Employee Wellness SurveyEmployee Wellness Programs – Corporate Wellness Programs

Beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program need not be expensive, but will require the commitment of some financial resources. If possible, include the Employee Health Promotion Program in your business’s annual business plan and budget as you do for other efforts important to your business’s success.

How much to budget for the Employee Health Promotion Program?

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program that results in improved employee health. Organizations differ in how much money they need and how much they can make available for the Employee Health Promotion Program. Consider the following common expenses in developing an adequate Employee Health Promotion Program budget:

 • Employee Health Promotion Program staffing costs (either internal salaries or consultant fees)
 • Employee Health Promotion Program data collection costs (including health risk assessment costs, if relevant)
 • Employee Health Promotion Program incentives for healthy behaviors (such as discounts on premiums for non-smokers)
 • Costs of Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures to be started (such as costs of covering tobacco quit medications or costs of subsidizing healthy foods in the cafeteria or vending machines)
 • Employee Health Promotion Program administrative and communications expenses

In times of tight finances, be prepared to justify your requested Employee Health Promotion Program budget. Arm yourself with data on potential short- and long-term outcomes of the proposed Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures. Itemize the Employee Health Promotion Program expenses of past initiatives and share projected expenses for initiatives planned for the upcoming year.

Sustaining Employee Health Promotion Program Financing

A dedicated Employee Health Promotion Program line item in your business’s budget makes it more likely to be regarded as a need, rather than as a “nice-to-have” amenity that could be cut when funds run low.

One of the best Procedures for ensuring continued financial support for the Employee Health Promotion Program is frequent communication to upper management, including:

 • How many staff members have you reached through the Employee Health Promotion Program? Has morale increased? Have health risks decreased, e.g., fewer staff members using tobacco, more staff members active?
 • How well are you managing the Employee Health Promotion Program resources you’ve been given? Where and how has your budget been spent? Keep track of the staff time required for each initiative and be able to present the numbers at any time.
 • Anecdotal Employee Health Promotion Program success stories from staff members. Don’t underestimate the power of a good story to put a human face on your success.

Supplemental sources of Employee Health Promotion Program Financing

If required, have the individuals responsible for beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program look for ways to supplement available internal funds. Are there grants or other financing available that can help support your Employee Health Promotion Program ? What community Employee Health Promotion Program resources could you use to meet some of your needs?

Locating an individual to lead your business in beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program

Without a qualified Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator to lead and manage your business’s creation of a culture of wellness, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s essential that the creation of a culture of wellness be someone’s priority, not all businesss need a full-time coordinator.  There are a number of ways to capture the time of a qualified coordinator.

Be careful not to confuse Employee Health Promotion Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Employee Health Promotion Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator:

 • knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Employee Health Promotion Programs
 • experience working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Employee Health Promotion Program data
 • experience managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
 • experience in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
 • ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures.

What will a Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator do?

The Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator is responsible for guiding a process that establishes worksite facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Employee Health Promotion Program:

 • act as a liaison between upper management and the Employee Health Promotion Program employee advisory workgroup
 • interpret health-related data on your Employee Health Promotion Program
 • establishe and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures
 • facilitate Employee Health Promotion Program Committee meetings
 • lead your business in setting measurable objectives for the Employee Health Promotion Program
 • recommend effective Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
 • document and report short-term and long-term progress on Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures and objectives.

Where can we find a qualified Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator?

Explore the following when looking for a Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator:

 • Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to serve as a Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Employee Health Promotion Program position.
 • New staff – Can you hire an individual to be your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
 • Employee Health Promotion Program Consultation – Various businesss (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Employee Health Promotion Program consultation on building a culture of wellness within a worksite.

An outside Employee Health Promotion Program consultant can advise an internal Employee Health Promotion Program coordinator and your Employee Health Promotion Program Committee on setting priorities and selecting Procedures. Or, you can contract with a Employee Health Promotion Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.

Strong and visible upper management support for the Employee Health Promotion Program promotes health and is essential to securing required Employee Health Promotion Program resources (staff, time, and money) and implementing recommended changes.

