Wellness Library

Organization Exercise Programs Plans Improve Employee Health and Wellness

Instituting a Workplace Wellness Program improves the health of workers, decreases employee absenteeism and saves the corporation money, too. Learn more about starting an Workplace Wellness Program in the office.

Benefits of Workplace Wellness Programs

• A company cost of $100-$150 per employee each year to take part in an Employee Health Promotion Program can save businesses $300 to $450 for each employee every year, according to Ron Goetzel, Director, Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies. The savings have the potential to take a few years to actualize, says Goetzel, and are seen in reduced health expenditures.
• The Wellness Councils of America reported a $24 return for every $1 spent on a Workplace Wellness Program for small businesses.
• According to a 2005 survey by The Art of Health Promotion, employers who instituted Corporate Wellness Programs realized a 30% decrease in healthcare and absenteeism costs in less than 4 years.

A efficacious Employee Health Promotion Program starts with Upper Management. Corporation owners should lead by example, taking part in their organization’s fitness program and working closely with a wellness coach. Upper Management should make sure staff members are well knowledgeable about their wellness efforts, displaying weight loss results or smoking cessation results on organization intranet or bulletin boards for everyone to see.

Company Wellness Programs that Truly Work

• Encourage staff members to kick start their own wellness programs by visiting their doctor. A complete physical should include information about blood glucose, cholesterol levels and general health.
• Target specific health-related problems in a corporate fitness program. Information about how to fight obesity, smoking, alcoholism and prescription abuse should be at the forefront of an Worksite Wellness Program, along with related conditions.
• Hire a wellness coach to instruct employees on how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
• Reward employees for being active in organization wellness plans. Let employees accrue health and wellbeing points that they can redeem for prizes. Make the prizes healthy, too- a no cost massage, personal training session with the organization’s wellness coach or health food gift certificate encourages even healthier lifestyle choices.
• Acknowledge employee health & wellness leaders in business newsletters, in posted bulletins and on the business intranet.

Employee Health Promotion Programs Yield Big Results

For organization owners who want to broaden employee participation in a Workplace Wellness Program, consider Johnson & Johnson’s approach. Faced with only 26% of employees participating in their employee health & wellness program, Johnson & Johnson offered employees a $500 discount on health insurance costs if they completed a health risk profile. The number of employees participating in the Johnson & Johnson organization fitness program jumped after they provided the incentive — to more than 93%.

Ron Goetzel encourages those looking to pitch a corporate fitness program to Senior Leadership to use basic facts about the advantages of Employee Health Promotion Programs as part of their argument. Keep it simple, and share results from other company’s employee wellness plan success stories.

Five reasons to have a wellness program

1.   The United States spends more dollars on healthcare than any other nation yet we are not the world’s healthiest
   • Largely sedentary
   • Tobacco use is still popular
   • Stress is at epidemic levels (WHO)
   • Alcohol continues to take its toll on American citizens

2.   Much of the illness in America is avoidable
   • Tobacco and alcohol are leading causes of death
   • As much as 70 percent of the expenditure of healthcare is driven by avoidable illness

3.   Health Care costs continue to rise
   • Health Care premiums continue to rise and to be passed on to the employee
   • Healthcare expenditures are usually the number one benefit cost to most employers

4.   The worksite is an ideal setting to address health and well being
   • Most Americans work
   • Poor health habits take a toll on U.S. Employers
   • Employers have a vested interest in health related problems.

5.   Research validates that Company Health Promotion Programs are able to better health, save money, and even produce a return on investment.
   • Aldana,S.G. (1998). Financial impact of Corporate Health Promotion Programs and methodological quality of the evidence. The Art of Health Promotion. Vol 2, Number 1.
   • Wilson, M.G. (1996). A all-inclusive review of the effects of Corporate Wellness Programs on health related outcomes: An update. The American Journal of health promotion. Vol 10, Number 6.
   • Wilson, M.G. (1996). A comprehensive review of the effects of Employee Wellness Programs on health related outcomes: An update. The American Journal of health promotion. Vol 11, Number 2.
   • Chapman, L.S. Proof Positive: An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of workplace wellness. 3rd ed. Seattle: Summex Corporation, 1996.
   • Pelletier, K.R. A review of the health and cost-effective outcomes studies of all-inclusive health promotion and disease prevention programs at the worksite: 1993-1995 Update. The American Journal of Health and Promotion. Vol. 10, Number 5.

