Want some wellness program ideas and wellness policy ideas to get you started? Or maybe you want to jump start or improve upon your current wellness program? The list below provides ‘best practices’ that have the potential to help meet any wellness program budget! The Company Health Promotion Program ideas are divided into topic areas.

General Wellness Progam Ideas

• Administer an Employee Needs & Interest Survey
• Design a Employee Wellness Program Committee
• Choose health plans that cover costs for weight management and smoking cessation
• Remove co-pay or reimburse for preventive health care visits
• Display brochures on a variety of wellness subject matters for workers to take
• Develop a wellness resource center or library with videos, books, magazines, DVD’s on a variety of subject matters of interest to workers
• Identify staff members who are mentors or champions for healthy activities and ask them to present or to list as a contact for other staff members
• Establish and promote periodic or regular educational sessions.
• Develop monthly educational sessions on the national health observance topic
• Post a Wellness Bulletin Board & update it monthly
• Post messages from national health observances during the month
• Publish healthy tips in newsletters, paycheck stuffers, bulletin boards, etc.
• Organize a benefits fair
• Develop company fitness and healthy eating challenges
• Sponsor employer health fairs or other onsite events

Nutrition Programs

• Offer free, healthy snacks for staff members (fruit, nuts, popcorn)
• Provide healthy meal choices in cafeterias and at business activities
• Offer information to staff members about the nutritional content of food served in the cafeteria
• Organize a fresh fruit “snack basket” in the breakroom or cafeteria
• Stock snack machines with healthier options
• Subsidize healthy foods in the cafeteria or vending machines (10¡ apples may be more appealing than $1.00 candy bars)
• Offer a weekly or monthly healthy lunch club
• Have pamphlets available on a variety of healthy eating issues
• Include nutrition articles in organization newsletters
• Provide a healthy meal tasting contest Free
• Provide educational sessions at lunchtime-time on a variety of diet subject matters of interest
• Sponsor an employee healthy food cookbook. Either sell the cookbook and use profits for programs, or purchase a cookbook for all workers

Weight Loss Programs / Weight Management Programs

• Provide flexible work schedules so that employees are able to participate in weight-loss programs
• Partially fund registration costs for weight-management programs
• Provide a support group to help employees who are trying to lose weight
• Locate registered dieticians near your worksite as a resource for staff members who want information on healthy eating, meal planning or weight control
• Offer individual counseling for workers trying to lose weight
• Offer workplace fitness and weight-management programs through your local hospital, Weight Watchers, TOPS or local, registered dietician
• Have an educational session on diet myths and healthy eating

Physical Activity Programs

• Consider offering flexible work schedules to encourage exercise
• Organize a fitness space with aerobic equipment, and weights
• Create accessible walking paths, trails, and/or bike routes
• Urge workers to walk more by parking farther away from the entrance
• Organize a fitness center with aerobic equipment, weights, aerobic classes, fitness professionals
• Hold walking meetings
• Make the stairwells more appealing (carpet, fresh paint, artwork, posters)
• Offer reduced health club membership fees to all workers
• Give facilities for employees to secure bikes
• Have 5 - 10 minute stretch breaks during the day
• Subsidize health club membership for staff members who participate a minimal number of days per week (ex., 3 days per week)
• Support lunchtime walking/running clubs or company sports team
• Urge stairwell use and incentives/rewards
• Install a basketball hoop outside
• Promote & support community walks or fitness activities
• Promote walking during breaks and other off-time periods
• Provide periodic fitness incentive programs to encourage physical activity
• Schedule educational sessions on fitness activities

Smoking Cessation Programs / Tobacco Cessation Programs

• Establish a smoke-free grounds
• Create a smoke-free workplace
• Encourage the use of 1-800-QUIT-NOW, North Carolina’s free Tobacco Use Quitline. Or check www.QuitlineNC.com
• Reimburse employees for tobacco replacement products
• Subsidize the cost of tobacco cessation courses
• Provide pamphlets and information on health effects from tobacco use and tobacco cessation
• Have awareness sessions to innervate employees to try to quit tobacco use
• Have onsite tobacco cessation courses

Employee Health Screening

• Discount health insurance premiums or decrease co-payments for staff members who take part in screenings and who take part in managing their risk factors
• Install Blood Pressure monitoring equipment
• Provide flu shots for workers and family members
• Provide Health Risk Assessments to all workers, including counseling and follow-up
• Provide periodic Blood Pressure screenings and follow-up
• Offer periodic screenings for blood lipids, blood glucose, body composition, etc.

