Wellness plans, wellness programs and more…

Other departments within an organization will likely focus on related areas of employee safety and injury prevention. Wellness activities are a natural partner to many other HR (HR), employee motivation, and safety programs.

Body mechanics, ergonomics, and safe working practices are three areas which might  be coordinated together.

• Soft Tissue Sprains and Strains –  This injury category continues to remain the number one financial loss for workers’ compensation. A lot of medical insurance dollars are also spent on back pain, other sprains, and strains. Health Promotion and safety efforts can focus on –

• Warm up stretches before starting work or periodic stretching during work. These can do much to prevent soft tissue injury. Provide training to work groups so they could begin a stretching program. These groups can then continue their own.

• The wellness committee may consider contracting a fitness expert to come in and conduct stretching “refreshers” for employee groups throughout the year.

• Make available body mechanics training annually or more frequently when possible. These training sessions should focus on work related tasks and safety, as well as feature a segment on home tasks and body safety.

• Partner with your employer’s workers’ compensation carrier to assist in providing body mechanics training, job safety analysis, and other preventive services which could help staff members work safer, smarter, and avoid injury.

• Implement a safety concerns suggestion box. Make sure to encourage personnel to report safety and/or injury concerns. Make sure to help upper management to establish policy to recognize and reward personnel who offer safety suggestions, provide tips, and solution ideas.

• A periodic presentation featuring a local medical provider addressing such topics as safe body mechanics, recovering from a back injury, appropriate spine care, etc.

• Partner with upper-level management and supervisor teams to recognize and reward work groups who are successful with safety and injury prevention.

• The ergonomics of an employees’ workstation/work place design is important and applicable to every group.

• Provide ergonomic training opportunities to interested staff members volunteers. These individuals can then assist other staff members to assess their work areas for safety, comfort, and injury prevention.

• It’s often more effective to have an observer evaluate workforce for helpful and friendly comfort suggestions rather than it’s for individuals to assess themselves.

• One suggestion is to have workforce remind one another about correct posture, to take breaks, to stop and do quick mini stretches, etc.

• Take before and after photos of work areas as changes are made. This will help to demonstrate how small adjustment changes can often make big comfort changes.

• Partner with the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier to help create ergonomic policies and practices and to provide staff member training.

Tying wellness activities into holiday themes is a strategy commonly used to develop interest and participation. Notwithstanding, be aware that offering holiday activities in the worksite can develop issues.

Your worksite might have policies and guidelines already in place about issues such as appropriate decorations themes, work time, etc. Make sure to check with senior level management regarding all guidelines and policies.

Don’t forget to include and acknowledge the holiday celebrations of the various cultures or groups represented in your workforce. It is typically safer to use graphics, themes, and wording that are not specific to one culture, as others may feel left out.

Truly, acknowledging diverse holidays, when done respectfully, can help familiarize your workforce with values and practices of different cultures and ethnic groups.

Several topical ideas for holiday themes include –

• Wellness committee members distribute “healthy heart valentines” to each worker for Valentine’s Day.

• Thanksgiving “turkey trot”. Employees who exercise three times a week for at least one-half hour between November 1 and 15 are entered into a drawing for a free turkey (can be purchased at the local supermarket or donated).

• Chinese New Year tai chi demonstration. Consider a follow-up worksite introductory tai chi class offering.

• Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/etc. holiday food potluck. Members of different cultural or ethnic groups bring in a dish reflective of their holiday traditions.

Each individuals can say a few words about the origin and tradition behind the food. In this holiday theme, food does not have to be low fat or especially healthy, since the purpose is enhancing cultural diversity, not counting calories.

Pre/Post Holiday Weigh In

Holiday weight gain may be a big health challenge. This wellness activity is fun, low-key, and assists workforce monitor their weight during the holiday season.

• Participants weigh-in with a “trusted” confident prior to Thanksgiving.  The weigh-ins might  be conducted on the honor system, but weight ought to be recorded on a weight-tracking card. You might invite a local nurse or Weight Watchers representative to monitor weigh-ins.

• Staff Members set an individual goal of maintaining their weight from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.

• Weight cards are stored in a secure file location.

• Give weekly weight control hints. These should be posted next to the wellness bulletin board, sent via email, or provided in flyer form.

• Or, alternate the weekly hints with healthy recipe choices.