   
Key Components of a Company Wellness Program

Physical Wellness – Focuses on the development, maintenance, or improvement of one’s physical fitness

Sample Physical Worksite Health Promotion Programs / Workshops
• Annual health evaluation
• Regular physical exercise
• Smart safety habits

Emotional Wellness – Focuses on all aspects of mental fitness

Sample Emotional Corporate Wellness Programs / Workshops
• Stress management sessions
• Accepting aging
• Addictive behaviors
• Parenting

Financial Wellness – Focuses on improving the quality of life of staff members by facilitating families and individuals in becoming fiscally stable

Sample Financial Company Wellness Programs / Workshops
• Financial management
• Savings and Investing
• Credit and Purchasing
• Insurance and Estate Planning

Spiritual Wellness – Focuses on promoting a healthy inner self

Sample Spiritual Workplace Wellness Programs / Workshops
• Promote daily devotional readings
• Provide regular service opportunities
• Give a daily/weekly/monthly chapel (meditation) time during work hours

Nutritional Wellness – Will see to the needs of the workers through group and individual nutritional services

Sample Nutritional Worksite Wellness Programs / Workshops
• Individual nutritional Assessment
• Individual and group counseling
• Instructional classes
• Weight loss programs

Many employers, as part of their efforts to contain rising health care costs, are implementing workplace programs variously described as Corporate Wellness Programs, lifestyle programs, health and productivity management, population health management and, simply, wellness programs.

The purpose of this article is to consider whether such programs improve health. If so, do they in turn decrease utilization of medical care services and decrease medical care expenditures?

The popular media have done much to encourage the concept of employer wellness. Last year, In Business: Madison magazine printed a story accompanied by a table reporting an impressive range of returns on investment (ROI):

Return on Investment (Per dollar ROI for lifestyle programs)
• Coors $6.15
• Kennecott $5.78
• Equitable Life $5.52
• Citibank $4.56
• General Mills $3.90
• Travelers $3.40
• Motorola $3.15
• PepsiCo $3.00
• Unum Life $1.81
Source: 2004 T.E. Brennan Employer, as published

Would these ROIs stand up to thorough empirical analysis of the data? What factors create such disparate returns among these programs? And does the published literature, subject to peer review of scientific methods, support the ROIs published here?

Health and Productivity Leadership

Illness and injury associated with an unhealthy lifestyle or potentially-modifiable risk factors is reported to account for at least 25% of employee medical expenditures. The most significant of these risk factors are stress, tobacco use, overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol use, and poor nutritional habits. Over the past two decades, a variety of groups at the local, state, and national levels have promoted the concept that health risk reduction and care management programs can improve employee health, and that worksite health education, health risk management, and benefit counseling should complement standard healthcare insurance benefits.

The intensity of Corporate Wellness Programs range from bulletin board, pamphlet or newsletter information to onsite fitness facilities, health risk reduction classes, and personal lifestyle change coaching.3 Corporate Wellness Programs today often include a health risk assessment (HRA) to evaluate each employee’s potentially-modifiable risk factors of disease. Program coordinators then target interventions to those that are at increased risk through personal discussions and individual follow-up.

Comprehensive Corporate Health Promotion Programs may include classes on health risk reduction and job safety, fitness and exercise activities, health club memberships, and reductions in co-payments or premiums for employees who adhere to recommended health care screening guidelines.

Along with this, some employers are restructuring health benefits and encouraging employees’ cost-sensitivity when accessing healthcare.5 These changes are intended to cut employees’ need for and utilization of healthcare, yielding reduced group healthcare costs. Demonstrated reductions in healthcare expenditures should then provide employers with a powerful bargaining chip in negotiating reduced health care insurance premiums during future terms.

Evidence basis: A range of return on investment estimates

The empirical research has produced results as varied as the popular media on return on investment. Nonetheless, evidence continues to grow that well-designed and well-resourced Employee Health Promotion Program and disease prevention programs support multi-faceted payback on investment. Peer-reviewed evaluations and meta analyses show that return on investment is achieved through improved worker health, reduced benefit expense, and enhanced productiveness.