Stress Management Programs / Work Life Balance Programs

• Consider offering flexible schedules for family/work life balance
• Provide and reward an EAP
• Give information on substance abuse prevention
• Provide brochures and information on stress management and mental health
• Give handouts and information on work life balance, such as financial planning, childcare, parenting, elder care, etc.
• Provide supervisor and manager training on communication, relationship building, employer stressors, etc.
• Assess employer policies and work schedules to identify employer stressors
• Assess the EAP to make sure it is meeting the needs of the staff members and employer
• Provide educational sessions on stress management and work life balance
• Provide classes on relaxation, stress management, and work life balance topics

Wellness screenings are valuable programs to identify chronic conditions in their early stages. Once identified, wellness behavior modification programs can help prevent a disease from progressing. Working with local hospitals and other organizations, you can obtain information on offering evaluation and behavior modification programs that could improve your employees’ health and save your business money in absenteeism, treatment for disease complications, and reduced productivity. Below are some ideas to assist you in getting started.

Based upon your Employee Needs & Interest Survey and the demographics of your workplace, consider offering periodic screenings to find specific health risks such as:

• Blood Pressure (BP) Checks to identify staff members with pre-hypertension or hypertension (elevated blood pressure),
• Cholesterol Screenings for total, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol) and/or Triglycerides
• Blood Sugar Screenings fasting or non-fasting to screen for possible diabetes,
• Body composition, such as body mass index (BMI) or body fat measures
• Bone density for potential risk of osteoporosis,
• Cancer screenings such as, skin examinations, mammograms, or PSA screenings,
• Vision checks for glaucoma, or visual acuity
• Other wellness screenings depending on your worker population and needs

Your local hospital, employer physician practice, or health department may support assistance. However, if you have workers you may want to concentrate on programs that will keep them healthy rather than screening for early identification of chronic conditions. The focus of your wellness program might be healthy lifestyle practices to cut risk and prevent disease.

In addition to the wellness screenings, consider offering a Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment to all workers. The Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment will help to identify factors that may lead to additional risks, such as smoking history, stress levels, conception of health, family history, job satisfaction, support systems, and mental health. Often the screening results are included on the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, which provides a more comprehensive snap shot of health risks. The summary results support the valuable information to plan appropriate interventions.

Corporate Wellness Program Interventions

The key to the performance of screenings and Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) is the interventions or follow-up programs. The information from the screenings increases awareness and frequently motivates staff members to consider making healthier changes. It’s the follow up interventions that offer the critical reinforcement and assistance necessitated for staff members to actually make and maintain those changes. The interventions can include individual follow-up and ongoing counseling, individual or group health coaching on the risk factors, behavior change programs, and/or company reinforcement. Examples include:

• Strategies to lower Blood Pressure (BP)
• Managing diabetes
• Taking care of your heart
• Healthier eating
• Weight loss ideas
• Growing physical activity
• Smoking Cessation

Naturally, this is for individual information only. Any follow-up interventions planned by the employer would be based on interest expressed by the employee.

Based on the outcome and your Employee Health Promotion Program Committee goals you have the potential to plan the best strategies for your company and workers. Consider the area resources available to provide services, such as health associations, hospitals, medical care providers, and/or public health agencies.

Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals, are an assessment tool or questionnaire scientifically designed to identify health risks and outline information to support  people in making healthy changes that influence their health and prevent chronic disease.

