Posted by Employee Wellness | Posted in Employee Wellness Survey | Posted on 14-01-2009
Employee Health Promotion Programs – Staff Engagement Strategies
Employee Health Promotion Programs without employee engagement are useless to a business. How do you get employees to enroll in Employee Health Promotion Programs – and stay engaged in the programs?
The brochures for these programs discuss the benefits to employees and businesses. Employee Health Promotion Program statistics show that there are tangible benefits to a business for offering such programs. Employee Health Promotion Programs actually do save lives by getting workers to take their health seriously, increase productivity, decrease absenteeism and more.
However, St. Louis, Missouri-based Maritz Inc., the world’s largest incentive business, has applied their own invigorating twist to health management by providing gift rewards to employees who participate in Employee Health Promotion Programs. The wellness incentive reward program is Maritz’s own Exclusively Yours® plan. Health management participants earn points, which can be then redeemed for merchandise, electronics, restaurant vouchers and travel, much like a frequent-flier program.
Enrollment incentive rewards in Employee Health Promotion Programs?
Undoubtably businesses that don’t work in the incentive rewards industry will be tempted to cry foul about using such a rich carrot to incentivize health program enrollments. Not every business can throw that kind of money at health management resources – and not every business has the built-in savings as a business that specializes in providing incentive reward programs.
For certain rich incentive rewards like Maritz’s will break through the glaze that appears over many employees’ eyes when they’re encouraged to do something new, different or difficult. For many employees uncomfortable with health management and exercise, “new, different and difficult” would apply to Employee Health Promotion Programs. So where does that leave businesses who are unwilling or unable to offer incentive rewards for health management program enrollment?
Successful Employee Health Promotion Programs motivate employees – before and after signup
Employee Health Promotion Program administrators should keep the long-term view in mind when trying to get employees to take that vitally important first step. Even the best incentive rewards can fail in the face of faltering organization, badly-designed Employee Health Promotion Programs and wavering support. Make sure to run good Wellness surveys before you build your Employee Health Promotion Programs so staff member input and needs are being met by your Employee Health Promotion Programs. The goal is positive outcomes, not high enrollment numbers.
Employee Health Promotion Programs cannot survive managerial apathy. If executive and managerial participation is widespread and heartfelt, employees will follow their leadership. The potential rewards and Wellness benefits are clearly worth reaping, for both your organization and your co-workers.