• Goetzel and colleagues, in their meta-analysis of two dozen articles summarizing economic evaluations of health and work rate management programs, reported an average return of $3.14 per $1 invested in traditional Employee Health Promotion Programs. The return on investment estimates for the individual programs ranged from $1.49 to $13.7,8
• Aldana reviewed 72 articles and concluded that Company Wellness Programs achieve an average ROI of $3.48 when considering health care costs alone, $5.82 per $1 when examining absenteeism, and $4.30 when both outcomes are considered.
• Ozminkowski and collagues conducted a 38 month case study of 23,000 participants in Citibank, N.A.’s health management program and stated that within a 2 year period, Citibank realized a return on investment between $4.56 and $4.73.10  Follow-up studies found improvements in the risk profiles of participants, with the elevated-risk group improving more than the “usual care” group11 as a result of more intensive programming.
• Chapman’s 2004 meta-assessment of 42 different studies, ranking central validity of the different studies, reports cost-benefit ratios from $2.05-$4.64.

In addition to immediately quantifiable cost reductions, researchers have published a variety of spin-off benefits: greater work rate, intellectual capacity, and reductions in disability12 and absenteeism.9,13,14,15 Such programs may also have beneficial effects on employee perceptions of the company14 and worker morale, even among nonparticipants. 13 These outcomes go beyond savings in direct healthcare costs to provide non-health related ROI.

Tailoring program to maximize ROI Company Health Promotion Programs aim to lower the health risks of workers at high risk while maintaining the health status of those at low risk. A variety of disease management interventions are available to fit the specific risk profiles of various worksites. Insurers and companies now seek to calibrate their interventions in order to achieve ideal risk reduction and costeffectiveness.

In 2001, University of Michigan researchers reported on stable trends in medical costs for over 2 million current and former staff members in an 18 year data set. The mean cost increase per risk factor gained ($350) was found to be more than double the mean cost decrease per eliminated risk factor ($150). In other words, increases in costs when groups of staff members moved from low risk to high risk were much greater than the decreases in costs when groups moved from high risk to low risk. Their conclusion: Programs designed to keep healthy people healthy will likely provide the greatest return on investment.

On the other hand, Pelletier’s meta-analysis16 and other program evaluations18 suggest that individualized risks reduction for high-risk employees within the context of comprehensive programming is the essential element in achieving positive clinical and expenditure outcomes in workplace interventions.

Dose-Response?

Several factors might affect the effect of various programs and the ultimate ROI, including cultural and environmental factors, workforce demographics, level of participation and longevity of the program.

Most cost-benefit studies have been conducted in sizable employers with more than fifty employees. But researchers have shown that similar results have the potential to be obtained by small employers with as few as five employees actively involved in a well-managed program.

Various research studies also suggest that even relatively modest levels of participation have the potential to achieve substantial program effect. Contrary to reports by the popular media that such programs require more than 70% participation, published reports of at least one case showed positive ROI with 51% participation.

Length of intervention appears to be a more salient variable: an effect on medical costs generally requires three-to five years of programming.

Future developments

Despite the abundance of positive program evaluations, several caveats remain. Negative results are less likely to be reported or published, thus biasing the return on investment upward.

Uncertainty persists regarding the specific influence of the various program components. But as these programs take hold, further research and evaluation will enable fine-tuning of program investments.

Meanwhile, the preponderance of data and the strength of the published research stand in favor of a positive ROI for Employee Health Promotion Programs. Indeed, the employer case for such programs is now well enough defined that some insurance brokers offer discounted rates to businesses that institute or subscribe to wellness programs.

Future questions will focus on how best to combine inclusive and focused interventions, the intensity of components, and how to calibrate the dose-response model to achieve a target ROI. Here, employers, staff members, and researchers will need to collaborate to define mutual goals in terms of both clinical and expenditure outcomes.

As organizations today continue to compete in the global economy, cost containment strategies will be increasingly significant. Controlling the rising cost of employee sickness is becoming a priority for corporate leaders. The emerging corporate culture in America is one which has an employee population centered in health, safety and wellness.

Establishing a corporate strategy for Corporate Wellness Programs and disability management makes great organization sense. The following eight-step process ensures a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and outcome-oriented approach.

The following process works best in companies with strong leadership and a long-term responsibility to employee health.

1. Identify Your Employee Wellness Program Champion

This person must be a leader in your organization and a strong advocate of health. Usually this is an individual who actively pursues his or her own personal quest for good health.

