Category — Your Source for Wellness

Why it’s important and how to do it

The Employer Health Promotion Program Vision

A Employer Health Promotion Program vision statement is a concise statement that summarizes the purpose and objectives of your organization’s commitment to establishing a Employee Wellness Program. Taking the time to clarify and describe your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program vision can provide a focus and a consistent direction for your Strategies for years to come. The vision statement reminds leaders and employees of the link between employee health and the organization’s ability to achieve its overall mission.

Answer the following questions and you’ll have the components needed to build a simple and effective Employer Health Promotion Program vision for your organization’s culture of health:

• What do you want your Employer Health Promotion Program to accomplish?
• How do you intend to accomplish it?
• How does this Employer Health Promotion Program mission support or further the organization’s mission?

A sample Employer Health Promotion Program vision statement might be . . .

To have employees who perform at their best and who enable XYZ Corporation to be an industry leader in printing quality and customer service (organization’s mission), XYZ Corporation is committed to offering opportunities for healthy behaviors during the workday (how) in order to encourage employees not to smoke, to be active, and to eat healthfully (what).

The Employer Health Promotion Program Brand

In the same way that your organization’s name and brand image provide visibility for your business, your Strategies toward establishing a Employer Health Promotion Program will benefit from being easily recognizable to employees:

• A consistently used Employer Health Promotion Program brand on all communications conveys to employees that the commitment to a culture of health is here to stay.
• A Employer Health Promotion Program brand institutionalizes the culture and makes it more likely to withstand changes in staff and budget.

Do what you can to engage employees in establishing the identity (brand) for your organization’s Employee Wellness Program. Not only are they more likely to accept the name, it’s also a great way to announce to employees the organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program commitment. Here are two possible approaches to involving employees:

Option 1: Have a Employer Health Promotion Program contest

1. Announce the Employer Health Promotion Program contest guidelines and deadline.
2. Have the Employee Wellness Program Committee review the ideas submitted, and select a name.

If, for example, your company, Premier Building and Design, is in the commercial construction business, you might receive the following Employer Health Promotion Program ideas from employees:

• Cornerstone: Feeling well is what it’s all about
• Premier Elements: Building healthier employees
• Custom Build: Building health builds wealth
• Building Health: Designing better employee health

After reviewing the entries, your Employee Wellness Program Committee determines that it likes the name “Premier Elements” and the subtitle “Building health builds wealth”. Your committee awards the “name the Employer Health Promotion Program contest” prize to the two employees, those who submitted the pieces of the name that represent the final product.

Premier Elements: Building health builds wealth

3. Select a Employer Health Promotion Program logo to go with the name.

The Employer Health Promotion Program logo is an important piece of the branding

• Review any ideas submitted for Employer Health Promotion Program logos.
• If you’re fortunate to have a graphic design professional at your company, enlist her or his help with developing the Employer Health Promotion Program logo!
• As an alternative, select a piece of clip-art that fits with the Employer Health Promotion Program name you’ve selected. For example, the company referenced above might look for a symbol that conveys building, health and wealth.

Option 2: Employee Wellness Program Committee determines the name and brand

1. Have your Employee Wellness Program Committee brainstorm Employer Health Promotion Program names.
• To get ideas flowing, ask members to write down all health-related words and words associated with your organization or industry.
• Try clustering words together as in the construction company example above.
2. Once your Employee Wellness Program Committee has narrowed down the possibilities to about three ideas, have committee members vote to select a name for your culture of health.
3. Select a Employer Health Promotion Program logo to go with the winning name.
4. Announce the organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program and the corresponding Employer Health Promotion Program name. Explain that staff members on the advisory committee chose the name.

Sample Employer Health Promotion Program meeting agendas and topics for discussion

Is your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program Employee Wellness Program Committee new?  Has it existed on paper but been inactive for a while?  In either case, some of the following may be appropriate agenda items for your first Employer Health Promotion Program meetings.   You may also want to revisit these topics annually.

•    Clarify roles of Employee Wellness Program Committee members
­    Are members responsible for implementing changes or recommending changes?
­    How long are members’ terms on the Employee Wellness Program Committee?
­    How will new members be selected?

•    Determine Employee Wellness Program Committee meeting frequency and processes
­    Set dates, times, and locations.
­    Determine how agendas will be set.
­    Plan for recording and distributing meeting notes.

