Corporate Wellness Blog

Ideally, you will cultivate an overriding plan for a Employee Wellness Program before beginning to plan specific wellness programs. By way of example, you have the potential to begin by getting the following elements in place:

• backing from management
• a Workplace Wellness Program Committee or team
• information about the wellness needs and interests of employees
• a budget
• program objectives
• an evaluation plan

Even if you have few monetary and/or human resources, you can still take a “micro” approach. By way of example, you could focus on only one specific issue. Creativity, enthusiasm and planning can help you overcome limitations.

This article will give you some with some ideas for setting up Workplace Health Promotion Programs. Even the smallest steps have the potential to have an influence.

Whether you choose to begin with a single program or cultivate something larger, planning is important. First consider the big picture and then look after the details.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Ascertain an action. What health-related program will fit the bill and best suit the workers and employer?
• Promote. How can you most effectively spread the word to staff members? What opportunities exist for promotion? Consider everything, because staff members have access to and pay attention to different types of messages. In a typical workplace, staff members receive information from e-mail, newsletters, bulletins, brochures, meeting announcements and fellow staff members.
• Deliver. Who is the best person or group to put the program into action? Ask other businesses about approaches they have utilized. Decide on your budget prior to making a decision.
• Review. What must you evaluate to determine success? Do you need hard data and/or testimonials from individual participants?

We recommend the following when organizing your initiative:

• organizing and communicating clear objectives
• targeting your audience
• deciding on the type of program or campaign

The Elements of a Corporate Health Promotion Program

Plans to encourage wellness in the workplace don’t need to be restricted to a single area. You might think workplace wellness only involves promoting positive personal health, e.g., Blood Pressure (BP) clinics, brochures on heart disease, “lunch and learn” courses on eating habits and short-term physical activity programs.

These activities are valuable, but workplace wellness must also be part of business’s business plan and go beyond traditional programming.

Taking a broader approach, the National Quality Institute recently identified 3 key components of a healthy workplace:

• physical environment
• social environment and personal resources
• health practices

Specific Program Ideas

Physical Environment

Look after workers’ health and safety and establish regulations to support their health and safety. Consider offering the following:

• Safe bike storage and shower and/or change facilities for cyclists and other commuters.
• Fridges for employees to keep snacks and meals fresh and/or healthy snacks in snack machines and cafeterias.
• Ergonomic assessments.
• Subsidies to assist workers join local recreation centres.
• Classrooms/conference rooms available for booking activities such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation and aerobics.
• Safe and pleasant stairwells that invite employees to use them.
• Assessing the potential for violence at work with plans to deal with such risks.
• Good lighting and sound and air quality.

Social Environment

Human relationships and communication, as well as ways of doing business, are able to affect an employee’s mental and physical health. Employers must consider the following:

• respectful workplace policies that offer safe worksites
• policies on flex time
• policies on working from home
• employee satisfaction surveys
• leadership coaching
• resiliency training
• EAPs

To cultivate a beneficial social culture or climate, consider employees’ needs, which include:

• being respected
• a sense of belonging, purpose and mission
• freedom of expression
• protection from harassment and discrimination

What you’ve “always done” may not address current employee needs. Making sure that individuals enjoy being at work is not an simple task, but making the right changes has the potential to have a huge influence.

Health Practices

Offer programs and set policies that help staff members remain healthy or improve their health while at work. Consider offering the following:

• “Lunch and learn sessions” on healthy habits such as sleeping better, eating on the run, healthy snacks, using a pedometer, pole walking, work-life balance, time management, stress management, resiliency, parenting and reading nutrition labels.
• Tobacco cessation clinics or subsidies to help employees quit.
• Health risk appraisals, including fitness assessments.
• Programs to address the problems raised in the health risk appraisals.
• Healthier snacks served at meetings and conferences.

Personal Employee Health Promotion Program Tips

If there is no wellness program at your workplace, don’t let that stop you from keeping healthy. Perhaps your example will spark a movement toward a healthier workplace.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Be active at work. There are a myriad of ways to bring activity into your workday. Walk to work, even if it’s just one way. Have walking meetings. Bike to work. Use the stairs. Walk to a workmate’s office rather than sending an e-mail.
• Eat smart at work. Pack a healthy meal. Have a bottle of water at your desk or workstation. Eat breakfast and eat regularly during the day. Take turns bringing a basket of fruit for co-workers’ snacks. Order healthy snacks for meetings.
• Maintain work-life balance. Work efficiently so you are able to leave on time. Conduct short, effective meetings. Leave your work at work and be sure not to take it home. Minimize social chit-chat. Arrange your office to enhance your work. Avoid clutter. Plan and prioritize to make sure that the most significant things get done first.

There is no limit to the number or variety of Workplace Health Promotion Programs. A key to success is planning well and ensuring that you can evaluate the outcome so that you can sustain momentum.

Talk to other wellness practitioners to learn what works well for them. Listen to your co-staff members to determine their needs and interests. And do not forget to promote, promote, promote.