• Remind employees of the necessity to continue exercise during the busy holiday season.

• Weigh everyone the first work day following New Year’s Day. Record the weight on the tracking card.

• Workers who’ve maintained their weight or who’ve lost weight receive a prize and award certificate.

• Staff Members who gained weight receive a certificate of completion and an invitation to continue participation in a related health weight wellness activity.

National health observance campaigns can lighten workload and effort. Many of these well-developed observances have kits and materials which can either be downloaded for free or purchased inexpensively.

Monthly health themes, week Iong events, and nationally recognized days of the year are also good ways to have fun while participating in larger events. Health observances are tied to nearly every aspect of wellness and health. Things to consider –

• National observances present opportunities to work with other community agencies and corporations to coordinate larger events and celebrations.

• A wellness message is more likely to stick with people when the information is presented at work, in local supermarkets, and on TV.

• National Worker Fitness Day/Week (April) is a good place to start.

• A word of advice – don’t go overboard in attempting to tie a wellness program into these national observances, as there are so many. Pick one to three events each year and stick with these.

Create and promote events well ensuring that personnel will come to expect and anticipate these health promotion programs each year. It’s best to do a few wellnesss well than many promotions poorly.

Many workers enjoy team related activities. These activities typically take place on an employee’s time away from work and participation is totally voluntary in nature.

Even though the sports team isn’t part of an worker’s regular work duties, when the team or activity is associated with the corporation, the corporation can be held liable in the event of an worker injury.

When the activity brings with it a risk of injury, it is necessary to address the possible risk and liability issues with the correct company department. Likewise consult with your company’s workers’ compensation carrier and/or legal counsel.

• Organize summer softball or volleyball teams, a winter ski outing, fall and winter smoke free bowling teams, a spring golf tournament, summer walks, etc.

• Give handouts and catalogs from area Parks and Recreation departments and county park corporations so staff can take benefit of community leagues, trips and offerings.

• Invite an official from among the above organizations to speak at a organization brown bag event, or invite an area Parks and Recreation instructor to provide a demonstration of a new class offering.

Family Friendly Activities

Periodically offer activities which could be taken home and shared with the entire family. Ideas for these include –

• TV Free Week (usually in April) – Develop a chart for the kids to use to record their TV-free participation.

• Offer a certificate to anyone who’s TV-free for a week.

• When possible, offer several prizes (but not video rental certificates, video games or other TV-related items) for related categories, such as less than 5 hours of TV, no video games for a week, etc.

Stress Management

A lot of simple wellness activities and practices can help workforce understand the role stress plays in effecting health, safety, and productivity. It is necessary to help workforce understand simple stress management strategies for decling stress levels.

• Stress kit check out. Have stress management tools available for employee use during a scheduled break time. Consider providing relaxation music or programs including player and headphones; mat or blanket to lie on; neck pillow; eye mask; and stress massage rollers.

• Give a stress management brown bag event at which staff members can attempt different kinds stress management tools.

• Make certain to encourage workforce to take 10-minute relaxation/exercise breaks. Post reminders.

• Give a comfortable employee break area.

• Designate a “quiet room” for meditation and relaxation, when possible.

• Be sure to work with Management to keep supervisors informed about the effects of stress in the workplace. Supervisors are often the first step in helping workers find different ways of managing work related stressors.

• Contact the Worker Assistance Provider (EAP) for a variety of stress management information and self-assessments.

• Offer stress management self-assessments to interested workers. Follow these up with a stress management videotape, a brown bag presentation, or a community guest speaker.

Mental Wellness

Emotions and mental health greatly affect overall health and wellness. Every health promotion program should incorporate some services, programs, resources or activities to address mental health issues.

Mental health topics could be sensitive areas for employees. As a result, it is important to provide information in a variety of ways, workplace presentations being just one possibility.

For  instance, put domestic violence resource cards in the restrooms to provide useful information in a private establishing that doesn’t embarrass whoever. Other considerations include –

• When planning to offer an oratory event or presentation a neutral class title will ensure potential participants will not be put off by the name.

For example, “Parenting in 2004″, “Positive Parenting”, or “Parent Univ.” is much more appealing than “Stress and Parenting”.

• Be sure to allot enough time when hosting EAP/psychological health workshops for a question and answer session so participants may ask specific questions.

