Wellness Plans : Building a Wellness Program.

There’s no single right way to approach health promotion programs but winning health promotion programs share common success factors. These include commitment from management, employee involvement, adequate resources, and a policy concerning health that goes hand in hand with the organization’s mission, vision and values.

Wellness Program –  A Range of Approaches

Despite the fact that the goal is to eventually have a long-term, robust wellness program, some companies prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level.

For  instance, the first steps could be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthful eating; or they could launch a pilot project to figure out how interested workers are to ensure workers needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious.

This approach provides a chance to show the impact on personnel and the worksite so upper management are going to be more willing to consider a bigger and more far-reaching strategy.

Other companies plan a selection of wellness programs to meet the needs of the different types of individuals  that make up their workforce.  And some decide to create a sound company case, complete with a health strategy, before trying any kind of wellness program.

Businesses want to ensure that a new health promotion program is fully integrated with their overall company vision and mission.

Health Promotion Program –  Success Factors

Whether or not your corporation chooses to think big from the outset or to start with something smaller, always keep in mindthe following key success factors –

• support and participation from management;

• staff member involvement in planning;

• health promotion programs that meet employee needs;

• A realistic budget; and

• continuous review.

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

Good planning will help to ensure that your health promotion program happens the way you want it to, and that costs may be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning avoids small problems from becoming bigger.

Steps in Creating a Wellness Program

Obtain upper-level management support. You might need to create a corporation case to convince managers that the health promotion program is a corporation strategy-that worker health and job satisfaction affects their productivity. Employees need to see evidence that upper-level management believes in and is committed to worker health.

Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from staff member groups in addition to from HR, health and safety, and communications.

Collect information.  To prove that your wellness program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the wellness program starts. You might wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug costs or WCB expenditures.

Assess what worksite facilities are available to support personnel to make healthful choices like showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Assess employee needs through a recent survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Develop the plan to reflect the information gathered. Include health promotion program goals, activities and how you’re going to measure whether your goals were met.

Keep the plan flexible. You might have to change direction in response to employee feedback or changes in the organization’s structure.

Get upper-level management approval. Support for staff time and a budget are needed.

Put activities in place. Give a variety of activities that create awareness, increase knowledge, create skills, and provide social interaction.

Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Employee Wellness Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that provide information about community resources.

Worksites can also make it easier for staff members to make healthful choices by providing flextime to allow staff members to fit activity in when it’s convenient or by subsidizing health promotion programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings can ensure that healthful foods are offered.

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

A wellness program does not have to be complicated or a gigantic investment. Just do it. Get support from management, bring several committed individuals  together to generate some ideas and get started.