•    Plan Employer Health Promotion Program communication with leadership
­    Does a leader sit on the group or does the coordinator report on progress (and to whom)?
­    How often do leaders want reports on Employer Health Promotion Program progress?

•    Select a name and brand for your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program

•    Develop a vision statement for your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program

•    Identify existing allies Employer Health Promotion Program for promoting employee health within your organization
­    Who do Employee Wellness Program Committee members know who could be relied on to support worksite changes required to establish a culture that promotes health?

•    Brainstorm challenges your organization may face in working to establish facilities, policies and Employer Health Promotion Program practices that promote employee health
­    What do committee members regard as opportunities? How about potential Employer Health Promotion Program obstacles?

•    History of past Employer Health Promotion Program efforts
­    If relevant, summarize past Employer Health Promotion Program efforts. Discuss what your organization learned from those efforts.
?    What has the organization tried over the last few years?
?    What has worked well?
?    What hasn’t worked well?
?    How, if at all, was success of previous Employer Health Promotion Program efforts measured?

A representative Employee Wellness Program Committee is a cornerstone of a successful Employee Wellness Program, regardless of the size of the organization.

Membership of your Employee Wellness Program Committee

Aim for a committee of a manageable size (no more than 15 members, depending on your organization’s size). Your Employee Wellness Program Committee should represent all employee groups (e.g., full-time and part-time employees, managers and front-line staff, salary and hourly employees, union representation, Human Resources, marketing or communications, legal, and occupational health/safety).

Here are some additional considerations:

• Employee Wellness Program Committee members can be selected by leadership or can be selected from among volunteers.
• Determine in advance how long Employee Wellness Program Committee members will support and how new members will be selected. Balance the need for continuity with the need to bring fresh ideas and energy to your organization’s Employee Wellness Program.
• It’s not important, or even desirable, to have your healthiest employees on the Employee Wellness Program Committee. Ideal Employee Wellness Program Committee members are those who best can represent their peers, motivate others and support the implementation of the Employee Wellness Program.
• Consider offering an incentive or recognition to Employee Wellness Program Committee members. It legitimizes their positions and encourages participation. Some organizations that have started stipends have generated enough employee interest that the selection of Employee Wellness Program Committee membership becomes a competitive process. The Employee Wellness Program Committee responsibilities become a formal component of the member’s job accountabilities.

Role of your Employee Wellness Program Committee

In some organizations the Employee Wellness Program Committee is responsible for the implementation of the Employee Wellness Program. In other organizations, the Employee Wellness Program Committee plays an advisory role. In either case, the group members can be asked to:

• Attend regular meetings of the Employee Wellness Program Committee.
• Help establish a vision and name for the organization’s Employee Wellness Program.
• Represent their peers by sharing ideas, needs, concerns and feedback from their work areas and colleagues about proposed Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies, policies, and programs.
• Offer feedback on the possible barriers to proposed Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies and offer suggestions for addressing those barriers (e.g., how does a proposed policy fit with the schedules of employees?).
• Suggest effective Employer Health Promotion Program communication Strategies and solutions to challenges. For example, what is the best way to communicate with employees who work the third shift? How will employees react to a proposed message from leadership?
• Be a voice of support for a culture of health, carrying the message from the Employee Wellness Program Committee to their work areas and colleagues.

Functioning of your Employee Wellness Program Committee

Meet. Schedule regular Employee Wellness Program Committee meetings on paid work time. Your Employee Wellness Program Committee may want to meet regulary at first, then slightly less often as your health improvement strategy is more established. If your Employee Wellness Program Committee is new, it might be useful to ask members to provide information about themselves and their interests.

Communicate. Set up frequent channels of communication with Employee Wellness Program Committee members so they are up to date and engaged. An email list is often the easiest way to do this. Encourage communication to flow both ways: from Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator to members and from members to coordinator.

Check-in. At least once a year, evaluate how effectively the Employee Wellness Program Committee is functioning. Is the Employee Wellness Program Committee serving its original purpose? Ask committee members for their feedback. Do they feel like their work is making a difference? Do they feel like their input is valued and taken into account when planning and implementing initiatives? Do they understand their expected Employer Health Promotion Program roles and responsibilities? Are there members who want to rotate off of the committee? How will new members be selected?

Starting a Employer Health Promotion Program need not be costly, but will require the commitment of some financial resources. If possible, include the Employer Health Promotion Program in your organization’s annual business plan and budget as you do for other efforts important to your organization’s success.

