Wellness Programs A to Z

The Health Promotion Committee ought to set out a plan for the entire year that outlines accomplishing goals and goals, as well as provides details for advertising and marketing and reviewing  the health promotion program.

The plan is the detailed map of what kinds of wellness programs will be offered, when and where they will be scheduled, how they will be marketed and assessed, and what the budget is.  

It is crucial that you plan your wellness activities based on your goals and goals, as well as the budget since different strategies will yield different outcomes.  For  instance, when your objective is to elevate awareness on a topic, then distributing flyers or scheduling a one-time education session may  be appropriate.  

Nonetheless, if your goal is to change behavior, then different strategies could  be necessary, such as ongoing weekly sessions and support groups.  Click here to link to Program Design Choices for more ideas.

Wellness Program Marketing

This is the time to plan your marketing and advertising strategies! Just how can you market the health promotion program and ongoing activities?  No matter how you decide to, market often, keep it fresh, and remind employees again and again!  

Consider having an overall kickoff activity to let everyone know about the wellness program. Upper-Level Management should provide the introduction or invitation so that all workforce are aware of their support and leadership in the wellness program.

Possible advertising methods –

• Sending email messages, including reminders

• Posting flyers,

• Displaying bulletin board postings,

• Writing articles,

• Sending letters or

• Sending special invitations.  

Other Health Promotion Program Considerations –

• Is the wellness program promoted to all employees or to a specific target audience?

• Do you have a health promotion program champion (someone who is connected with different groups in the organization, and well respected) who can help in your promotion efforts?

• When your marketing efforts don’t seem to be working, do you have a way to revisit and adjust your strategy?

• Just how will you determine success and evaluate your wellness program?  and how will you collect the information needed to evaluate your wellness program?  

Topics most often included in Wellness Programs –

• Nutrition

• Exercise/Exercise

• Tobacco Use Cessation

• Bone Health

• Heart Health

• Healthy Back

• Stress Reduction

• Chronic Disease Awareness and Prevention

• Self-care; Wise Healthcare Consumer

• Screening Services (BMI, blood pressure, bone density, cholesterol, glucose, posture, vision, and other…)

• Ergonomic Assessments

• Health Fairs

• Kids/family Events

• Others topics that workers have interest in  

The topics and kind of Wellness Program planned depend on the needs and interest, overall goal and resources available.  

Program Design Options include awareness programs like brochures and/or education sessions, behavior modification or modification programs like use of tobacco cessation and weight loss classes, and environmental or organizational support like no use of tobacco policies or healthful selections in vending machines.  

The wellness programs planned also depend on the demographics of your workforce. When you have a young, healthful workforce, you may want to focus the wellness attention on keeping workforce healthful and not need to screen for disease.  

Instead you may want to focus on healthy lifestyle behavior such as exercise and good nutrition to prevent the begin of disease.  Click here for additional information on strategies for keeping workers well, identifying disease early, or returning workers to work who already have a chronic illness.

It’s also vital that you consider, and plan how you’ll evaluate the success of your wellness program.  The system needs to be established for tracking certain data and recording events depending on the wellness program goals and desired outcomes.  

Step 7 discusses health promotion program analysis in more detail.   and Step 6 will launch your health promotion program!