1. Identify a Employee Health Promotion Program champion

 In a small business, there may be a single leader who is the clear choice to champion the Employee Health Promotion Program. In a larger business, look for an executive with the authority to sway others in the uppermost levels of the organization regarding the Employee Health Promotion Program. The Employee Health Promotion Program champion need not be the fittest member of upper management. Rather, look for a Employee Health Promotion Program leader with the disposition to be a visible and vocal supporter of worksite policies that encourage healthy behaviors. Organizations with multiple sites can consider whether it would be useful to have an executive Employee Health Promotion Program champion at each site.

2. Find existing Employee Health Promotion Program allies

 There may already be a number of individuals within your business who recognize the value of a Employee Health Promotion Program. Think about who those individuals are in your business; consider areas such as occupational safety, union representatives, risk management, health officers, and human resources when looking for a Employee Health Promotion Program ally. Obtain their stated support for the Employee Health Promotion Program. Employee Health Promotion Program support could include contributions of staff time or expertise, financial resources, agreement to endorse/support policy and environmental changes, or agreement to participate in, and voice their support for, changes in the worksite that will help to build a culture of wellness.

3. Build a business case for the Employee Health Promotion Program

 There is a reason that more and more employers are finding a way to promote employee health via a Employee Health Promotion Program and policies: A Employee Health Promotion Program makes good business sense. employees with healthy behaviors, on average, are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism)1 and incur lower medical care costs than staff members with less healthy behaviors.2,3  As a result it would be foolish not to have a Employee Health Promotion Program.

4. When developing a Employee Health Promotion Program use what you know about leadership styles and the decision-making process within your business

 Every business is different. Build upper management support for the Employee Health Promotion Program in the way that makes the most sense for your business. Think about the following as you plan how to approach upper management for Employee Health Promotion Program support:

  • What are the current pressures and priorities facing executives? How could a Employee Health Promotion Program and a healthier workforce support those priorities?
  • How do your leaders prefer to receive data: written documents? verbal presentations?
  • What kinds of Employee Health Promotion Program information are likely to sway decisions? Do they want data and Employee Health Promotion Program statistics specific to your business, or are state or national data sufficient? Are your leaders more influenced by internal factors or by what competitors are doing?
  • Who would your leaders see as a credible messenger for this Employee Health Promotion Program information? Does someone from the risk management area carry more clout than someone from the human resources area?
  • How do decisions get made in your business? Informal committee meetings? Formal or informal meetings between executives? Plan accordingly and you improve the odds that the Employee Health Promotion Program will become a reality.

5. Maintain Employee Health Promotion Program support once you have it

 Once you have appropriate Employee Health Promotion Program support, ensure that you maintain it by regularly updating your leaders on employee health and progress toward beginning a culture that promotes health. Ask upper management how often they want to receive Employee Health Promotion Program progress reports.

Source Information:
 1 Bunn, JOEM, 2006, 48:10.
 2 Foldes, Bland, An et al. Modifiable Health Risks and Short-Term Health Care Costs. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota internal research, submitted for publication.
 3 Anderson, 2000, American Journal of Health Promotion, 15:1.

