Wellness Library

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

Tags: Corporate Wellness, health, medical, Wellness Library

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 3:18 am and is filed under Corporate Wellness, Wellness Library. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.