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A critical first step in organizing your company’s wellness program is the formation of a Company Health Promotion Program Committee. The focus of the Company Health Promotion Program Committee is to plan, promote, and start the program. The Company Health Promotion Program Committee establishes continuity, motivation, and broad ownership of the program as well as provides an excellent vehicle for communication.

So who ought to be on the Workplace Wellness Program Committee? Consider appointing the following people/departments to your Workplace Wellness Program Committee:

• Senior Management within your company
• Union representatives
• Human resources department
• Employee Assistance Program
• Information technology
• Communications
• Health and safety department
• staff members interested in health & wellness

Building a efficacious Workplace Wellness Program requires employee time as well as money. Some larger employers may spend 20 hours per week for three to six months preparing all the steps prior to starting a Workplace Wellness Program.

Anywhere from 4 to ten people meeting monthly equals a Company Wellness Program Committee. A mission statement for the Company Wellness Program Committee should be developed by the second meeting. This way, everyone knows what the Company Wellness Program Committee is working toward.

Once a wellness program has been established, the committee’s size and meeting schedule may change. Still, no fewer than 4 participants should meet at least quarterly so the group – and the wellness program – does not fade away.

Support from upper management is critical to building a efficacious wellness program! Visible upper management reinforcement is one of the most vital factors in the success of a workplace Employee Health Promotion Program. Upper Management executives are responsible for making sure that the business meets its objectives. They can provide additional assistance by helping you to link your Employee Health Promotion Program objectives to business outcomes, thereby positioning Employee Health Promotion Program as a fundamental part of the business.

It is valuable to establish support and excitement for the program from all echelons of the corporation including upper management, mid-level management, and grass-root staff members.

The challenge for any Corporate Health Promotion Program coordinator is convincing senior staff about the potential value of Corporate Health Promotion Program to the employer and conceptualizing how Corporate Health Promotion Program pushes can effect the employer in a meaningful manner. The American Journal of Health Promotion is a great resource to support you with obtaining convincing information on the benefits of a Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Company Wellness Program reinforcement from management can come in numerous different ways:

• Involvement in the wellness program planning process
• Distribution of funding for the wellness program
• Support for time given to the wellness program
• Participation in wellness programs
• Administration by management, such as the distribution of a letter of backing for the program.
• Flexibility of employee schedules to accommodate wellness activities

The first step in starting your wellness/Worksite Health Promotion Program is to understand your business and how Worksite Health Promotion Program will fit into the current structure. By researching your organization’s history with similar programs and eliciting feedback from co-employees, you can find the best solution for your business.

Company Health Promotion Program: Research Questions

• Find out if Worksite Wellness Program has been done in the past. If so, what worked and what did not?
• Was it widely accepted?
• Was programming thriving? Why or why not?
• What does your business hope to gain from implementing a Employee Health Promotion Program?

Answers to these questions will help you start the process of creating a culture of wellness within your organization. It is imperative that you assess the environment before starting a program.

The expenditures of healthcare have been rising more than 10 percent each year for several years. A substantial amount of the money spent in the healthcare system treats costly illnesses and diseases.

• Approximately 95 percent of the $1.4 trillion that we spend as a nation on health goes to direct health care services, while about 5 percent is allocated to preventing disease and promoting health.
• Potentially, 50 percent to 70 percent of all diseases are preventable as they are associated with modifiable health risks.
• In an effort to optimize employee health, decrease avoidable healthcare utilization and enhance work performance, and in turn decreased healthcare expenditures and better employee satisfaction and retention, many companies are planning, or are interested in planning, Worksite Health Promotion Programs for workers.

The benefits of workplace wellness are well documented. Greater than 120 research studies repeatedly show themes such as improvements in health outcomes coupled with high returns on investment (ROI). Some primary findings include the following:

• Savings of $3.48 in reduced medical costs per dollar invested.
• Savings of $5.82 in lower absenteeism expenditures per dollar invested.
• ROIs of at least $3 to $8 per dollar invested within five years of program implementation.
• Lifestyle behavior change programs: $3 to $6 return on investment within 2 to 5 years.
• Self care, decision support programs: $2 to $3 return on investment within a year.
• Disease Management (DM) programs: $7 to $10 ROI within a year.