The worksite environment is a powerful, but often overlooked, element in managing staff member health. Here we will identify some of the best-practices in beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program that supports your organization’s employee health strategy and allows staff members to take charge of their own health. For example, a Employee Health Promotion Program that includes a smoke-free worksite policy improves the likelihood that staff members will try to quit tobacco use and will quit using tobacco successfully. Similarly, a Employee Health Promotion Program that includes discounting healthy foods in your cafeteria and vending machines helps increase staff members’ consumption of healthy foods which supports your investment in disease management programs for staff members with diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. The following will guide you through the ten key steps in beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program and worksite environment that promotes staff member health. In an era of increasing medical care costs and fervent competition, employers have a vested interest in the health of their staff members. Research has found that, on average, staff members with healthy behaviors (such as not using tobacco or being active for 30 minutes a day) incur lower medical care expenses, are absent from work less often, and are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism) than staff members with unhealthy behaviors. Employee Health Promotion Program: Gaining Leadership Support Employee Health Promotion Program support from the uppermost level of upper management is essential to your success in beginning a culture of wellness within your worksite. Look for Employee Health Promotion Program support from a leader who is respected by and can sway other leaders. (It’s not necessary that he or she be the fittest executive within your organization just that they directly support the Employee Health Promotion Program.) You will be relying on this culture-of-health champion to advocate for changes that you recommend and to ensure the organization allocates adequate Employee Health Promotion Program resources (staff, time, and money) to maintain and improve the worksite policies, physical environment, and social norms. Obtain Employee Health Promotion Program Staff and Budget The creation and maintenance of a Employee Health Promotion Program within your business needs to be someone’s priority. However, unless your business is quite large, you likely don’t need to hire a full-time staff person for the Employee Health Promotion Program. There are a number of ways to find an individual with the required skills to guide and support your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program. Beginning facilities and Employee Health Promotion Program policies, such as those allowing staff members to be physically active during the workday, does not need to be expensive, but it does require adequate and sustained financing. If possible, include the creation of a worksite environment that supports the Employee Health Promotion Program as a permanent part of the operating budget; that helps to ensure it’s an ongoing priority for your business. Staff Member Involvement in the Employee Health Promotion Program Setting up a cross section of employees to advise your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program ensures that improvements in worksite facilities, policies and practices address the true needs and barriers of all groups of employees. In addition, these staff members can serve as the front-line Employee Health Promotion Program supporters of policies and practices with their peers. Develop a Employee Health Promotion Program “Brand” and Vision A Employee Health Promotion Program vision and a brand are powerful first steps in bringing a Employee Health Promotion Program from an idea to a reality. What would you like your worksite environment to look like five years from now? A succinct Employee Health Promotion Program vision statement summarizes for all (staff members and leaders alike) the reasons for beginning a Employee Health Promotion Program. It also reminds everyone of the link between staff member health and your business’s ability to achieve its overall mission. Branding your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program sends a message to staff members that the business’s commitment and support of healthy behaviors is important and is here to stay. Choose a Employee Health Promotion Program name and logo that resonate with staff members. Then use that brand on all Employee Health Promotion Program communications with staff members about the policies, facilities and programs your business offers to promote healthy behaviors. Evaluate Your Current Employee Health Promotion Program Situation Exactly how your business establishes a Employee Health Promotion Program that promotes healthy eating, physical activity, and reduces tobacco use will depend on the unique characteristics of your business and employee population. Evaluate how the current worksite facilities, policies, and unwritten norms support — or discourage — healthy behaviors. Gather information on the health and health-related behaviors of your employee population. The most common method is by using a validated health risk assessment. If you don’t have data specific to your staff members, you can estimate the prevalence of different health risks and behaviors within your employee population using state or national data. Note: Information on employees’ health interests alone is not sufficient; but can be a useful supplement to health risk data and might help you set priorities. Determine Employee Health Promotion Program Priorities and Goals Use what you’ve discovered about employee health and about your current worksite environment to determine your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program priorities. From those Employee Health Promotion Program priorities, define clear and measurable Employee Health Promotion Program objectives for improving employee health and your business’s culture. Well written objectives will provide the basis for planning and for measuring your progress. Choose Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures Focus your business’s Employee Health Promotion Program resources (time, energy and money) on tactics that are most likely to produce results: a rise in healthy eating, a rise in physical activity, and a reduction in tobacco use. There’s no need to guess at what might work. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reviewed thousands of studies and has identified the Employee Health Promotion Program approaches most likely to result in significant, lasting, and widespread improvements in health behaviors. Those Employee Health Promotion Program tactics are included in the physical activity, tobacco, and healthy eating sections of this website. The formula for Employee Health Promotion Program success is to make the healthier choices the easier choices. Implement Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures Once you’ve chosen your Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures, it can be useful to arrange the work on a timeline. The “right” amount of time for implementing each Employee Health Promotion Program strategy depends on the staff time, budget, and business demands of your business. Work plans maintain your efforts moving and help to ensure that plans to establish a Employee Health Promotion Program stay on track even if there are changes in staffing or other challenges. Educate and Communicate About the Employee Health Promotion Program Ensure staff members are aware of the Employee Health Promotion Program opportunities you’ve provided. Planning your Employee Health Promotion Program communications allows you to communicate regularly with staff members without overwhelming them at any one time. Monitor and Report Your Employee Health Promotion Program Results At the same time that you plan your Employee Health Promotion Program Procedures, think about how you’ll measure success. It’s much easier to gather information – or to establish systems for collecting information — before you implement a Employee Health Promotion Program strategy rather than as an afterthought. Keep in mind that you’re likely to see improvements in staff member morale and/or behaviors before you see decreases in absenteeism or medical care claims. Report both your Employee Health Promotion Program successes in building a healthy worksite environment (such as complete implementation of a policy that provides staff members time for walking during the workday), and Employee Health Promotion Program successes in getting employees to take charge of their health (a rise in the number of staff members who contacted the stop-smoking program, or a rise in the number of fruit-cups purchased from the cafeteria following a promotion and price-cut).

