Finding a Employer Health Promotion Program Coordinator

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.