Health Risk Appraisals / Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) have four standard components in workplace settings:
• A Questionnaire
• A Computerized Program to Evaluate Health Risk Factors
• Confidential Individual Reports
• Group Summary Report

Workers complete a lifestyle questionnaire that includes for example diet practices, height and weight, exercise habits, family history, stress perceptions, smoking history, and work satisfaction. Another significant feature to consider is readiness to change questions to determine participation interest. Including health screenings such as blood lipids and Blood Pressure (BP) results increases the advantages of an Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment by offering a more accurate health assessment and therefore improving lifestyle choice decisions and program options. Nevertheless, it is significant to determine if the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment can be used without including this information.

The health risk questionnaire information is entered into a computer program and an individual confidential report is generated that summarizes health risks as well as information on how to decrease risk factors. Individual reports are totally confidential. Depending on the reason for implementing the Health Risk Appraisal / Health Risk Assessment, it’s important to consider the type of report the business will receive as well. A group report summarizing major risk factors and recommendations for programs to implement in order to decrease employee and business risks provides important information for your wellness program.

The Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals are able to be used to:
• Raise awareness to individual employee’s health status
• Encourage staff members to make healthier lifestyle changes
• Coach elevated-risk employees
• Create Company Wellness Programs based on the identified needs
• Evaluate program effectiveness by comparing Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals completed at set intervals such as yearly.

There are a myriad of advantages to considering a part-time or full-time occupational and environmental health nurse (OHN). Occupational health nursing is the specialty practice that supports for and delivers health and safety programs and services to employees, and worker populations. The practice focuses on promotion and restoration of health, prevention of illness and injury, treatment of work and non-work related injuries and illnesses, and protection from work related  and environmental risks.

Onsite Heath Professional roles are able to include: Case management, Counseling, Corporate Health Promotion Program, Legal and regulatory compliance, Clinical services, and Hazard detection and controls. The American Association of Occupational and Environmental Health Nurses is the national association, www.AAOHN.org. The State Chapter also has a website with information including local chapter information to help you locate a contact near you, www.NCAOHN.org.

Health educators are able to design, conduct and evaluate activities that help better the health of all your staff members. They are subject matter experts who may be a significant asset regardless your program needs and objectives. They are able to help form a Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee and enable numerous of its programs and services, for example or depending on the structure and time commitments of your Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee, they are able to also plan the entire program as well. Integrating the activities of the Committee and/or Workplace Health Promotion Program consultant services within your operations, including within your safety and occupational health program will provide additional advantages!

We are creating Workplace Wellness Programs to help you feel better and stay healthy. In order to plan programs that best meet your needs and interests we would like your suggestions! Please take a few minutes to answer some questions about your interests. Your answers will be combined with those of others’ and reviewed to help plan programs for you. Do not sign your name.

Please complete the survey today and return it to__________. We appreciate your significant input! Your help is significant for organizing thriving programs. Return the completed form by _____________.

Rate your interest on a scale of 1 - 3 with one (1) being of little or no interest; two (2) being of some interest and three (3) indicating that you are very interested. Indicate your response by circling or ‘Xing’ the number.

I am interested in:

Participating in wellness programs before work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs after work 1 2 3
Participating in wellness programs during my lunch break 1 2 3
Learning healthy eating options to lose weight 1 2 3
Sports nutrition 1 2 3
Healthier cooking 1 2 3
Helping my children eat healthier 1 2 3
Quick, healthy meals for hectic lifestyles 1 2 3
Healthy snack options 1 2 3
Learning how to quit smoking 1 2 3
Attending classes to help me quit smoking cigarettes 1 2 3
Stress Mangement skills 1 2 3
Balancing work, family, and personal life 1 2 3
Time senior staff skills 1 2 3
Participating in a beginning physical activity program 1 2 3
Developing time to exercise for busy people 1 2 3
Getting health information that I can read or watch at home 1 2 3
Learning about cancer prevention 1 2 3
Heart health options 1 2 3
CPR and First Aid 1 2 3
Team sports activities at work 1 2 3
Learning how to stretch 1 2 3
Learning how to increase intake of fruits and vegetables 1 2 3
Parenting Topics (age of children: ) 1 2 3
Onsite exercise classes: walking Yoga aerobic other: 1 2 3
Health screening such as Blood Pressure (BP), blood lipids, blood glucose 1 2 3

Program assessment may be The previous step, but it ought to be planned at the onset of your efforts!  Evaluation helps you identify what parts of the program are working well and what parts need improvement.  Then, based on the assessment data, adjustments can be made to fine-tune your wellness program.   Adjusting the program based on assessment data is vital to its continued effectiveness.  