By offering health improvement programs, employers are not only providing an additional service for workers, but they are also gaining financially. Furthermore, the influence of a health improvement program goes beyond diminished health care cost and ROI. A health improvement program can affect work rate, absenteeism, morale, recruitment success, turnover, and health care expenditures.

• Source: Rees, C., and Finch, R. (2004). Health Improvement: A comprehensive guide to creating, launching and evaluating worksite programs. National Business Group on Health, 1 (1), 1-7.

According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people modify their lifestyle to move toward a state of good health. Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle shift can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, modify behavior, and set up environments that support good health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest effect in producing lasting change.”

Workplace Health Promotion Program: Action Steps

The process of building a Employee Health Promotion Program involves:

• Identifying the current health status of your workers
• Determining the appropriate programs and interventions to offer
• Promoting and launching the programs
• Building in motivational incentives/rewards
• Measuring the effect
• Revising programs based on assessment outcomes

It may even include planning policies and procedures that support employee participation in wellness activities at your worksite (such as flextime).

Steps to Starting a Corporate Health Promotion Program

• Conduct an business assessment
• Obtain senior staff support
• Establish a Workplace Wellness Program Committee
• Obtain employee input
• Create goals and objectives
• Design and implement program activities
• Identify incentives
• Review outcomes

One of the ways the government plans to better the nation’s health is through inclusive Corporate Health Promotion Programs. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help workers live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior modification programs. In fact, one of the goals and objectives of Healthy People 2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to boost the proportion of workers that take part in a inclusive Corporate Health Promotion Program at their worksite to 75 percent.

5 Ways to Evaluate and Improve Your staff members’ Health

Emotional health is a state of wellness that comes from understanding and acknowledging our emotions and finding appropriate ways to express them. As workers, we often bring emotional problems from our childhood or current family life into the worksite because we haven’t dealt with them effectively outside of work. This can seriously damage worksite relationships and lead to poor execution and harmful feelings all around.

Many tools and techniques exist for helping us better our emotional health. Some of the most common are given below, with real-life case histories illustrating their use. If an unpleasant mood or feeling persists over a length of time, do not hesitate to seek out a qualified professional. Worksite Wellness Programs usually have professional support already in place as part of their services.

1. Wellness Coaching / Wellness Counseling:
One of the hallmarks of emotional health is the willingness to ask for help when we need it. Confidential professional help, the coaching and counseling given by employee assistance or wellness programs, can support an external source of strength and insight for “working out” emotionally-based concerns instead of “working them in” to your work.

2. Self-help Groups:
Self-help groups are designed to aid people in emotional situations in which they feel alone. The purpose of these groups is twofold: to allow people to safely feel and express their emotions, and to help break their isolation at work and/or in society at large and reintegrate them into society with the reinforcement of a peer group.

The classic self-help group is Alcoholics Anonymous, but thanks to technology, it’s possible to connect with others that have common health challenges, no matter how unique the situation. People are taking advantage of tele-conference groups and social websites, such as sparkpeople.com and revolutionhealth.com. Corporate Health Promotion Programs frequently have such groups available through internet based or phone support. Progressive corporate wellness provider Exan Wellness, for example, offers teleconference cell groups and moderated wellness forums for interacting with others in a supportive, confidential and anonymous environment. People with shared challenges get together and discuss the emotional challenges they are facing at work or in other areas of their lives and work through shift together.

3. Journaling: Journaling is often recommended by counsellors as a way to help identify and process emotions. People record their emotions in writing as they experience them, in whatever form they wish. By helping the writer gain greater emotional clarity, journaling can help in making more emotionally informed decisions. In much the same way, letter writing enables people to identify and process the emotions they feel in relation to others. The letter need not be sent or its contents shared: it simply supplies a place for the expression of feelings.

An 18-year-old “army brat,” Brent has always done well at school, academically and athletically. But in his last year of high school, something seems to have happened to him. He has lost all interest in school, becoming moody and withdrawn.

Brent describes to his guidance counselor all the times he had to move when he was growing up. Each move wrenched him from his friends and forced him to play the role of the “new kid on the block.” The counselor suggests that Brent write letters to the friends he has missed over the years telling them how he felt. Finally, he has a chance to say a proper goodbye.