Health Testing:
• Blood checks
• Breast cancer Testing
• Skin cancer Testing
• Diabetes Testing
• Cholesterol Testing
• Eye exams
• Body-fat Testing
• Flu shots
• Posture screening, spinal analysis
• On-site child immunizations
• Prostate cancer screenings
• Fitness Testing
• Depression Testing

Physical Fitness Activities:
• On-site fitness center or exercise room
• Walking and/or running club (during lunch hour or breaks)
• Bike rack on premises (so employees can ride to work or during lunch)
• Mind/body classes (yoga, tai chi) initiatives
• Team sports (volleyball, basketball, softball)
• Host an exercise equipment swap

Lifestyle Change or Behavior Change Programs:
• Smoking cessation
• Weight management initiatives
• Substance abuse initiatives
• Physical Fitness activity
• Stress management initiatives

Safety and Prevention Programs:
• Back-injury prevention and training
• Ergonomic education
• Hand-tool safety initiatives
• Fire safety initiatives

Health Education, Awareness, and Support Programs:
• Lunch-and-learn or brown-bag wellness seminars (see your EAP for a list)
• Diet and Nutrition information, plus provide healthy food alternatives in your vending machines and cafeteria, and provide food storage and preparation facilities to encourage healthier eating
• Prenatal care initiatives
• Work / Life Balance initiatives
• Elder care initiatives
• Cancer survivor support groups
• Financial education

Stress-Reliever Programs:
• Laughter bulletin board where employees can post jokes and cartoons (in good taste)
• Visiting massage therapist
• Stretch breaks
• Group lunches or celebrations

Disease Management Programs:
• Back pain
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Cancer
• Obesity
• Hypertension

Employee Health Services
• access to an EAP

• onsite medical services
• worksite medical examinations
• health risk screening and counselling:
 • blood pressure,
 • blood cholesterol ,
 • blood glucose clinics,
 • thyroid.
 • bone density screening,
 • prostrate
• encourage self-exams – breasts, testicles
• medical surveillance Programs
• immunizations and flu shots
• disability case management
• active rehabilitation
• return to work Programs
• self-care education (see health living Programs)
• disease management information and presentations:
 • diabetes,
 • stomach disorder,
 • arthritis,
 • asthma,
 • allergy,
 • pain control,
 • foot and back care Programs,
 • chronic fatigue,
 • migraines
• health on-line with continuous learning/reminders/tips
• daily/weekly/monthly email tips or news bulletins
• excercise appraisals
• safety and health fairs
• hand-washing tips and reminders
• visiting your doctor guide – tips to efficiency
• links and information on help lines

• clearly communicated vision and mission
• clear and accurate job descriptions
• supportive appraisal system
• worker empowerment through decision-making, pace of work and connection to corporate goals, (on-line tools that connect to goals such as Baxter Healthcare)
• two-way communication training
• ‘no lunch hour’ meeting rules unless it is a lunch ‘n’ learn
• rates of absence and attendance program
• career tracking, (on-line tools like Pfizer)
• continuing education
• job rotation, special project assignments
• time management and interruption management
• creative ideas program
• change and complaint process
• email guidelines
• technology courses and assistance
• vacation useage
• shift work rotations and breaks
• conflict management skills
• handling negative attitudes workshops

Healthy Work Environment Strategies: Management Training

• scheduling
• incentive and recognition Programs
• workload impact
• communication and feedback skills
• conflict management skills and support skills
• priority setting
• all of which are apart of the four employment relationship factors (trust, commitment, influence, and communication – from Canadian Policy Research Network)

Healthy Work Environment Strategies: Remuneration and Benefits

• massage – try an onsite massage therapist or seated massage breaks
• orthotics
• orthodontics
• fitness subsidies
• education subsidies
• cessation and weight control partial reimbursement incentives
• safety shoe reimbursement
• out-of-country coverage
• vision care
• alternative therapy coverage
   
Healthy Work Environment Strategies: Building Support
• fitness breaks and stretches
• team challenges
• corporate sport teams such as soccer, volleyball, and hockey
• use employees who are in-house experts e.g., gardening, yoga, construction
• celebrate birthdays, anniversaries – other significant dates and achievements
• 5 minute catch-up at beginning of work week
• pot lucks and food for meetings
• green room for time outs and regrouping self
• encouraging face to face communications
• learn names

**The creation of health or harm within an organization depends on how work is managed.  Workplace Culture Strategies must address high demand/low control, high effort/low reward, fairness, purpose and trust.