Reviewing your program does not have to be be terribly complex.  However, it is important to plan how you will monitor your wellness efforts and determine performance during the planning phase or Step 5.  Also be sure to to evaluate the program based on the goals and objectives you already identified during your drafting process.  

In order to evaluate your program you need to have a system to document specifics as you go along.  This can be as simple as maintaining file folders on programs that are offered, or a computer document with a table or spreadsheet summarizing information collecting.  Consider:

• Program topic and numbers of workers who participated
• The numbers of handouts taken by staff members or distributed and on what subject matters
• The number of participants in a behavior modification program and how many met their goals and objectives as well as how many attended all of the sessions
• Numbers of workers who continued the healthy behavior change following the program?
• Overall employee satisfaction with the program or each topic.  

Depending on your objectives and goals, gather desired data and compare it to previous data gathered during the initial assessment to determine if the objectives and goals were met.  Such data might include

• Absentee rates
• Injury rates
• Health risk factors Insurance costs  

Summarize and Report Employee Wellness Program Results

Once you have collected all of the assessment information it needs to be reviewed with the Company Wellness Program Committee and summarized.  You will probably have positive results and some areas where a change is needed or additional focus needed for continuous improvement.  This not-so positive information can be used to make any needed changes as well as to plan for next year and is important to include in your report.  

It is important to communicate the wellness program results to both management and employees.  Consider how management usually receives reports on operations and productivity problems and include the annual wellness program report in the same format.  At some organizations the reports are made during management meetings using presentation styles such as power point slides.  At other organizations, graphs and bar charts are the norm or a list of the objectives and the summary outcomes reported.  

No matter the format, it’s valuable to convey the outcomes and successes achieved, including any anecdotal stories, as well as areas for improvement.  Be sure to link the outcomes to the company mission and bottom line whenever possible.

Workers want to receive the same information!  Consider using the same communication channels used when informing staff members of the wellness program:

• Company newsletters,
• Bulletin boards,
• E-mails  

Also consider celebrating successes and recognizing achievements by:

• Posting pictures from events
• Highlighting performance stories
• Posting pictures of successes
• Having a celebration
• Recognizing champions  

Armed with data, Workplace Health Promotion Program topic preferences and goals/objectives - and a Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee eager to get things done - it is now time to decide how best to take action.  This website supplies tools to help you!  You can read about the different types of wellness programs available by other organizations to get an idea of what might prove effective for your employer.  There are Statewide Resources listed as well as national non-profit groups offering resources, and particular examples of resources available on various wellness topics.  In addition, keep looking under Steps to an Effective Program for ideas to get you started!

If your planning phase was well executed, you must simply have to follow through with the plans you have already made.  

Important Corporate Wellness Program considerations include:

1. Formally Introduce the Employee Health Promotion Program and consider policy statements that state the effect of the wellness program.  Examples include a general policy regarding the commitment to employee health and safety as well as specific policies such as No Smoking, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity.
2. Communicate Your Program: The best planned program with great wellness programs won’t be constructive if your staff members are unaware of it or do not understand the options or how to take part.  Communicate your wellness program using a variety of methods to be sure the message and “how-to’s” are heard!

   Workplace Health Promotion Program Communication Strategies might include:

   • Newsletter articles
   • Postings on the company’s intranet or internet
   • A designated Champion of the program
   • Formal or informal meeting to announce program, “the kick-off”
   • Flyers / handouts / brochures / table tents,
   • Bulletin boards / kiosk where all material is promoted or found,
   • Email / phone messages,
   • Mailings or distributions  

3. Use Employee Health Promotion Program Incentives:  You’ll be amazed to discover what most of us will do for a no cost T-shirt.  Incentives have the potential to both support and arouse participation among employees.  Consider both formal or business incentives and informal or program rewards/prizes from local resources to reinforce participation in Employee Health Promotion Programs. Either way, it’s valuable to provide incentives that are enticing and meaningful to your employees.