The program champion must have the resources and authority to propel the program forward. The program champion’s key role is to ensure the strategic plan for health is in line with with the business’s objectives, strategic focus and business values. For example if the organization promotes that “our strength is our people” the wellness program must corroborate how pushes will nurture and protect that valuable resource.

2. Form Your Worksite Wellness Program Strategy Team

The Employee Wellness Program Strategy Team must include decision makers and stakeholders from sections of the business that can effect health and the company’s bottom line. These areas may include; finance, human resources, training and development, health services, compensation and benefits, employee assistance services (EAP), marketing, facilities, health and safety, rehabilitation, cafeteria or meal services and the union. A group of six to eight representatives is recommended.

The role of the Strategy Team is to foster and implement the strategic plan, look for opportunities to encourage health, be sure the program is integrated into key areas of the organization, streamline efforts, maximize business resources and program assessment.

3. Complete an Business Health Audit

The purpose of an Organization Health Audit is to evaluate your existing programs and services, physical environment and policies & procedures that support health. It is also significant to look at your business culture or “how things are done” around the business.

Members of the Strategy Team complete the Audit independently and then meet to discuss their evaluation. During the evaluation process, health concerns and opportunities are discussed in preparation for the development of the strategic plan.

4. Analyze Your Organization’s Cost Pressures

Cost pressures are identified by analyzing a number of areas including; benefit expenditures, Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, prescription usage, type of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and EAP utilization. This process helps to target areas that are able to be positively impacted by a Workplace Wellness Program and to offer a baseline for evaluating change.

5. Conduct a Health Risk Appraisal or Employee Needs & Interest Survey

The next step is to determine your employee’s health risks, interests and readiness to change. A confidential health risk appraisal can accomplish many goals/objectives. It supplies a baseline from which to measure personal lifestyle changes, supplies staff members with relevant health information, motivates staff members to take charge of their health and assists in program planning. Most health risk appraisals support individual reports and a corporate report identifying elevated-risk areas in the employer.

Many employers choose to administer customized needs and interest survey to evaluate employee needs. The benefit of this approach is that the organization is able to gather information on the employees’ perceived wellness needs and program interests. This information can be incorporated into the strategic plan. Administering a survey also has the added benefit of fostering a sense of employee ownership to the program.

6. Design Your Strategic Plan for Wellness

The strategic plan ought to incorporate information gathered from the Organization Health Audit, your organization’s expenditure pressures, and health risk appraisal data or employee survey results. The strategic plan ought to include your program mission, three or four objectives and several initiatives under each intention. The strategic plan provides a framework to encourage, reinforcement and evaluate “best health practices.”

It is also valuable that the plan align itself with the vision, goals/objectives of the organization.

The sample strategic plan that follows was developed for blue jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. (Canada) Inc. Levi Strauss & Co.’s mission statement and aspirations (how employees interact with each other in a corporation environment) guided the development of the plan.

Levi Strauss & Co.’s aspirations include the following statement: More than anything, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to enjoy our endeavors. The wellness program plan included a number of components to make sure that it embraced this statement including the following:

1. A vision statement, which tied in with the company’s aspirations.
2. An incentive system to encourage and reward the accomplishment of healthy milestones.
3. A recognition system to applaud success.
4. Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss & Co. locations to ensure a fun environment.
5. Opportunities to participate in small group educational programs to develop group reinforcement.
6. Initiation of support groups for employees completing wellness programs (i.e. smoking control support group).
7. Programs concerning work and family balance.

Other information that was analyzed and used to develop the plan included:

1. Business demographics
2. Focus groups
3. Cultural audit
4. Top prescription report
5. EAP utilization
6. Employee benefit services report
7. Health and dental claims
8. Operational performance summaries
9. Health risk appraisals
7. Prepare a Organization Case to Support Your Plan

Your business case for wellness supports the necessary details for approval at the senior staff level. The business case includes:

1. The Strategic Plan for Health
2. A proposed program budget
3. Marketing strategies
4. Program leadership options
5. An implementation plan
6. Assessment methodology.

In presenting the strategic plan it is significant to highlight how the plan aligns itself with the strategic direction of the organization.

The program budget should include educational resources, marketing expenditures, incentives, leadership expenditures and supplies.

