Creating educational spaces, norms, traditions leads to program success
With employees spending more and more of their waking hours at work, employers have a significant opportunity to positively impact employee health and well-being.
For wellness programs to be impactful and stand the test of time, they need to be more than “one offs” like hosting a lunch-and-learn during national nutrition month in March, an annual health fair or fall flu shot clinics.
Building a healthy workplace culture is more than a menu of programs and services. It is about creating spaces, norms and traditions in an organization that is focused on health and well-being. With the right support systems in place and buy-in from employees, a workplace culture of wellness will evolve over time.
Executive support
Executive support from the outset is critical to the success of any program. It demonstrates to employees that health is an important part of the company’s culture. When employees see a supportive leadership team, they will want to get involved. Executive support also ensures both financial and human resources are allocated appropriately and that the program will sustain the passage of time.
Identifying a program champion is also an essential component to a program’s long-term success. A champion should be a personal advocate of health, have the influence to rally the senior leaders in the organization and have the authority to drive the program forward. Their role is to engage senior management, employees, vendors and partners to foster an integrated approach to wellness. Partners may include your benefit provider, EAP provider, cafeteria vendor, occupational health team, insurers and wellness consultants.
In challenging economic times, a wellness program could be the first initiative to be cut. With a strong program champion and an integrated approach to health and well-being, this is not as likely to happen.
Time and time again, the most robust and successful wellness programs have buy-in from all levels of management. Managers are the gatekeepers who can support or sabotage the program so it is important to get them on board at the outset. Before a program is launched, facilitate manager’s information sessions to share the vision for the program and how it will positively impact the organization. Ask managers for input and feedback. Allow them to voice their concerns.
Engage employees from outset
Start with an employee advisory team. This group plays a multifaceted and integral role in the success of the program. Their role includes the following:
• developing the strategy for wellness
• looking for opportunities to maximize company resources
• being ambassadors for the program, looking for opportunities to promote the program and enthusiastically participating in the various programs and events
• ensuring the program is aligned with the organization’s business objectives.
There are many other ways to get employees involved, such as leading pre-work warm-ups, being a wellness ambassador in their department or helping out at special events.
Health experts
A professional consultant dedicated to wellness plays a multifaceted role in delivering and supporting wellness programs. Having a professional on site even part-time, will become the “face of wellness” in your organization and increase the likelihood a program will reach out to all employees — not just the already committed. An on-site health professional will support employees as they work towards achieving their health and wellness goals. Often times, a third-party wellness consultant is brought in. This has the added benefit of ensuring confidentiality particularly if wellness coaching is provided as a service.
Branding
Creating a wellness brand for your program sends the message the organization is serious about fostering a healthy workplace culture. It also sends a message of fun, inclusion and integration.
Connecting the dots
Connect health cost pressures, employee engagement scores and wellness interventions. For example, if drug utilization for high blood pressure is common amongst employees, target the wellness program to control high blood pressure via physical activity, healthy eating and weight management. If it’s anti-inflammatory drugs that top the list, focus efforts on musculoskeletal injury prevention and back health.
Other ways to support a sustainable culture of wellness is by creating wellness zones at work where employees can weigh themselves, take their blood pressure and pick up resources.
In many organizations, more than 50 per cent of the health cost pressures relate to dependents. In this case, it would make sense to encourage employees to “take wellness home.” Encourage this by including them in wellness challenges, providing access to a wellness portal and organizing family wellness days. This also sends the message that the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle is a 24-7 endeavour.
Everyone is different
Recognize employees are at different stages of adopting new healthy habits. Provide a variety of different ways to learn and engage. While some employees may prefer to download information from a wellness site, others may prefer walk-by wellness clinics, one-on-one coaching or team challenges.
A measurement-driven program is also more likely to stand the test of time and withstand changes in the economy. Tracking biometric screening results, drug utilization rates, work outcomes such as productivity, as well as engagement scores, can speak to the impact of your workplace wellness program.
It makes sense that when employees feel cared for and supported they will be happier, healthier, and more willing to put their best effort forward. Happy, healthy and motivated employees are engaged employees.
Veronica Marsden is the president of Tri Fit, a Canadian company that manages sustainable wellness programs in the workplace. She can be reached at [email protected] or (905) 845-0006.
