditures have the potential to be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small problems from becoming bigger.

Steps in Planning a Workplace Health Promotion Program

Get upper management backing. You may need to foster a organization case to convince managers that the wellness program is a organization strategy-that employee health and job satisfaction impacts their productiveness. employees need to see evidence that upper management believes in and is committed to employee health.

Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from employee groups as well as from human resources(HR), health and safety, and communications.

Gather information. To prove that your Worksite Health Promotion Program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You may wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug costs or WCB expenditures. Review what workplace facilities are available to support employees to make healthy choices such as showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Review employee needs through a survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Design the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include program objectives, activities and how you are going to measure whether your objectives were met. Keep the plan flexible. You may have to change direction in response to employee feedback or changes in the company’s structure.

Obtain senior staff approval. Support for employee time and a budget are required.

Put activities in place. Offer a variety of activities that create awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills, and support social interaction. (Activities might include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Worksite Wellness Programs Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that support information about community resources.) Workplaces are able to also make it easier for employees to make healthy choices by providing flextime to allow employees to fit exercise in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for gatherings has the potential to make sure that healthy foods are provided.

Evaluate the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.

A wellness program doesn’t have to be complicated or a huge cost. Just do it. Get support from upper management, bring a few committed people together to generate some ideas and get started.