   Formal Workplace Health Promotion Program Incentives:

   • Savings on employee health care insurance premiums or co-pays, or contributions to 401K programs, employee stock options, or other mechanisms.  
   
   Click here for more information on health plan incentive ideas
   
   • gym/Fitness Center discounts or enrollment fee coverage
   • Public transportation vouchers
   • Flexible work time options
   • “Wellness Days” off work  

   Rewards or Informal Corporate Health Promotion Program Incentives:

   • Cash - a most effective incentive!
   • Prize incentives and rewards such as gift certificates to healthy restaurants; music player to use while working out, emergency kits, or any other prizes that would motivate your staff members.
   • T-Shirts, water bottles, or other inexpensive rewards

4. Evaluate community resources available to provide some of the wellness services.  The local health department or your employer healthcare provider may be able to help  you with this information.  There are also vendors throughout the State offering great wellness services for businesses.  They are available to help you strategize and find the best options available.

5. Implement your program as planned documenting information and outcomes as you go such as numbers of participants, dates of activities, and any other special details you are tracking.

The Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee must set out a plan for the entire year that outlines accomplishing objectives and goals, as well as supports details for marketing and evaluating the program. The plan is the detailed map of what types of programs will be offered, when and where they will be scheduled, how they will be marketed and evaluated, and what the budget is.  It is important to plan your wellness activities based on your objectives and goals, as well as the budget since different strategies will provide different outcomes.  For example, if your goal is to increase awareness on a topic, then distributing handouts or scheduling a one-time class may be appropriate.  Nonetheless, if your intention is to change behavior, then different strategies may be necessary, such as ongoing weekly meetings and support groups.  Click here to link to Program Design Options for additional ideas.

Employee Health Promotion Program Marketing

Now is the time to plan your marketing strategies!  How can you market the wellness program and ongoing activities?  No matter how you decide to, market frequently, keep it fresh, and remind staff members again and again!  Consider having an overall kickoff exercise to let everyone know about the wellness program.  Senior Management ought to provide the introduction or invitation so that all staff members are knowledgeable about their support and leadership in the program.

Possible marketing methods:

• Sending email messages, including reminders
• Establish bulletins,
• Displaying bulletin board postings,
• Composing articles,
• Mailing letters or
• Distributing special invitations.  

Other Workplace Health Promotion Program Considerations:

• Is the Employee Wellness Program promoted to all staff members or to a specific group?
• Do you have a Worksite Wellness Program champion (someone who is associated with different groups in the organization, and well respected) who can help in your promotion efforts?
• If your marketing efforts do not seem to be working, do you have a way to revisit and change your plan?
• How will you determine effectiveness and evaluate your program?  And how will you gather the information required to evaluate your program?  

Topics most frequently included in Company Health Promotion Programs:

• Nutrition
• Physical Activity/Exercise
• Tobacco Use Cessation
• Bone Health
• Heart Health
• The Spine
• Stress Reduction
• Chronic Disease Awareness & Prevention
• Self-care; Wise Health Care Consumer
• Screening Services (BMI, Blood Pressure, bone density, cholesterol, glucose, posture, vision, and other…)
• Ergonomic Assessments
• Health Fairs
• Kids/family Events
• Others issues that workers have interest in  

The subject matters and type of Corporate Wellness Program planned hinge upon the needs and interest, overall intention and resources available.  Program Design Options   include awareness programs such as handouts and/or education sessions, behavior modification programs such as tobacco cessation and weight loss classes, and environmental or organization backing such as no smoking policies or healthy selections in vending machines.  

The programs planned also depend on the demographics of your workforce.  If you have a young, healthy workforce, you may want to focus the wellness attention on keeping employees healthy and not need to screen for disease.  Instead you might want to focus on healthy lifestyle behavior such as exercise and good nutrition to prevent the start of disease.  Click here for more information on strategies for keeping employees well, identifying disease early, or returning employees to work who already have a chronic conditions.

It is also significant to consider, and plan how you will evaluate the performance of your wellness program.  The system needs to be demonstrated for tracking certain data and recording events depending on the program objectives.  Step 7 discusses program evaluation in more detail.   And Step 6 will launch your program!