4. Review Your Emotional Health: Corporations that seek to boost employees’ interpersonal skills, or emotional intelligence in the workplace are more successful, according to ground-breaking journalist Daniel Goleman. And emotional intelligence is the buzzword in workplaces these days. Some Worksite Wellness Programs have information about emotional intelligence, or emotional health assessments. Seek out more information about emotional intelligence for better corporate wellness.

5. Friendships/Support Systems: Friendships allow people to feel supported in their emotional journeys. At the same time, they give people an opportunity to cultivate their empathetic skills. These skills are also significant for workplace health. When we are empathic with fellow staff members, we help them resolve harmful or unhealthy emotions. New friendships are made through hobbies, classes, clubs, or even through web-based groups. Many people are finding emotional satisfaction by establishing relationships through Facebook and other social websites.

Sometimes workplace stress that is not dealt with in a healthy manner can be brought home. A 36-year-old mother of three, Sarah, wants to be a great wife, a great mother, and a success at her job. One day, drained after a long day at work, she shouted at her rambunctious children and threatened to hit her youngest son. Her behavior horrified her. To make matters worse, she believes she is a failure at her job as well as at motherhood. She watches with jealousy as younger co-workers advance much more rapidly up the corporate ladder despite having less experience than she has.

On the advice of a counselor, she decides to take time out for herself and take a course for amateur painters. It doesn’t take long before she strikes up a friendship with a single mom in the class. She once led a life very similar to Sarah’s before managing to achieve a better balance between work and family. Her new friend becomes a much-required sounding board for Sarah and offers her perspectives on her life that she hadn’t considered before.

25 percent Jump in Employer Interest in Employee Health and Wellness

Worksite wellness for their employees, organizations are discovering, is great for the health of their organizations as well. Corporate Health Promotion Programs help to cut the expenditures associated with poor employee health, which include absenteeism, loss of work rate and poor work quality.

A recent Hewitt Associates survey of over 500 United States businesses indicated a important paradigm shift in how businesses view health benefits for their staff members. Of those surveyed this year, 88% are committed to instituting long-term medical care assistance programs (over the next 3-5 years) for their staff members, with the intention of boosting the health and productiveness of their workforce. This represents a 25% rise in interest in Corporate Health Promotion Programs over 2007.

A strong offering of Company Wellness Programs to meet the demand has resulted. Health assistance providers have broadened their programs with tools that address general lifestyle factors, physical, social and psychological health factors. Programs look to predict chronic disease in their staff members and give them the tools and the information to prevent it. Companies also demand a way to measure the effectiveness of their health care spending.

“Self-care is our motive,” says Vic Lebouthillier, president of progressive health & wellness provider Exan Wellness.”We really believe giving employees tools to help them manage their own health, and promoting the advantages, while giving people resources to reach out for help is the key to successful lifestyle shift. Corporations are also telling us they need a cost-effective way to deliver Worksite Health Promotion Programs. The type of program we have developed over years delivers the highest medical return on investment.”

Combining workplace wellness promotions, online assessments and health trackers, online health information, telephone conferences and self-help groups, and access to a wide variety of health professionals, is behind the success of the Exan program. “Having online statistics about workers’ health also makes it easier to track the bottom line – return on investment” says Vic Lebouthillier.

“Businesses are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of medical care benefits to cultivate holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their employee populations, drive employee behavior modification and eliminate barriers to healthcare,” says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

Still, in a separate survey of 30,000 staff members, 74 percent said that, even though they felt their corporation had an obligation to help them understand how to use their health benefits program, only 12 percent felt the corporation had any right to tell them how to be healthy. Based on these results, businesses need to drive home the fact that improved health is better for their staff members as well as the corporation. It’s a win-win situation.

Employers and staff members did learn common ground when it came to future healthcare. Both surveys indicate that 95 percent of staff members understand that their taking care of their health today will influence future medical care payments. A similar percentage also understand the significant of early detection and prevention when it comes to saving on medical care expenditures.

Cost is important for most employers as well. Over 80% of those surveyed made cost mitigation a priority for 2008, but those cuts did not involve shifting responsibility for health care onto workers. Although 64% of employers have shifted costs to their workers, only 17% intend  to do so in the next 3-5 years. Similarly with health reimbursement accounts, 20% now offer these, but only about 5% intend  to use them in 2008.

