Wellness Programs A to Z

Keeping the bottom line up front Bottom Line Up Front in Worksite Wellness Program will help you get and sustain Senior Management support. A Bottom Line Up Front approach will also help you more realistically measure the impact of your Worksite Wellness Program.

The bottom line in Worksite Wellness Programs answer two key questions:
• How will participant health be improved?
• What’s in it for Senior Management?

The ultimate bottom line: all roads should lead to readiness.
• Always be ready to communicate to leadership the ways that your Worksite Wellness Program impacts readiness.
• Think like Senior Management: what Worksite Wellness Program outcomes will be important from a Senior Management point of view?
• Develop line-centered language that communicates those outcomes.
• Ask participants how they think a particular Worksite Wellness Program enhances force readiness. This input is a valuable source of information.

Use the following steps as a Bottom Line Up Front approach to Worksite Wellness Programs.

Step 1: Think about the end of the Worksite Wellness Program first and plan backwards.
• It has been said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
• Before planning or starting any part of the Worksite Wellness Program, be able to answer the questions: how will participant health be improved? What’s in it for Senior Management?

Step 2: Identify concrete Worksite Wellness Program outcomes.
• Identify up front what the Worksite Wellness Program is working towards.
o By way of example: will participants lose weight? Walk more steps? Decrease injuries? Move to another stage of change?
• Identify any processes or procedures that will be improved.
o By way of example: which pharmacy operations will become more efficient? How will record-keeping be streamlined?

Step 3: Determine what will be measured to show that Worksite Wellness Program goals were met.
• Look at what information is really needed to show Worksite Wellness Program effectiveness. Avoid the temptation to collect every possible piece of data. Choose a handful of important information points and stick to those.
• Think backwards when determining what information to collect – consider how easily follow-up information can be collected when a Worksite Wellness Program ends. Getting follow-up information is frequently a challenge.
• Only collect information for health behaviors or indicators that the Worksite Wellness Program actually affected.
o By way of example: if the main Worksite Wellness Program goal is that participants will walk more steps, then it may be better NOT to choose changes in cholesterol level as a Worksite Wellness Program outcome (unless the Worksite Wellness Program specifically addresses cholesterol).
• Avoid measuring outcomes that the Worksite Wellness Program cannot (or did not) affect.

Step 4: Determine what Worksite Wellness Program elements must be included to move participants towards the Worksite Wellness Program goals.
• The concrete Worksite Wellness Program outcomes identified in Step 2 are the compass for keeping the Worksite Wellness Program on track. All Worksite Wellness Program elements should lead towards that ultimate goal.

Working backwards when planning and starting Worksite Wellness Programs is really forward thinking. Keeping the bottom line up front is a smart approach to Worksite Wellness Programs.