Archive for May, 2009
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Employee Health Screening Programs
Health risk screening programs must be carried out on a one-on-one basis by trained healthcare professionals. Health risk measures must include the following:
• Blood Pressure measurements – at least two Blood Pressure measurements taken during the evaluation episode, using a mercury sphygmomanometers or regularly calibrated aneroids.
• Blood Pressure (BP) treatment status – ascertain whether the [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Effective Programming/General Recommendations
Program directors or providers must have a background in wellness programming and a professional health-related degree or certification. They must have expertise in content areas, planning, promotion, administration, assessment, and ability to grow a program and tailor the program to the worksite.
Program providers ought to have a quality assurance program for evaluating the effectiveness of [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Incentives can be used to expand participation rates, help with completion or attendance at programs, and to help people shift or adhere to healthy behaviors. The purpose of the incentive is to encourage staff members to adopt beneficial behaviors or maintain an existing beneficial behavior. Everyone who achieves a objective or maintains a behavior must receive something. Many companies also support incentives and rewards merely for participating in activities.
Stay away from being the “best” or doing the “most.” Encouraging staff members to be the best or doing the most promotes excessive behavior, discourages others, and creates elitism. The best designed incentive programs are ones which are based on achieving goals that are attainable by most individuals. Recognition, acknowledgment by top management, or special [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : A primary concern in wellness programming is attracting staff members to take part and maximizing participation. When introducing a program, a letter briefly explaining the program signed by the president or CEO is a great endorsement.
Utilizing posters, newsletter articles, and brochures are good means of promoting the program. Other promotional methods to consider are e-mail and announcements at employee gatherings. Ask Corporate Wellness Program Committee participants to recruit participants.
Once the program is kicked off you may want to offer an incentive for any employee who recruits another employee to any [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Program Structure
When selecting a program from a vendor you should ask the following questions:
• How many worksites have done the program?
• What types of employee population was the program offered?
• What educational materials are used?
• Will the program meet the needs of staff members?
• What are the techniques used to help shift behaviors?
• Does the program [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Selecting a Provider
When staffing your wellness program you need to consider whether to hire a wellness employee or contract with wellness professionals from outside your business.
Small and medium size worksites do not usually have a wellness professional on employee. If your worksite is in this category, you will need to contract with providers outside your organization.
Large corporations [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Planning
An annual plan for the primary wellness programs and activities is a useful management tool. This is an great Company Wellness Program Committee task. Often an exercise and wellness theme per month is offered to employees.
Some employers choose to follow a National Health Observances calendar which offers advantages. The materials developed by these various national [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Health Risk Appraisal
A Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) is sometimes used in conjunction with a health assessment. An HRA is a computerized assessment tool which looks at an individual’s family history, health status, and lifestyle. An HRA seeks to identify precursors associated with premature death or serious illness and quantifies the probable impact for each individual.
An HRA instrument [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Heart Health
The most common assessment performed in Worksite Wellness Programs is heart health assessment.
The screening can include a written heart health test, Blood Pressure measurement, cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol test, glucose (blood sugar), weight, educational materials specific to diet, nutrition, exercise, cholesterol, smoking, and weight.
The health professional delivering the screening then supplies a consultation and helps set objectives with [...]
Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans : Health Screening
The backbone of wellness programming at the workplace is health assessment. It is the first primary exercise a employer should do when first starting a wellness program. Health assessment is frequently used in conjunction with the administration of a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA).
The most effective way to screen is to utilize a health professional trained [...]