A Worksite Health Promotion Program without goals/objectives is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a bit of thoughtful planning, you increase your chances for a efficacious experience.  Clear goals/objectives are required to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program goals are different from one company to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Nevertheless, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a successful wellness program!

Corporate Wellness Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Workplace Health Promotion Program. The mission statement is the overriding expression of what the Workplace Health Promotion Program Committee wants to accomplish by implementing a wellness program.  It is valuable to consider how your Workplace Health Promotion Program fits in with the company mission statement, contributes to the overriding mission and supports the company bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the company operations.  

Below are some examples of Corporate Health Promotion Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Business, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Company Health Promotion Program to support  in developing Company Health Promotion Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee to advance healthier lifestyle choices to reduce health risk factors, improve overall wellbeing, and maintain a productive, active work force.”

Worksite Health Promotion Program Goals

The goals and objectives further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, management expectations and employee interests, examples of goals and objectives can include:

The goal(s) of XYZ Company Wellness Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Reduce absenteeism by one day per employee
• Decrease musculoskeletal injuries by 10%
• Cut down on unnecessary emergency room visits
• Cut down on or contain health care expenditures
• Improve dietary habits of workers
• Decrease health risk factors  

Worksite Wellness Program Objectives

Specific Worksite Health Promotion Program objectives help meet your long-term goals/objectives.  Both short term and long term objectives should be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the goals/objectives.  In addition to objectives for the expected participant outcomes, process objectives should also be developed for the program process itself.  For example, process objectives may include the number of employees you want to take part in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be available, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives need to be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to set up both your long and short-term goals and objectives:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be inspected or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months - up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  By way of example, an objective for a weight loss program that has an overall objective of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Members (who) will lose an average of .5 - 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per participant (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Members (who) will attend 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of an intention for coaching workers with high cholesterol might be:

To lower the total cholesterol (specific what) of elevated risk employees with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions offered at the workplace (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to lower the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process intention for a tobacco cessation program with an overriding intention to assist  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week tobacco cessation program, 10% of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each participant will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process mission) and 10% of those who quit will still be smoke-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including instituting your Company Wellness Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!

Before you begin creating your Company Health Promotion Program you need to know where you are now and then decide where you want to go.  Completing a thorough needs assessment is vital to the performance of your wellness program for two reasons:  First it ensures that your Company Health Promotion Program activities will be targeted to meet your company’s specific needs so that outcomes are able to be achieved.  Secondly the needs assessment supplies the information you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your wellness program.

It is often tempting to hurry through the assessment - especially when time is limited or those with experience already have an idea of needs.  Do not give in to this temptation!  It is critical that you know what your corporation needs are, what management expects, and what staff members want as well as expect, before you begin a Worksite Health Promotion Program.  

Consider and collect data on:

• Employee Demographic Information
• Employee Health Risk Factors
• Medical Claims
• Injury Rates & Causes
• Workers’ Compensation Claims
• Short and Long Term Disability Claims
• Absenteeism
• Corporation Culture Audits
• Employee perceived needs and health risks
• Senior Management’s expectations or desired outcomes

There are many ways to evaluate this information.  Although some of data gathering process may be time consuming, remember that it is nonetheless important to plan programs that target specific concerns.  This information will be essential to set objectives and goals and for evaluating program performance.  How else can you know if outcomes have been achieved?

Options to help gather the information:

• Confidential Health Risk Appraisals (HRAs) with a Business Group Summary Report
• Health Screenings such as blood lipids, Blood Pressure and blood sugar click here for additional information on wellness screenings.
• Employee Needs and Interest Surveys
• Suggestion boxes placed around the organization
• Focus Groups or hosting a luncheon meeting as a focus group
• Sending out a confidential email questionnaire
• Review records and databases including OSHA logs, first aid reports, insurance expenditures  

Once your needs assessment is complete, the Worksite Health Promotion Program Committee can review the results and start laying out and prioritizing program options.  Developing ought to be based on objectives and identified outcomes, Step 4 of the seven step process!