How much to budget for the Employee Wellness Program?

There is no one-size-fits-all formula for establishing a Employer Health Promotion Program that results in enhanced employee health. Organizations differ in how much money they need and how much they can make available for the Employee Wellness Program. Consider the following common expenses in developing an adequate Employer Health Promotion Program budget:

• Employer Health Promotion Program staffing costs (either internal salaries or consultant fees)
• Employer Health Promotion Program data collection costs (including health risk assessment costs, if relevant)
• Employer Health Promotion Program incentives for healthy behaviors (such as discounts on premiums for non-smokers)
• Costs of Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies to be started (such as costs of covering tobacco quit medications or costs of subsidizing healthy foods in the cafeteria or vending machines)
• Employer Health Promotion Program administrative and communications expenses

In times of tight finances, be prepared to justify your requested Employer Health Promotion Program budget. Arm yourself with data on potential short- and long-term outcomes of the proposed Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies. Itemize the Employer Health Promotion Program expenses of past programs and share projected expenses for programs planned for the upcoming year.

Sustaining Employer Health Promotion Program Funding

A dedicated Employer Health Promotion Program line item in your organization’s budget makes it more likely to be regarded as a need, rather than as a “nice-to-have” amenity that could be cut when funds run low.

One of the best Strategies for ensuring continued financial support for the Employer Health Promotion Program is frequent communication to leadership, including:

• How many employees have you reached through the Employee Wellness Program? Has morale increased? Have health risks decreased, e.g., fewer employees using tobacco, more employees active?
• How well are you managing the Employer Health Promotion Program resources you’ve been given? Where and how has your budget been spent? Keep track of the staff time required for each program and be able to present the numbers at any time.
• Anecdotal Employer Health Promotion Program success stories from employees. Don’t underestimate the power of a good story to put a human face on your success.

Supplemental sources of Employer Health Promotion Program Funding

If required, have the individuals responsible for establishing a Employer Health Promotion Program look for ways to supplement available internal funds. Are there grants or other financing available that can help support your Employer Health Promotion Program ? What community Employer Health Promotion Program resources could you use to meet some of your needs?

Finding an individual to lead your organization in establishing a Employer Health Promotion Program

Without a qualified Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator to lead and manage your organization’s creation of a culture of health, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s vital that the creation of a culture of health be someone’s priority, not all organizations need a full-time coordinator.  There are a number of ways to obtain the time of a qualified coordinator.

Be careful not to confuse Employer Health Promotion Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Employee Wellness Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator:

• knowledge of population health, community health and worksite Employee Wellness Initiatives
• experience working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Employer Health Promotion Program data
• experience managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• experience in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies.

What will a Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator do?

The Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator is responsible for guiding a process that creates worksite facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Employee Wellness Program:

• act as a liaison between leadership and the Employer Health Promotion Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Employer Health Promotion Program
• create and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies
• facilitate Employee Wellness Program Committee meetings
• lead your organization in establishing measurable objectives for the Employer Health Promotion Program
• recommend effective Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies and objectives.

Where can we find a qualified Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator?

Consider the following when looking for a Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator:

• Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to support as a Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Employer Health Promotion Program position.
• New staff - Can you hire an individual to be your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Employer Health Promotion Program Consultation - Various organizations (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Employer Health Promotion Program consultation on building a culture of health within a worksite.

An outside Employer Health Promotion Program consultant can advise an internal Employer Health Promotion Program coordinator and your Employee Wellness Program Committee on establishing priorities and determining Strategies. Or, you can contract with a Employer Health Promotion Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.

Strong and visible leadership support for the Employer Health Promotion Program promotes health and is vital to securing required Employer Health Promotion Program resources (staff, time, and money) and implementing recommended changes.

1. Identify a Employer Health Promotion Program champion

In a small organization, there may be a single leader who is the clear choice to champion the Employee Wellness Program. In a larger organization, look for an executive with the authority to influence others in the uppermost levels of the organization regarding the Employee Wellness Program. The Employer Health Promotion Program champion need not be the fittest member of leadership. Rather, look for a Employer Health Promotion Program leader with the disposition to be a visible and vocal supporter of worksite policies that encourage healthy behaviors. Organizations with multiple sites can consider whether it would be useful to have an executive Employer Health Promotion Program champion at each site.

