Wellness Program Evaluation.

Program analysis may  be the last step, but it should be planned at the beginning of your efforts!  Examination helps you identify what parts of the program are working well and what parts need improvement.  

Then, based on the evaluation data, adjustments may be made to fine-tune your wellness program.   Adjusting the program based on evaluation data is crucial to its continued success.  

Analyzing your program does not have to be complicated.  HOWEVER, it’s important to plan how you will monitor your wellness efforts and determine success during the planning phase.  

Also remember to evaluate the program based on the objectives and objectives you already identified during your planning process.  

In order to evaluate your program you need to have a system to document specifics as you go along.  This could be as simple as maintaining file folders on programs that are offered, or a computer document with a table or spreadsheet summarizing information accumulating.  Consider -

• Program topic and numbers of staff members who participated

• the numbers of  handouts taken by staff members or distributed and on what topics

• the number of participants in a behavior change program and how many met their objectives as well as how many attended all of the sessions

• Numbers of staff members who continued the healthy behavior change following the program?

• Overall staff member satisfaction with the program or each topic.  Here’s a sample investigation form.  

Depending on your goals and goals, gather desired data and compare it to previous data gathered during the initial assessment to determine when the goals were met.  Such data might include

• Absentee rates

• Injury rates

• Health risk factors Insurance costs  

Summarize and Report Wellness Program Results

Once you’ve collected all the examination information it needs to be reviewed with the Wellness Committee and summarized.  You will probably have positive results and some areas where a change is needed or additional focus required for continuous improvement.  

This not-so positive information may be used to make any needed changes as well as to plan for next year and is important to include in your report.  

It’s important to communicate the wellness program results to both management and staff members.  Consider how management ordinarily receives reports on operations and productivity issues and include the annual wellness program report in the same format.  

At some corporations the reports are made during management meetings using presentation styles like power point slides.  At other corporations, graphs and bar charts are the norm or a list of the objectives and the summary outcomes reported.  

No matter the format, it’s important to convey the outcomes and successes achieved, including any anecdotal stories, as well as areas for improvement.  Be sure to link the outcomes to the business mission and bottom line whenever possible.

Workers want to receive the same information!  Consider using the same communication channels used when informing workers of the wellness program -

• Corporation newsletters,

• Bulletin boards,

• E-mails  

Additionally consider celebrating successes and recognizing achievements by -

• Posting pictures from events

• Highlighting success stories

• Posting pictures of successes

• Scheduling a celebration

• Recognizing champions