Always remind participants that individual help is available through the employee assistance program and also through their health benefits. Give written contact information for your EAP, but do so discretely.

• The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is an great partner and resource for health promotion programming in these areas.  The employee assistance program (EAP) can help find ways to address psychological health, stress, coping, and other related issues.

Tobacco use Cessation

Use of tobacco cessation assistance is a worthwhile wellness activity. Use of tobacco is often a challenging habit to overcome. Employee wellness activities to support “smoke-free” living include –

• Use American Lung Association resource. These include the Freedom From Use of tobacco group and/or video-tutorial. There is also a follow-up video “A Lifetime of Freedom From Use of tobacco”.

• Reward individuals that have successfully quit tobacco use for six months with an appropriate “kicked the habit” certificate and some kind of incentive gift.

• Give “cold turkey” sandwiches to smokers who pledge to quit during the Excellent American Smokeout.

• Begin a “quitting or thinking about it” support group to assist and encourage person trying to stop tobacco use.

Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Addictions

When a substance abuse policy is not in place in your workplace, advocate that one be developed. Request a knowledgeable Wellness Committee member be included in the policy development process.

If such a policy is already in place make sure Health Promotion Committee members are conscious of the policy and have a thorough understanding of it. From time to time, remind staff of wellness resources and programs available.

• Invite AA, NA, AI-Anon, and other groups to meet in a company building and/or publicize community meetings.

• Serve non-alcoholic drinks whenever alcohol is served, and be sure food is always served along with alcoholic beverages.

• Provide easily accessible information about counseling, referral, and treatment programs available in the community. Put this information in an area where it can be viewed without embarrassment.

• When conducting health promotion programs include information about responsible alcohol use on stress/weight management, nutrition, fitness, use of tobacco, and accident prevention.

• Issues like co-dependence and the difficulty of assisting a substance abuser can also be addressed. Give this information as part of the wellness program by providing informational materials, brown bag sessions, employee assistance program information, etc.

• The Employee Assistance Program provider is an excellent resource for substance abuse wellness programming and or employee assistance.

• Other addictions, such as problem gambling, food addiction, shopping, Internet addiction, etc., may be problematic and can reach the point of affecting a person’s life and work. Provide information, video review, or employee assistance sessions addressing these topics.

• A Health Promotion Committee member may gain personal information regarding an staff member problem. Do not forget to keep all staff member information totally confidential.

Interest in increasing exercise ranks almost as high as weight management in employee interest and need. Ideas for increasing employee awareness and participation in physical activities follow –

• Fitness classes in the worksite – Onsite exercise may be much more convenient for staff. Notwithstanding, onsite classes require logistical planning and coordination with attention to details.

Onsite classes are normally more feasible for larger employers.  As part of the steps in planning and assessment, consult with other health promotion programs offering worksite classes. Ask what their experience has been like.

Speak to potential vendors in the area as well. Find out what it would take to offer an on-site fitness class. YMCA’s, gyms, and community recreation programs are good resources for this type of discussion.

It is also feasible to offer a “mini” introductory worksite class series. A mini series might consist of an introduction to a new exercise area. Staff Members are then expected to make the transition to home or community based health promotion programs.

• Nerf Olympics –  Nerf games are fun (and entertaining) activities that encourage movement, flexibility, stress reduction, and usually are a good laugh. When planning such an activity consider establishing up a “challenge” stations with various activities.

Ideas for activities include hula hoop contests, Nerf basketball free throws, Nerf football tosses, Frisbee “golf”, jump rope, etc.  The Health Promotion Team will lay out the course.

Each participant goes through the stations and gets a “gold” medal (you can buy these at party stores and toy stores inexpensively) for completing all of the stations (no matter how badly they perform).

Begin each participant at intervals allowing for smooth running, but expect high difficulty stations to be backed up. This delay can add to the fun and creates a “keystone cops” scenario.

Nerf Olympics is a good activity to do with an audience, so encourage cheering colleagues.

• Give incentives to staff who engage in aerobic exercise such as walking, running and bicycling on their own time (see goal setting health promotion program, offer points toward prizes, etc.).

• Distribute maps of walking/jogging trails located near the worksite. Mark distances in steps and miles. Make sure to encourage personnel to walk during lunchtime and/or break times.