Marketing strategies should address how the program will be promoted and rolled out to various groups within the organization i.e. decentralized locations, high risk staff members, older staff members.

Program leadership must address how volunteers will be used, internal resources  and whether consultants have been proposed. All play an equally important role in the implementation of your wellness program.

The program implementation plan must incorporate the following types of programs that help establish awareness of positive health practices, support  staff members in making lifestyle changes and initiatives, which support long-term change.

Awareness programs create an awareness of the effect of healthy lifestyle practices and arouse employees to take the next step. Examples of awareness programs include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and lunch and learn seminars.

Lifestyle change programs are more comprehensive and longer in duration. They are designed to support  staff members in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle change programs are diet education programs, stress management programs, back care classes and smoking control programs.

A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies & procedures, the physical environment and creating a corporate culture that supports great health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups for workers who have completed 6-10 week wellness programs also support a supportive environment for long-term change.

Analyzing the effectiveness of a Worksite Wellness Program is ongoing. A formal assessment ought to be conducted each year and may include; re-administering steps three to five, program participation statistics and a year end survey to revisit “soft” issues such as morale, program satisfaction and future program direction.

8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan

Employee input is essential to the long-term performance of your program. An Employee Advisory Committee should be formed to roll out the plan. Another key responsibility of this team is to solicit feedback from all echelons of the organization to ensure buy-in. Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups are also valuable. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a key role in supporting beneficial health practices. Regular gatherings are advised with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address concerns and orient new managers.

Conclusions

The World Health Organization’s definition of health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” In order for us to set up healthy workplaces, wellness drives must have a program champion, have employee ownership, be upper management supported, outcome driven and strategically aligned with the central company objectives of the organization.

Wellness plan that embrace these qualities will have a beneficial influence on an organization’s bottom line. Canadian research points to numerous case studies where workplace programs have resulted in diminished absenteeism, lower claims and increased productiveness.

Employers who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business” have one thing in common. They confirm a commitment to their most significant resource – their people. They be aware of the increased pressures associated with downsized companies, a rapidly changing workplace, an aging work force and the challenge of balancing work and family obligations. And they share a common belief that healthy employees are happier, absent less and more beneficial.

References:
Design of Worksite Wellness Programs by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published by the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Pro Fit-ability by Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. May 1997.
Meeting Expectations by Laura Mensch. Employee Health and Productivity. August 1999
7 Steps to Health Promotion by Daphne Woolf and Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. February 1996.
Published in The Journal of Health Promotion for Northern Ireland, Issue 9, March 2000

Want some wellness program ideas and wellness policy ideas to get you started? Or maybe you want to jump start or improve upon your current wellness program? The list below provides ‘best practices’ that are able to help meet any wellness program budget! The Corporate Health Promotion Program ideas are divided into topic areas.

General Wellness Progam Ideas

• Conduct an Employee Needs & Interest Survey
• Organize a Company Wellness Program Committee
• Choose medical plans that cover expenditures for weight management and tobacco cessation
• Remove co-pay or reimburse for preventive healthcare visits
• Display brochures on a variety of wellness subject matters for workers to take
• Organize a wellness resource center or library with videos, books, magazines, DVD’s on a variety of issues of interest to employees
• Identify staff members who are mentors or champions for healthy activities and ask them to present or to list as a contact for other staff members
• Establish and encourage periodic or regular educational sessions.
• Create monthly educational sessions on the national health observance topic
• Put up a Wellness Bulletin Board & update it monthly
• Put up messages from national health observances during the month
• Provide healthy tips in newsletters, paycheck stuffers, bulletin boards, etc.
• Organize a benefits fair
• Develop corporation fitness and healthy eating challenges
• Offer organization health and wellbeing fairs or other on-Site programs

Nutrition Programs

• Offer free, healthy snacks for workers (fruit, nuts, popcorn)
• Offer healthy meal choices in cafeterias and at organization activities
• Give information to staff members about the nutritional content of food served in the cafeteria
• Create a fresh fruit “snack basket” in the breakroom or cafeteria
• Stock vending machines with healthier options
• Partially fund healthy foods in the cafeteria or snack machines (10¡ apples may be more appealing than $1.00 candy bars)
• Offer a weekly or monthly healthy lunch club
• Provide brochures available on a variety of healthy eating topics
• Include diet articles in employer newsletters
• Schedule a healthy food tasting contest Free
• Have educational sessions during lunch-time on a variety of diet subject matters of interest
• Develop an employee healthy meal cookbook. Either sell the cookbook and use profits for programs, or purchase a cookbook for all staff members

