Corporate Wellness Incentive Plans

Many organizations recognize the need for a inclusive strategy to help their employees be the best they have the potential to be. They also know that efficacious and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your wellness program must include a wide range of key components, including:

• A clear agenda or statement of goals.
• A plan characterized by passion.
• An effective leader who is creative and organized.
• A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overriding vision.
• A measurable plan (what’s valuable gets measured!).
• A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Creating Your Workplace Wellness Program

Establish carefully to make sure that your wellness program is viewed as part of a sweeping responsibility to maintaining the health and safety of all staff members. Yes, creating a strong plan takes a lot of work and time (and sometimes resources). But planning is important and well worth the expenditure needed. As the addage goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might start by delivering a survey of employee needs and interests. If you do this, pay attention to the outcome and plan accordingly. If you don’t, the employees will not support the program.

Gathering information about what you already offer is also a good idea. For example, you may be surprised by your organization or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another significant step is to set an agenda and/or measurable goals/objectives to help you come up with priorities, timelines and the resources required to kick off the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Senior Management

The leader of your wellness program must be able to wear many hats. The leader’s duties include:

• Creating a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested workers.
• Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the employer (to senior managers and fellow workers alike).
• Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
• Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
• Developing and maintaining leadership skills such as giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avert becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term objectives at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a efficacious wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many individuals as possible in the program. By way of example, you’ll want to form a Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee made up of a diverse group of workers to offer advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

• Help you to get important information from all parts of the organization.
• Establish ambassadors who will help you start the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating

Always keep in mind how you will monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Assessment allows you to:

• Identify areas of excellence.
• Identify factors that affect participation in your programs.
• Grasp management’s reinforcement for your efforts (and maintain that reinforcement).
• Better understand problems that need attention.
• Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you are able to measure such things as:

• Employee absences.
• Employee turnover rates.
• The cost of your Employee Assistance Program(EAP).
• The expense of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
• The expense of your prescription drug plan.
• Accident rates and safety records.
• Employees’ participation in wellness programs (and whether they’re staying in the programs).
• Changes in employees’ health habits.
• Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle issues.
• Results of your environmental wellness audit.
• Other noticeable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan provides ongoing information to staff members (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. By way of example, you might recognize individuals who have helped established the program or offer tangible rewards for meeting goals and objectives.

Everyone needs to know whether or not employees are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some profit from them. Showing that a wellness program has economic benefits is frequently an important factor in maintaining strong backing from the top.

If you pay attention to the key elements of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while creating and delivering it, you will create a solid foundation and leave a legacy that lasts.