Post a steps collected map on a workplace wall where staff can log their steps or miles.

• Be sure to encourage walkers, joggers,, and those who enjoying other forms of exercise to form exercise groups to meet before work, at lunch, or after work.

• Promote the use of stairs in lieu of elevators. Place bulletin boards, art contests, etc., in stairwells.

• Sponsor “Bicycle-to-Work” or Walk-to-Be sure to work week.

• Schedule five-minute desk stretching at the workplace. This can relieve repetitive motion problems as well as eye and back strain.

• Sponsor an individual challenge activity like “Climb a Mountain” or “Swim a Sea”. This is an honor system wellness program in which participating staff members are awarded minutes, steps, or miles credit for cardiovascular exercise (swimming, walking, running, skiing, bicycling, stair stepping, group fitness, etc.).

The object of this type of challenge is to accumulate the equivalent mileage it’d take to reach the top of a famous mountain, span a body of water (swim the Columbia River), or reach a distant city/county.

Try personalizing the challenge as much as possible to individual interests and/or area geographical matches close to the worksite.

• Collect a selection of exercise video or DVD tapes. Staff Members can either review a tape for home use, or offer a group activity video class.

• When it is not possible for staff to leave the building to exercise or workout at lunch, try establishing an in-house aerobic walking track for staff member use in an unused part of the workplace for lunch, break or after hours use.

An example of how this issue might  be solved is the use of stationary bikes and other small exercise equipment provided for staff by some 911 call centers.

• Sponsor a “Personal Best” Challenge”. Employees run, walk, bicycle, etc.  Their own personal best time. Repeat the personal best challenge each quarter to six months. Each time an worker improves, offer recognition and an appropriate award.

Also, recognize those employees who maintain their personal best in the same way. Be sure to encourage non-participating employees to get involved.

Assist these individuals in selecting  an activity that is comfortable and of interest for them, and one in which they are able to succeed and progress.

• When you offer an introductory or other on-site exercise class or activity, be certain the instructor can relate to the audience, and the audience can relate to the instructor.

Have a Wellness Committee member attend a current class by the selected instructor class prior to the instructor conducting a class at workplace. In addition, consider the workforce who could  be potentially attending the class.

Sometimes larger and/or older exercise instructors are often better accepted by audiences who are similarly sized and aged.

• Sponsor a themed “virtual” trek. Calculate the mileage for the proposed “trip” ahead of time. Be sure that the distance is appropriate for the number of expected participants and time for the event (six to eight weeks) works well.

For longer events, small teams can accumulate their mileage for the trip. Establish a reporting network. Post a map to track the trip. Chart the progress with stick pins, a magic marker, or a highlighter.

Give a brief humorous fictional narrative of the trip, posting a new one each week. Include as many participants’ names as possible. Alternate posting humorous texts with health tips along the way. Give an incentive at the end of the trip.

Ideas for Physical Activity Themes –

• Swim the Mississippi to the Mardi gras.

• Take a tour to all Oregon counties.

• Take a tour of Oregon from Enterprise to Brookings.

• Run or walk around the world (25,000 miles).

• Tour de France (take all summer)

• Tour de France on a stationary bike (take all winter)

• Indianapolis 500

• Climb Mount Everest (stairs or stair climbers). Target Sir Edmund Hilary’s birthday or the anniversary of the first conquest as a completion date.

• Climb Mount Washington or Mt. Hood. Target President’s Day as a completion date.

• Climb any significant mountain and tie it to any remotely related event.

• Use time in exercise as a measurement for the contest rather than distance. This permits you to treat all forms of aerobic activity more equitably.

Workers ordinarily enjoy sharing nutritional tips and trying new foods. Sponsor a “nutrition cook-off” and/or healthy potlucks.

• Nutrition cook-off. Teams of staff set a menu in advance and bring in prepared foods for an official competition. A nutritionist from the health department or local hospital or community serves as the judge.

Dishes and foods are evaluated based on both health considerations and taste. Following the event, a cookbook of the teams’ recipes can be developed and distributed to the entire staff.

• Cholesterol Control or “Down Under” Club. People  with cholesterol over 200 mg.  Are invited to voluntarily participate.  The invitation needs to be extended to all staff as the Wellness Team won’t have (nor should have) access to individual health information.