Weight Loss Programs / Weight Management Programs

• Consider offering flexible work schedules so that staff members have the potential to participate in weight-loss programs
• Partially fund registration costs for weight-management programs
• Offer a support group to help employees who are trying to lose weight
• Arrange for registered dieticians near your workplace as a resource for employees who want information on healthy eating, meal planning or weight control
• Provide individual counseling for employees trying to lose weight
• Offer worksite fitness and weight-management programs through your local hospital, Weight Watchers, TOPS or local, registered dietician
• Schedule an educational session on diet myths and healthy eating

Physical Activity Programs

• Consider offering flexible work schedules to encourage physical activity
• Establish a fitness space with aerobic equipment, and weights
• Design accessible walking paths, trails, and/or bike routes
• Encourage employees to walk more by parking farther away from the entrance
• Organize a fitness center with aerobic equipment, weights, aerobic classes, fitness professionals
• Hold walking meetings
• Make the stairwells more appealing (carpet, fresh paint, artwork, posters)
• Provide reduced health club membership fees to all workers
• Give facilities for employees to secure bikes
• Provide 5 – ten minute stretch breaks during the day
• Partially fund gym membership for staff members who participate a minimal number of days per week (ex., 3 days per week)
• Support lunchtime walking/running clubs or business sports team
• Urge stairwell use and rewards and incentives
• Install a basketball hoop outside
• Urge & support neighborhood walks or fitness activities
• Promote walking during breaks and other off-time periods
• Offer periodic fitness incentive programs to encourage exercise
• Schedule educational sessions on fitness activities

Smoking Cessation Programs / Tobacco Cessation Programs

• Organize a smoke-free grounds
• Organize a tobacco-free workplace
• Promote the use of 1-800-QUIT-NOW, North Carolina’s no cost Tobacco Use Quitline. Or check www.QuitlineNC.com
• Reimburse for tobacco replacement products
• Subsidize the expense of tobacco cessation workshops
• Give brochures and information on health effects from tobacco use and smoking cessation
• Provide awareness sessions to arouse employees to try to quit tobacco use
• Provide workplace smoking cessation courses

Employee Health Screening

• Discount medical insurance premiums or cut co-payments for staff members who participate in screenings and who participate in managing their risk factors
• Install Blood Pressure (BP) monitoring equipment
• Offer flu shots for employees and family members
• Offer Health Risk Assessments to all workers, including counseling and follow-up
• Provide periodic Blood Pressure (BP) screenings and follow-up
• Provide periodic screenings for blood lipids, blood sugar, body composition, etc.

Stress Management Programs / Work Life Balance Programs

• Offer flexible schedules for family/work life balance
• Provide and promote an Employee Assistance Program
• Give information on substance abuse prevention
• Offer brochures and information on stress management and mental health
• Provide pamphlets and information on work life balance, such as monetary planning, childcare, parenting, elder care, etc.
• Give supervisor and manager training on communication, relationship building, corporation stressors, etc.
• Evaluate corporation policies and work schedules to identify corporation stressors
• Evaluate the Employee Assistance Program to ensure it is meeting the needs of the employees and business
• Provide educational sessions on stress management and work life balance
• Provide seminars on relaxation, stress management, and work life balance topics

Health screenings are important programs to identify chronic disease in their early stages. Once identified, wellness intervention programs can help prevent a disease from progressing. Working with local hospitals and other corporations, you can obtain information on providing evaluation and intervention programs that could better your employees’ health and save your company money in absenteeism, treatment for disease complications, and reduced productiveness. Below are some ideas to help get you started.

Based upon your Employee Needs & Interest Survey and the demographics of your workplace, consider offering periodic screenings to find specific health risks such as:

• Blood Pressure Checks to identify staff members with pre-hypertension or hypertension (elevated blood pressure),
• Cholesterol Screenings for total, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol) and/or Triglycerides
• Blood Sugar Screenings fasting or non-fasting to screen for possible diabetes,
• Body composition, such as body mass index (BMI) or body fat measures
• Bone density for potential risk of osteoporosis,
• Cancer screenings such as, skin examinations, mammograms, or PSA screenings,
• Vision checks for glaucoma, or visual acuity
• Other health screenings depending on your worker population and needs

Your local hospital, organization physician practice, or health department may offer assistance. Nonetheless, if you have workers you may want to concentrate on programs that will keep them healthy rather than screening for early identification of chronic disease. The focus of your wellness program might be healthy lifestyle practices to cut risk and prevent disease.