• childcare Programs and information
• family planning information
• parenting classes
• elder care Programs and information
• retirement planning
• personal responsibility leave
• alternative work arrangements such as telecommuting, job sharing
• work-family-life transition support
• anger management and family violence
• family counselling initiatives
• budgeting and financial counselling
• understanding credit reports
• money safety tips – ATMS, credit cards
• advertising and promotion of community support groups
• cafeteria take-out program
• tax preparation initiatives
• will, power of attorney, and estate experts
• vacation planning and safe travel
• interpersonal relationship presenters
• motivational presenters
• bereavement information
• shift work and lifestyle Programs
• limit overtime
• balance on-line suggestions such as SC Johnson
• family days – bike rodeos, BBQ, picnics
• swimming pool safety
• charity information – United Way, MADD
• other information sessions on: 
• chemical free lawn and garden care,
• menopause,
• infertility,
• lice prevention,
• poisoning,
• fire safety initiatives
• seat belts and booster seats,
• playground safety,
• internet safety,
• home safety and energy efficiency

• violence in the worksite
• equity in the worksite initiatives
• harassment policy and training
• literacy/numeracy Programs
• professional development and skill enhancing training
• air quality and sick building testing
• smoke-free worksite
• fire safety initiatives
• hazard control and WHIMS Training
• injury prevention, CPR/First Aid, emergency response Programs
• improved signage
• installing guard rails
• work station design, ergonomic and repetitive strain reduction training
• stretching initiatives
• safety and health written and implemented policies
• Safety Audits
• access to bike racks, showers and change areas
• make stairs attractive and post signs to encourage their use
• proper lighting
• monitoring noise levels
• shift work strategies related to lighting, noise, air, breaks etc.

• Provide Stress Management Programs and mental health Programs
• Provide substance use and abuse Programs
• Provide tobacco cessation and control
• Provide nutrition counselling
• Provide weight control Programs and counselling
• Provide encourage use of food logs
• Provide posting BMI charts
• Provide juice dispensing machines
• Provide water coolers
• Provide vending machines with low-calorie snack choices
• Provide vending machines with fruit, vegetable and calcium choices
• Posting nutritional information on vending machines
• Provide color-coded cafeteria choices
• Encourage breakfast – suggest choices to start the day
• healthy packed lunch ideas for adults and kids
• partnering with local restaurants for healthy lunch choices
• healthy recipes on-line
• healthy or low-cost cooking Programs
• healthy shopping instruction
• naturopaths, homeopaths, herbal remedies and vitamins
• Provide information sessions on fad diets
• Provide disease prevention information
• STD’s
• active living and fitness Programs such as a aerobics, walking or cycling clubs
• Provide self-defense training
• Provide relaxation training
• chiropractors
• relaxation and energy specialists
• Provide stretching classes such as yoga, tai chi
• Provide active living challenges
• walking challenges with pedometers
• stair climbing challenge
• sleep and sleep disorders e.g. snoring
• napping information and sleep rooms
• alertness and driving sessions
• encouraging light breaks
• create a wellness Yellow Pages
• information sessions on 
 • insect bites,
 • memory enhancement,
 • motion sickness,
 • nose bleeds,
 • healthy skin,
 • frost bite,
 • gingivitis and mouth care,
 • hair loss,
 • ear infections,
 • fever,
 • psoriasis,
 • TMJ,
 • varicose veins,
 • shingles,
 • defensive driving,
 • sun safety,
 • avoiding home and vehicle theft,
 • food safety
 • handwashing

**Healthy Living Programs should assist in the development of self-efficacy which means that the individual has a senses that they can influence the course of events in their normal daily life, that they can deal with their normal consequences, that they feel confident and sure of themselves.