2. Find existing Employer Health Promotion Program allies

There may already be a number of individuals within your organization who recognize the value of a Employee Wellness Program. Think about who those individuals are in your organization; consider areas such as occupational safety, union representatives, risk management, health officers, and human resources when looking for a Employer Health Promotion Program ally. Capture their stated support for the Employee Wellness Program. Employer Health Promotion Program support could include contributions of staff time or expertise, financial resources, agreement to endorse/support policy and environmental changes, or agreement to participate in, and voice their support for, changes in the worksite that will help to build a culture of health.

3. Build a business case for the Employer Health Promotion Program

There is a reason that more and more businesses are finding a way to promote employee health via a Employer Health Promotion Program and policies: A Employer Health Promotion Program makes good business sense. staff members with healthy behaviors, on average, are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism)1 and incur lower healthcare costs than employees with less healthy behaviors.2,3  As a result it would be foolish not to have a Employee Wellness Program.

4. When developing a Employer Health Promotion Program use what you know about leadership styles and the decision-making process within your organization

Every organization is different. Build leadership support for the Employer Health Promotion Program in the way that makes the most sense for your organization. Think about the following as you plan how to approach leadership for Employer Health Promotion Program support:

• What are the current priorities and pressures facing executives? How could a Employer Health Promotion Program and a healthier workforce support those priorities?
• How do your leaders prefer to receive data: written documents? verbal presentations?
• What kinds of Employer Health Promotion Program information are likely to influence decisions? Do they want data and Employer Health Promotion Program statistics specific to your organization, or are state or national data sufficient? Are your leaders more influenced by internal factors or by what competitors are doing?
• Who would your leaders see as a credible messenger for this Employer Health Promotion Program information? Does someone from the risk management area carry more clout than someone from the human resources area?
• How do decisions really get made in your organization? Informal committee meetings? Formal or informal meetings between executives? Plan accordingly and you increase the odds that the Employer Health Promotion Program will become a reality.

5. Maintain Employer Health Promotion Program support once you have it

Once you have appropriate Employer Health Promotion Program support, ensure that you keep it by regularly updating your leaders on employee health and progress toward establishing a culture that promotes health. Ask upper management how often they want to receive Employer Health Promotion Program progress reports.

Source Information:
1 Bunn, JOEM, 2006, 48:10.
2 Foldes, Bland, An et al. Modifiable Health Risks and Short-Term Health Care Costs. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota internal research, submitted for publication.
3 Anderson, 2000, American Journal of Health Promotion, 15:1.

The worksite setting is a effective, but often overlooked, component in managing employee health.  Here we will establish some of the best-practices in establishing a Employer Health Promotion Program that supports your organization’s employee health strategy and allows employees to take charge of their own health.  For example, a Employer Health Promotion Program that includes a tobacco-free worksite policy increases the likelihood that employees will try to quit tobacco use and will quit using tobacco successfully. Similarly, a Employer Health Promotion Program that includes discounting healthy foods in your cafeteria and vending machines helps increase employees’ consumption of healthy foods which supports your investment in disease management programs for employees with diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. The following will guide you through the ten key steps in establishing a Employer Health Promotion Program and worksite setting that promotes employee health.

In an era of rising healthcare costs and fierce competition, businesses have a vested interest in the health of their employees.  Studies have found that, on average, employees with healthy behaviors (such as not using tobacco or being active for 30 minutes a day) incur lower healthcare expenses, are absent from work less often, and are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism) than employees with unhealthy behaviors.

Employee Wellness Program: Getting Upper Management Support

Employer Health Promotion Program support from the uppermost level of leadership is vital to your success in establishing a culture of health within your worksite. Look for Employer Health Promotion Program support from a leader who is respected by and can influence other leaders. (It’s not important that he or she be the fittest executive within your organization just that they directly support the Employee Wellness Program.) You will be relying on this culture-of-health champion to advocate for changes that you recommend and to ensure the organization allocates adequate Employer Health Promotion Program resources (staff, time, and money) to maintain and improve the worksite policies, physical setting, and social norms.

Capture Employer Health Promotion Program Staff and Financing

Starting and maintaining a Employer Health Promotion Program within your organization needs to be someone’s priority. However, unless your organization is quite large, you likely don’t need to hire a full-time staff person for the Employee Wellness Program.  There are a number of ways to find an individual with the required skills to guide and support your organization’s Employee Wellness Program.