In addition to the wellness screenings, consider offering a Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment to all employees. The Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment will help to identify factors that may lead to additional risks, such as smoking history, stress levels, image of health, family history, job satisfaction, support systems, and mental health. Often the evaluation results are included on the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, which supports a more accross the board snap shot of health risks. The summary results support the significant information to plan appropriate interventions.

Workplace Wellness Program Interventions

The key to the success of screenings and Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals is the interventions or follow-up programs. The data collected during the screenings increases awareness and often motivates staff members to consider making healthier changes. It’s the follow up interventions that offer the critical reinforcement and assistance necessitated for staff members to actually make and maintain those changes. The interventions have the potential to include individual follow-up and ongoing counseling, individual or group health coaching on the risk factors, behavior change programs, and/or business reinforcement. Examples include:

• Strategies to lower Blood Pressure
• Managing diabetes
• Taking care of your heart
• Healthier eating
• Weight loss strategies
• Increasing physical activity
• Tobacco Cessation

Of course, this is for individual information only. Any follow-up interventions planned by the organization would be based on interest expressed by the employee.

Based on the outcome and your Corporate Wellness Program Committee goals you have the potential to plan the best strategies for your company and staff members. Consider the area resources available to provide services, such as health associations, hospitals, medical care providers, and/or public health agencies.

Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals, are an assessment tool or questionnaire scientifically designed to identify health risks and outline information to help  people in making healthy changes that impact their health and prevent chronic disease.

Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments have four standard elements in worksite settings:
• A Questionnaire
• A Computerized Program to Evaluate Health Risk Factors
• Confidential Individual Reports
• Group Summary Report

Employees complete a lifestyle questionnaire that includes for example nourishment practices, height and weight, exercise habits, family history, stress perceptions, smoking history, and work satisfaction. Another valuable feature to consider is readiness to change questions to determine participation interest. Including health screenings such as cholesterol and Blood Pressure (BP) results increases the benefits of an Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment by providing a more accurate health assessment and therefore improving lifestyle choice decisions and program options. Nevertheless, it is valuable to determine if the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment can be used without including this information.

The health risk questionnaire information is entered into a computer program and an individual confidential report is generated that summarizes health risks as well as information on how to reduce risk factors. Individual reports are fully confidential. Depending on the reason for implementing the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, it’s significant to consider the type of report the employer will receive as well. A group report summarizing major risk factors and recommendations for programs to enable in order to reduce employee and employer risks supplies significant information for your wellness program.

The Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) are able to be used to:
• Raise awareness to individual employee’s health status
• Encourage workers to make healthier lifestyle changes
• Coach elevated-risk employees
• Create Worksite Wellness Programs based on the identified needs
• Evaluate program success by comparing Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) completed at set intervals such as yearly.

There are many advantages to thinking of a part-time or full-time occupational and environmental health nurse (OHN). Occupational health nursing is the specialty practice that supports for and delivers health and safety programs and services to employees, and worker populations. The practice focuses on promotion and restoration of health, prevention of illness and injury, treatment of work and non-work related injuries and illnesses, and protection from work related  and environmental hazards.

Onsite Heath Professional roles can include: Case management, Counseling, Corporate Health Promotion Program, Legal and regulatory compliance, Clinical services, and Hazard detection and controls. The American Association of Occupational and Environmental Health Nurses is the national association, www.AAOHN.org. The State Chapter also has a website with information including local chapter information to help you find a contact near you, www.NCAOHN.org.

Health educators have the potential to design, conduct and evaluate activities that help improve the health of all your staff members. They are subject matter experts who may be a significant asset regardless your program needs and goals and objectives. They have the potential to help form a Company Health Promotion Program Committee and enable numerous of its programs and services, for example or depending on the structure and time commitments of your Company Health Promotion Program Committee, they have the potential to also plan the entire program as well. Integrating the activities of the Committee and/or Company Health Promotion Program professional services within your operations, including within your safety and occupational health program will support additional benefits!

