Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans

Ideally, you will cultivate an overriding plan for a Employee Health Promotion Program before beginning to plan specific wellness programs. By way of example, you have the potential to start by getting the following components in place:

• reinforcement from management
• a Employee Wellness Program Committee or team
• information about the wellness needs and interests of staff members
• a budget
• program objectives
• an assessment plan

Even if you have few financial and/or human resources(HR), you have the potential to still take a “micro” approach. For example, you could focus on only one specific concern. Creativity, enthusiasm and planning have the potential to help you overcome limitations.

This article will provide you with some ideas for establishing Company Health Promotion Programs. Even the smallest steps can have an effect.

Whether you choose to begin with a single program or foster something larger, planning is important. First think about the big picture and then look after the details.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Identify an action. What health-related program will fit the bill and best suit the workers and organization?
• Encourage. How can you most effectively get the word out to employees? What are the opportunities for promotion? Consider everything, because employees have access to and pay attention to different types of messages. In a typical workplace, employees receive information from e-mail, newsletters, bulletins, brochures, meeting announcements and fellow employees.
• Deliver. Who is the best person or group to put the program into action? Ask other corporations about approaches they have used. Decide on your budget before making a decision.
• Review. What ought to you evaluate to determine success? Do you need hard data and/or testimonials from individual participants?

We recommend the following when organizing your plan:

• creating and communicating clear objectives
• targeting your audience
• deciding on the type of program or campaign

The Elements of a Company Wellness Program

Initiatives to reward wellness in the workplace do not need to be restricted to one area. You might think workplace wellness only involves promoting positive personal health, e.g., Blood Pressure (BP) clinics, pamphlets on heart disease, “lunch and learn” seminars on eating habits and short-term physical exercise programs.

These activities are important, but workplace wellness should also be part of company’s business plan and go beyond traditional programming.

Taking a broader approach, the National Quality Institute recently detailed three key elements of a healthy workplace:

• physical environment
• social environment and personal resources
• health practices

Specific Program Ideas

Physical Environment

Look after workers’ health and safety and establish regulations to support their health and safety. Consider offering the following:

• Safe bike storage and shower and/or change facilities for cyclists and other commuters.
• Fridges for employees to keep snacks and meals fresh and/or healthy snacks in vending machines and cafeterias.
• Ergonomic assessments.
• Subsidies to help workers join local recreation centres.
• Classrooms/conference rooms available for booking activities such as yoga, pilates, tai chi, meditation and aerobics.
• Safe and pleasant stairways that invite staff members to use them.
• Assessing the potential for violence at work with plans to deal with such risks.
• Good lighting and sound and air quality.

Social Environment

Human relationships and communication, as well as ways of doing business, have the potential to affect an employee’s mental and physical health. Businesses ought to consider the following:

• respectful workplace policies that provide safe worksites
• policies on flex time
• policies on working from home
• employee satisfaction surveys
• leadership coaching
• resiliency training
• Employee Assistance Programs

To foster a positive social culture or climate, consider employees’ needs, which include:

• being respected
• a sense of belonging, purpose and mission
• freedom of expression
• protection from harassment and discrimination

What you’ve “always done” may not address current employee needs. Making sure that individuals enjoy being at work is not an simple task, but making the right changes has the potential to have a huge effect.

Health Practices

Provide programs and set policies that help workers remain healthy or better their health while at work. Consider offering the following:

• “Lunch and learn sessions” on healthy habits such as sleeping better, eating on the run, healthy snacks, using a pedometer, pole walking, work-life balance, time management, stress management, resiliency, parenting and reading nutrition labels.
• Stop smoking clinics or subsidies to help staff members quit.
• Health risk appraisals, including fitness assessments.
• Programs to address the problems raised in the health risk appraisals.
• Healthy snacks provided at meetings and conferences.

Personal Corporate Health Promotion Program Tips

If there is no wellness program at your worksite, do not let that stop you from keeping healthy. Perhaps your example will spark a movement toward a healthier workplace.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Be active at work. There are many ways to bring activity into your workday. Walk to work, even if it’s just one way. Hold walking meetings. Bike to work. Use the stairs. Walk to a workmate’s office instead of sending an e-mail.
• Eat smart at work. Pack a healthy snack. Have a bottle of water at your desk or workstation. Eat breakfast and eat regularly during the day. Take turns bringing a basket of fruit for co-workers’ snacks. Order healthy snacks for meetings.
• Maintain work-life balance. Work efficiently so you have the potential to leave on time. Conduct short, effective meetings. Leave your work at work and be sure not to take it home. Minimize social chit-chat. Set up your office to enhance your work. Avoid clutter. Create and prioritize to be sure that the most valuable things get done first.

There’s no limit to the number or variety of Workplace Wellness Programs. A key to success is planning well and ensuring that you can evaluate the outcome so that you can sustain momentum.

Talk to other wellness practitioners to learn what works well for them. Listen to your co-employees to determine their needs and interests. And don’t forget to promote, promote, promote.