These survey results indicate corporations are getting more proactive in assisting their staff members to modify behaviors and take ownership of their own health futures. This is obviously wonderful for the wellbeing of staff members, but also for the wellbeing of the corporations they work for. Almost half the corporations surveyed were convinced that changing health behaviors was key to improved productiveness and reduce absentee rates. Over 60 percent plan  to institute programs that help staff members change and/or sustain a healthier lifestyle. Almost of these corporations will also use data and measurements to ensure their health care strategies meet their health care objectives?

It is apparent to most American citizens (especially those of us in business) that healthcare expenditures are skyrocketing out of control. No one doubts that either the market will solve the concern OR the government will impose one on us. Managed care has failed from either a cost containment or quality of care perspective. Companies have reached the point where the expense of offering health care insurance is almost as burdensome as government regulation. It’s time for some new thinking on healthcare and its impact on business and vice versa. “Corporate wellness” as an operational perspective rather than merely window dressing is one way to deal effectively with rising healthcare expenditures.

The Insurance Problem

The first step in fixing the concern is to realize that an employee’s health is their own responsibility. Expecting organizations to support unlimited medical insurance coverage is simply unrealistic and unreasonable. It’s time for organizations (on a broad scale) to reconsider their role in offering medical insurance coverage. Instead of offering complete coverage for all staff members through group plans, organizations ought to begin to shift the burden of health coverage to those covered.

Here’s the approach. Provide catastrophic health insurance as a group benefit to all workers with a big enough deductible (say $5000 per employee) to make the cost affordable for the employer. Then, allow workers to buy their own health insurance policies (based on their own needs) and pay for them through payroll deduction with pre-tax earnings. There are numerous insurance employers that sell individual plans on this basis. Everybody wins. Workers can tailor their coverage to their own needs and circumstances using their own doctors. Companies win by stopping the endless cycle of rising expenditures and ever-changing plans. And when individuals become responsible for the cost of their own insurance, they become more attentive to their own health. Besides, if an employee is interested in working for you ONLY because your employer offers great insurance benefits aren’t they telling you they’re going to cost you more money in the future?

Organize a “Wellness Culture”

Our current “sickness culture” perpetuates the medical care crisis and hastens the demise of market-based solutions. By sickness culture, I mean our focus on health concerns rather than on having a healthy workplace and performance culture.

So, what would a “wellness culture” look like? First, instead of paid sick days, workers might be rewarded at year’s end with an attendance bonus. Workers would be reimbursed for efficacious completion of tobacco cessation and weight-loss programs. Employers would invest in corporate memberships at local health clubs so every employee can participate. Workers would be offered in-house wellness programs on a variety of problems ranging from ergonomics to stress management. Finally, businesses would commit to hiring and retaining healthy workers. Simply put, healthy workers cost less and are more beneficial than unhealthy ones. Applicants should be screened for health habits and practices that limit their productiveness and increase the likelihood of future expense. While this may seem harsh, it rewards those workers whose personal lifestyle and habits ensure the best Return on Investment by the employer committing to hire, train and pay them.

Be open to “alternative and complementary” approaches

Studies published in major medical journals reveal that people who use “alternative and complementary” health modalities (including chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga and massage) are generally healthier, better educated, take fewer medications and miss fewer days from work than the average American. Since these people look for ways to stay healthy without drugs and surgery, they end up being a net benefit in terms of attendance and work rate. Old prejudices in this area should be discarded in order for businesses to improve work rate and improve profitability

Conclusion

Healthcare expenditures are growing at a staggering pace. Managed care is an abysmal failure. Employers are buckling under the pressure of providing health coverage to their workers. American competitiveness in the market is sagging. These times call for extraordinary solutions. It’s time for American companies to consider some out-of-the-box solutions to the medical care crisis. Business wellness is an approach that is timely, achievable and reasonable given the alternatives. All options should be considered while we still have a chance.

Research spanning more than a decade has consistently demonstrated Corporate Health Promotion Programs to be monetarily effective and that every dollar invested on a corporate wellness program can return $2.30 and $10.10 by reducing absenteeism, sick day usage and by lowering insurance expenditures. Additionally it is noted that there are marked improvements in employee success and work rate in employers that enable a Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Healthy employers enjoy enhanced employee morale and an improved ability to attract and retain key people. Additionally, employees are more alert and productive. For instance, Coca Cola reports that they save an estimated $500 a year per employee once they implemented a fitness program in which 60 percent of their employees participate. Coors Brewing Business published that employees who participated in their Workplace Health Promotion Programs reduced their absentee rate by 18%.

employees enjoy their share of advantages from Workplace Health Promotion Programs too. A healthy lifestyle impacts every part of a person’s life, including their work environment. Workplace Health Promotion Programs result in fewer injuries, less human error and a work environment that is more harmonious and relaxed. Additionally, employees who work at a business that implements a Workplace Health Promotion Program know that their business is concerned about their health and wellbeing. Employees often report a decline in their stress levels due to Workplace Health Promotion Programs.