We are creating Workplace Wellness Programs to help you feel better and maintain your health. In order to plan programs that best meet your needs and interests we would like your recommendations! Please take a few minutes to answer some questions about your interests. Your answers will be combined with those of others’ and reviewed to help plan programs for you. Do not sign your name.

Please complete the survey today and return it to__________. Thank you for your important input! Your help is important for organizing successful programs. Return the completed form by _____________.

Rate your interest on a scale of 1 – 3 with one (1) being of little or no interest; two (2) being of some interest and three (3) indicating that you are very interested. Indicate your response by circling or ‘Xing’ the number.

I am interested in:

Participating in wellness programs before work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs after work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs during my lunch break 1 2 3
Learning healthy eating options to lose weight 1 2 3
Sports nutrition 1 2 3
Healthier cooking 1 2 3
Helping my children eat healthier 1 2 3
Quick, healthy meals for full lifestyles 1 2 3
Healthy snack options 1 2 3
Learning how to quit smoking 1 2 3
Attending classes to help me quit smoking cigarettes 1 2 3
Stress Mangement skills 1 2 3
Balancing work, family, and personal life 1 2 3
Time management skills 1 2 3
Participating in a beginning physical activity program 1 2 3
Developing time to exercise for busy people 1 2 3
Getting health information that I can read or watch at home 1 2 3
Learning about cancer prevention 1 2 3
Heart health options 1 2 3
CPR and First Aid 1 2 3
Team sports activities at work 1 2 3
Learning how to stretch 1 2 3
Learning how to boost intake of fruits and vegetables 1 2 3
Parenting Topics (age of children: ) 1 2 3
Onsite exercise classes: walking Yoga aerobic other: 1 2 3
Health screening such as Blood Pressure (BP), blood lipids, blood glucose 1 2 3

Program assessment may be The previous step, but it should be planned at the beginning of your efforts!  Assessment helps you identify what parts of the program are working well and what parts could use improvement.  Then, based on the assessment data, adjustments have the potential to be made to fine-tune your wellness program.   Adjusting the program based on assessment data is vital to its continued performance.  

Analyzing your program does not have to be be terribly complex.  However, it is valuable to plan how you will oversee your wellness efforts and determine effectiveness during the planning phase or Step 5.  Also keep in mind to evaluate the program based on the objectives and goals you already established during your creating process.  

In order to evaluate your program you must have a system to document specifics as you progress.  This can be as simple as maintaining file folders on programs that are offered, or a computer document with a table or spreadsheet summarizing information collecting.  Consider:

• Program topic and numbers of employees who participated
• The numbers of handouts taken by workers or distributed and on what issues
• The number of participants in a behavior change program and how many met their objectives as well as how many attended all of the sessions
• Numbers of employees who continued the healthy behavior change following the program?
• Overall employee satisfaction with the program or each topic.  

Depending on your goals/objectives, gather desired data and compare it to previous data gathered during the initial assessment to determine if the goals/objectives were met.  Such data might include

• Absentee rates
• Injury rates
• Health risk factors Insurance costs  

Summarize and Report Company Health Promotion Program Results

Once you have collected all of the assessment information it needs to be reviewed with the Corporate Wellness Program Committee and summarized.  You will probably have positive results and some areas where a change is required or additional focus required for continuous improvement.  This not-so positive information can be used to make any required changes as well as to plan for next year and is valuable to include in your report.  

It is significant to communicate the wellness program outcome to both management and employees.  Consider how management usually receives reports on operations and work rate concerns and include the yearly wellness program report in the same format.  At some businesses the reports are made during management meetings using presentation styles such as power point slides.  At other businesses, graphs and bar charts are the norm or a list of the objectives and the summary outcomes published.  

No matter the format, it’s valuable to convey the outcomes and successes achieved, including any anecdotal stories, as well as areas for improvement.  Be sure to link the outcomes to the organization mission and bottom line whenever possible.

Staff Members wish to receive the same information!  You might use the same communication channels used when informing employees of the wellness program:

• Organization newsletters,
• Bulletin boards,
• E-mails  

Also consider celebrating successes and recognizing achievements by:

• Posting pictures from events
• Highlighting effectiveness stories
• Posting pictures of successes
• Hosting a celebration
• Recognizing champions