Wellness Programs A to Z

As companies today continue to compete in the global economy, cost containment strategies are going to be increasingly important. Controlling the rising cost of worker ill health is becoming a priority for corporate leaders.

The emerging corporate culture in the United States  is one which has an employee population centered in health, safety and wellness.

Developing a corporate strategy for wellness and disability management makes good corporation sense.  The following eight-step process ensures a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and results-oriented approach.

The following process works best in businesses with strong leadership and a long-term commitment to worker health.

1. Identify Your Wellness Program Champion

This person should be a leader in your corporation and a strong advocate of health. Normally this is an individual who actively pursues his or her own personal quest for optimal health.

The health promotion program champion must have the resources and authority to drive the program forward.  The program champion’s key role is to ensure the strategic plan for health is aligned with the company’s organization goals, strategic focus and organizational values.

For  instance when the company promotes that “our strength is our individuals ” the health promotion program must demonstrate how programs will nurture and protect that valuable resource.

2. Form Your Health Promotion Strategy Team

The Wellness Strategy Team should include decision makers and stakeholders from areas of the company that can influence health and the company’s bottom line.

These areas could include; finance, human resources, training and development, health services, compensation and benefits, worker assistance services (EAP), advertising and marketing, facilities, safety and health, rehabilitation, cafeteria or food services and the union. A team of six to eight representatives is advised.

The role of the Strategy Team is to develop and implement the strategic plan, look for opportunities to promote health, ensure the wellness program is integrated into key areas of the company, streamline efforts, maximize company resources and wellness program evaluation.

3. Complete an Organizational Health Audit

The purpose of an Organizational Health Audit is to evaluate your existing health promotion programs and services, physical environment and policies and procedures that support health.

It is also imperative that you look at your organizational culture or “how things are done” around the corporation.

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

4. Analyze Your Corporation’s Cost Pressures

Cost pressures are identified by analyzing  a number of areas including; benefit costs, Worksite Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, drug usage, type of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and employee assistance program utilization.

This process assists to target areas that may be positively impacted by a wellness program and to provide a baseline for reviewing  change.

5. Conduct a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) or Staff Member Needs and Interest Survey

The next step is to determine your worker’s health risks, interests and readiness to change. A confidential health risk assessment can accomplish many goals.

It provides a baseline from which to measure personal lifestyle changes, provides staff with relevant health information, arouses staff to take charge of their health and assists in wellness program planning.

Most health risk appraisals provide individual reports and a corporate report identifying high-risk areas in the corporation.

Many companies prefer to administer customized needs and interest survey to evaluate staff member needs.  The benefit of this approach is that the organization can gather information on the employees’ perceived wellness program needs and interests.

This information may be incorporated into the strategic plan. Administering a recent survey also has the added advantage of fostering a sense of staff member ownership to the health promotion program.

6. Create Your Strategic Plan for Wellness

The strategic plan should incorporate information accumulated from the Organizational Health Audit, your corporation’s cost pressures, and health risk assessment data or employee survey results.

The strategic plan ought to include your health promotion program mission, three or four goals and several health promotion programs under each objective.  The strategic plan provides a framework to encourage, support and evaluate “best health practices.”

It is also important that the plan align itself with the vision, goals and goals of the corporation.

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

Levi Strauss and Co.’s aspirations include the following statement –  Above all, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors.

The wellness program plan included a number of components to ensure 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 healthful milestones.

3. A recognition system to applaud success.

4. Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss and Co. locations to ensure a fun environment.

5. Opportunities to participate in small group educational wellness programs to foster team support.

6. Initiation of support groups for workers completing health promotion programs (i.e. smoking control support group).

7. Programs dealing with work and family balance.

Other information that was investigated and used to create the plan included –

1. Corporation demographics

2. Focus groups

3. Cultural audit

4. Top drug report

5. employee assistance program utilization

6. Employee benefit services report

7. Health and dental claims

8. Operational performance summaries

9. Health risk assessments

7. Put together a Company Case to Support Your Plan

Your organization case for wellness provides the necessary details for approval at the senior level management level.  The organization case includes –

1.  The Strategic Plan for Health

2. A proposed wellness program budget

3. Advertising strategies

4. Program leadership options

5.  An implementation plan

6. Examination methodology.

In presenting the strategic plan it’s crucial to highlight how the plan aligns itself with the strategic direction of the organization.

The health promotion program budget ought to include educational resources, advertising and marketing costs, rewards and incentives, leadership costs and supplies.

Advertising and Marketing strategies should address how the health promotion program are going to be promoted and rolled out to various groups within the company i.e. decentralized locations, high risk staff members, older staff members.

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

The wellness program implementation plan should incorporate the following kinds of programs that help create awareness of positive health practices, assist employees in making lifestyle changes and initiatives, which support long-term change.

Awareness wellness programs develop an awareness of the importance of healthy lifestyle practices and motivate workforce to take the next step. Examples of awareness wellness programs include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and lunch and learn seminars.

Lifestyle change health promotion programs are more comprehensive and longer in duration. They’re designed to assist workforce in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle change health promotion programs are nutrition education programs, stress management programs, back care courses and use of tobacco control programs.

A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies and procedures, the physical environment and building a corporate culture that supports good health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups for personnel who’ve completed 6-10 week wellness programs also provide a supportive environment for long-term change.

Evaluating the effectiveness of wellness is ongoing. A formal analysis ought to be conducted yearly and may include; re-administering steps three to five, health promotion program participation statistics and a year end survey to revisit “soft” issues like morale, health promotion program satisfaction and future health promotion program direction.

8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan

Employee input is crucial to the long-term success of your wellness 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 levels of the company to ensure buy-in.

Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups are also important. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a key role in supporting positive health practices.

Regular meetings are recommended with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address issues and orient new managers.

Conclusions

The World Health Corporation’s definition of health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellness and not merely the absence of illness and infirmity.”

In order for us to develop healthful worksites, wellness programs need to have have a wellness program champion, have worker ownership, be executive management supported, results driven and strategically aligned with the overall company goals of the company.

Health Promotion program that embrace these qualities will have a positive impact on an corporation’s bottom line. Canadian research points to many case studies where onsite wellness programs have resulted in lowered absenteeism, lower claims and increased productivity.

Organizations who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business” have one thing in common. They demonstrate a commitment to their most valuable resource – their individuals .

They understand the increased pressures associated with downsized corporations, a rapidly changing worksite, an aging work force and the challenge of balancing work and family obligations.  And they share a common belief that healthful staff members are happier, absent less and more productive.

References –

Design of Health Promotion Programs by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published by the American Journal of Wellness.

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 Wellness by Daphne Woolf and Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. February 1996.

Published in the Journal of Wellness for Northern Ireland, Issue 9, March 2000