As workers feel better, more relaxed, more valued and more human to their corporation; they enjoy an increase in productiveness. This rise in productiveness, while beneficial to the corporation, is also critical to the employee as it increases their own sense of self worth and confidence levels. Workers who feel thriving and who feel that they accomplish objectives and goals are overriding happier and in a better frame of mind.

The benefits of Employee Health Promotion Programs, both tangible and intangible, are evident. It is a wise move for a employer to implement a Employee Health Promotion Program, especially when they incorporate some form of mental health aspect into it. This also has social benefits as domestic violence and child abuse is demonstrated to be decreased in areas where wellness programs are implemented. These days, a employer can almost not afford to have some sort of wellness program to offer to their employees.

Some of the top wellness programs currently in use today include:

Health Risk Assessments or HRAs

Health Risk Assessment is a top corporate wellness program currently in use globally. Employers that enable it determine the safety and health concerns of workers by the assessment of appropriateness of the facilities and equipment against the needs of the workers.

It can, for example, guide the organization into determining how the air quality within an office room affects the users and then help the assessment group to come up with the measures essential to correct the issue. An HRA can also evaluate the level of exposure employees have to certain hazardous or dangerous materials and practices.

Immunizations

This isn’t always practiced in every country since there are regions where government sponsored immunization shots are available. However, it has also become an important component of the top Company Wellness Programs in a myriad of corporations in North America.

Immunization shots, such as those used to combat flu, for example, are available to employees for no cost.

Employee Assistance Program

Employee Assistance Programs consist of a wide variety of services. It can range from offering educational resources to workers regarding health problems to sponsoring health services and healthcare. In countless organizations, medical and insurance have also become a staple part of their benefits system.

In-house diet and nutrition drives

This is another wellness program that employers use, especially those that offer in-house commissary or cafeteria services. Instead of serving richer, high-calorie fare, cafeterias offer options for a healthier diet, usually in the form of low-calorie foods and sugar substitutes.

In-house employee wellness newsletter and campaign drives

One of the top wellness programs that employers can enable is a self-powered tool using a newsletter to reward wellness, coupled with a visible campaign. The campaign may be done periodically and focus on a specific topic, such as smoking hazards, cancer, stress, carpal tunnel syndrome, safety in the worksite, etc.

The employee wellness newsletter in itself can be an effective means to deliver information to workers or members of a organization but it is far from perfect. Some workers, for example, may not read the newsletter entirely or even pay attention to it. If the concerns outlined in the newsletter are promoted through an active and highly visible campaign, it will be easier to maximize beneficial results.

Exercise and physical activity drives

Another top wellness program for corporations is one that involves physical activities. Corporations frequently sponsor exercise-related programs such as marathons and organization sports programs to bolster workers to remain fit or lose excess weight. In mid- to large-sized corporations, corporations may even pay for health club memberships or in-house exercise facilities.

Rewards and Incentives

Some of the top wellness programs implemented by companies involve Incentives/Rewards. This involves corporation-sponsored programs that reward workers for achieving specific wellness-related goals and objectives. Participation in health campaigns and signing up for wellness programs are two of the most usually rewarded schemes. Rewards can range from special recognitions to over time acquired points (for bigger rewards) to specific gifts. In a few cases, cash may also be used.

However, incentive systems have had mixed reactions and levels of success. But it continues to be one of the top choices among organizations who are willing to modify it in order to fit their unique needs.

Peer Pressure

In numerous organizations, organizations take advantage of peer pressure in order to encourage employees to take part in wellness programs. This is currently one of the favorite Corporate Health Promotion Programs currently in use today and growing in popularity. Peer pressure is frequently leveraged to help encourage competitions referring to worksite wellness and to persuade employees to be active in organization-sponsored wellness fairs.