Provide a selection of services to assist in lowering cardiac risks. Gordian Health Solutions offers cholesterol management health programs for workers qualifying by cholesterol score.

If an employee gets cholesterol numbers below 200 in six months, provide an incentive such as a prize to continue progress. Continue to supply information and reminders for continued cholesterol control.

• Label reading contest. Designate a particular food or food category. Employees must find the designated products with the lowest/highest fat content in the grocery store. Give coupons or other prizes for predetermined number of winners or participants.

Or, provide samples of healthier food options based on label information. Show how these compare to less healthful options. Display results of the contest in the worker break room or at an worker brown bag event.

Other Wellness Program Nutrition Suggestions –

• Give freshly brewed decaffeinated coffee and herbal tea.

• Sponsor a healthful food “bake-off” once a year.

• Give sugar and salt substitutes in the lunchroom.

• At meetings, replace sweet rolls and donuts with bran muffins, wholewheat bagels, or fresh fruit. Consider offering other decaffeinated coffee and herbal teas plus no-sugar fruit juices.

• Serve free popcorn in the break area.

• Create a cookbook featuring healthful recipes contributed by staff.

• Fruit or veggie of the week (or month). Display an “exotic” fruit or vegetable in your lunchroom and see when coworkers know what it is. Employees can put their name and the name of the item on an index card.

These can be used to conduct a prize drawing at the end of the week from the cards with the correct answer.  To add fun, encourage people  to put down funny answers when in doubt of the real name of the item.

Read some of those names during the prize drawing, and provide a prize for the most creative name. Divide the fruit or vegetable at the drawing and let those interested taste it. Make sure it could be eaten raw.

Unusual food items like star fruit are now readily available in grocery stores work well for this activity as many people haven’t tried these kinds of produce.

Weight management is a major area of both staff member interest and need. BMI  is the clinical measure that indicates whether individuals  are in a healthy weight range or are overweight or obese.

The BMI is a measure of a person’s overall height to their overall weight. Height and weight are measured during the worker biometric screening. A computer mathematical calculation provides the BMI score.

Ideas for workplace based weight control programs include -

• Have Weight Watchers, TOPS, or other reputable weight control groups meet in your workplace or nearby. Give such groups before/after work or during lunch. Staff Member attendance is generally better if staff can attend either wholly or partially on work time.

Break times could  be rolled into lunch break times to minimize employee time away from work duties (with upper management approval). Employees normally pay their own fees for class attendance and supporting materials.

• When the health promotion program offers incentives based on participation, award a completion gift when worker has attended a certain number of weight control sessions or activities.

• Supply information regarding community weight management groups.

• Incentives like cash, tee shirts, plaques, certificates, hours/days off, names on bulletin boards can be given to person who write a weight loss contract and meet their goal.

• Establish a worksite commitment to offer alternative healthful snacks at employer-sponsored meetings. Healthful snacks such as fruit, pretzels, plain popcorn, almonds, and veggies provide demonstration as to the employer’s commitment to health and staff member well being.

Every worksite will have workforce who’ll not participate in offered company wellness activities. But these same workforce might  be following many healthy practices in their daily living.

A good wellness program should give these people  credit and recognition for their good work.

Recognition of healthy goal setting and goal achievement is a good approach for reinforcing what people  are doing on their own outside of work, and for reaching those who do not like group activities.

Suggested steps for individual goals and recognition include -

• A form employees can fill out which includes the set goal(s) and a target date for completion.   

• Information on setting realistic goals, as people  often overestimate what they can do and by when. It’s good to remind staff members “baby steps” count!   

• Maintain a confidential file of the submitted worker goal forms in a dated “tickler” system.   

• Send a reminder to each staff member at the time of each participant’s goal date. This reminder could be a copy of their original goal form. Ask for staff member’s feedback regarding their goal(s) –  completed the goal, need an extension, or have discontinued the goal.   

• When the form is returned from an employee –    

   1) If an employee has completed the goal, a certificate of completion is received along with a prize or incentive item linked to the goal (if possible).

   2) When the worker renegotiates the deadline or the goal, the form is re-filed for future follow-up. Continue to encourage the worker.

   3) When the goal is canceled, send a note acknowledging this “good try” and encourage the staff member to attempt again when the timing is right.

• Allow those interested in this process to set objectives any time and as often as they want.