Starting facilities and Employer Health Promotion Program policies, such as those allowing employees to be physically active during the workday, does not need to be costly, but it does require adequate and sustained financing.  If possible, include the creation of a worksite setting that supports the Employer Health Promotion Program as a permanent component of the operating budget; that helps to ensure it’s an ongoing priority for your organization.

Worker Involvement in the Employer Health Promotion Program

Setting up a representative group of staff members to advise your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program ensures that improvements in worksite facilities, policies and practices address the true needs and barriers of all groups of staff members.   In addition, these employees can support as the front-line Employer Health Promotion Program supporters of policies and practices with their peers.

Develop a Employer Health Promotion Program Vision and “Brand”

A Employer Health Promotion Program vision and a brand are effective first steps in bringing a Employer Health Promotion Program from an idea to a reality. What would you like your worksite environment to look like five years from now? A succinct Employer Health Promotion Program vision statement summarizes for all (employees and leaders alike) the reasons for establishing a Employee Wellness Program. It also reminds everyone of the link between employee health and your organization’s ability to achieve its overall mission.

Branding your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program conveys to employees that the organization’s commitment and support of healthy behaviors is important and is here to stay. Select a Employer Health Promotion Program name and logo that resonate with employees. Then use that brand on all Employer Health Promotion Program communications with employees about the policies, facilities and programs your organization offers to promote healthy behaviors.

Evaluate Your Existing Employer Health Promotion Program Situation

Exactly how your organization creates a Employer Health Promotion Program that promotes healthy eating, physical activity, and reduces tobacco use will depend on the unique characteristics of your organization and employee population.

Evaluate how the current worksite facilities, policies, and unwritten norms support — or discourage — healthy behaviors.

Gather information on the health and health-related behaviors of your employee population.  The most common method is by using a validated health risk assessment. If you don’t have data specific to your employees, you can estimate the prevalence of different health risks and behaviors within your employee population using state or national data.  Note: Information on staff members’ health interests alone is not sufficient; but can be a useful supplement to health risk data and might help you set priorities.

Set Employer Health Promotion Program Priorities and Goals

Use what you’ve discovered about employee health and about your current worksite setting to determine your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program priorities. From those Employer Health Promotion Program priorities, define clear and measurable Employer Health Promotion Program objectives for improving employee health and your organization’s culture. Well written objectives will provide the basis for planning and for measuring your progress.

Select Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies

Focus your organization’s Employer Health Promotion Program resources (time, energy and money) on tactics that are most likely to produce results:  a rise in healthy eating, a rise in physical activity, and a reduction in tobacco use. There’s no need to guess at what might work. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reviewed thousands of research studies and has identified the Employer Health Promotion Program approaches most likely to result in significant, lasting, and widespread improvements in health behaviors. Those Employer Health Promotion Program tactics are included in the physical activity, tobacco, and healthy eating sections of this website.

The formula for Employer Health Promotion Program success is to make the healthier choices the easier choices.

Implement Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies

Once you’ve chosen your Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies, it can be useful to arrange the work on a timeline.  The “right” amount of time for implementing each Employer Health Promotion Program strategy depends on the staff time, budget, and business demands of your organization.  Work plans keep your efforts moving and help to ensure that plans to start a Employer Health Promotion Program stay on track even if there are changes in staffing or other challenges.

Educate and Communicate About the Employer Health Promotion Program

Ensure employees are aware of the Employer Health Promotion Program opportunities you’ve provided.   Planning your Employer Health Promotion Program communications allows you to communicate regularly with employees without overwhelming them at any one time.

Monitor and Report Your Employer Health Promotion Program Results

At the same time that you plan your Employer Health Promotion Program Strategies, think about how you’ll measure success.  It’s much easier to gather information – or to start systems for collecting information — before you implement a Employer Health Promotion Program strategy rather than as an afterthought.   Keep in mind that you’re likely to see improvements in employee morale and/or behaviors before you see decreases in rates of absenteeism or healthcare claims.

Report both your Employer Health Promotion Program successes in building a healthy worksite environment (such as complete implementation of a policy that provides employees time for walking during the workday), and Employer Health Promotion Program successes in getting staff members to take charge of their health (a rise in the number of employees who contacted the stop-smoking program, or a rise in the number of fruit-cups purchased from the cafeteria following a promotion and price-cut).