Building a Wellness Program.

There’s no single right way to approach wellness programs but winning programs share common success factors. These include commitment from management, worker involvement, adequate resources, and a health policy that goes hand in hand with the corporation’s mission, vision and values.

Wellness Program -  A Range of Approaches

Although the goal is to eventually have a long-term, comprehensive wellness program, some businesses prefer to begin with a single program at a basic level.

For  instance, the first steps may be as simple as offering lunch-hour sessions on first aid or healthful eating; or they may launch a pilot project to find out how interested employees are to ensure employees needs are being met before taking on anything more ambitious.

This approach provides a chance to show the impact on staff members and the workplace so management will be more willing to consider a larger and more far-reaching strategy.

Other corporations plan a selection of programs to meet the needs of the different kinds of individuals  that make up their workforce. and some decide to develop a sound business case, complete with a health strategy, before attempting any kind of program.

Businesses want to ensure that a new program is fully integrated with their overall company vision and mission.

Wellness Program -  Success Factors

Whether your corporation chooses to think large from the outset or to begin with something smaller, always rememberthe following key success factors -

• support and participation from management;

• employee involvement in planning;

• programs that meet staff member needs;

• a realistic budget; and

• continuous review.

In sports, a game plan is a series of steps that a team must follow to accomplish its goal of winning. Most winning teams plan to win. Organizations also need game plans, even when they do not call them by that name.

Good planning will help to ensure that your wellness program happens the way you want it to, and that costs may be identified in advance and kept within budget. Good planning prevents small problems from becoming bigger.

Steps in Planning a Wellness Program

Obtain management support. You could need to create a business case to convince managers that the wellness program is a business strategy-that staff member health and job satisfaction affects their productivity. Staff Members need to see evidence that  upper-level management believes in and is committed to staff member health.

Establish a planning committee. Members can include representatives from staff member groups in addition to from human resources (HR), health and safety, and communications.

Collect information. to prove that your program is beneficial, establish a benchmark before the program begins. You might wish to look at employee satisfaction, absenteeism rates, stress levels, drug costs or WCB expenses.

Assess what workplace facilities are available to support staff members to make healthy choices like showers and change areas or a secure place to store a bicycle. Assess worker needs through a recent survey or questionnaire, suggestion box or focus group. Communicate the results.

Create the plan to reflect the information accumulated. Include program goals, activities and how you’re going to measure whether your goals were met.

Keep the plan flexible. You may have to change direction in response to worker feedback or changes in the corporation’s structure.

Get management approval. Support for staff time and a budget are needed.

Put activities in place. Offer a selection of activities that develop awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills, and provide social interaction.

Activities could include walking clubs, participation in national campaigns such as Corporate Wellness Week, SummerActive, WinterActive, corporate challenge, golf days, and newsletters that provide information about community resources.

Workplaces can also make it easier for employees to make healthy choices by providing flextime to allow employees to fit activity in when it is convenient or by subsidizing programs in cooperation with community or private fitness facilities. A policy on catering for meetings can ensure that healthy foods are offered.

Evaluate the plan. Share your successes with others, learn from your mistakes and modify activities.

A wellness program doesn’t have to be complicated or a enormous investment. Just do it. Get support from management, bring a few committed people  together to generate some ideas and get began.