How to Establish a Wellness Program
An established wellness program is a win-win situation for both employers and employees. Not only does having one contribute to lower health insurance costs, but it also can create a more efficient and happy work environment. Wellness programs vary greatly from company to company--even branch to branch, depending on the culture and needs of a business. Anyone in a company, whether middle management or entry-level, can be the champion organizer of a wellness program. The following steps will simplify the process for anyone who wants to establish a wellness program.
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Things You'll Need
- Employee wellness assessment surveys
- Planning committee
- Proposal
- Budget
- Wellness program marketing materials
Instructions
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How to Establish a Wellness Program
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1
Get organized with the help of a planning committee. Rally peers in your department who might be interested in establishing a wellness program. Once you have support, try talking to management, human resources or anyone else you see as potentially getting on board with a wellness plan.
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2
Use wellness surveys to establish the health needs of your company. Through the surveys, assess common issues among employees--stress, obesity and smoking, for example.
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3
Come up with goals, objectives and incentives based on the general wellness needs that turned up through the research in Step 2.
Example goal: A successful company relies on the health, well-being and satisfaction of each employee. By establishing a wellness program, (name of company) aims to increase the cohesiveness of the company by promoting the health and happiness of each employee.
Example objective: To lower insurance premiums by 15 percent within two years. To establish monthly fitness and team-building activities. To increase the health of each employee through corporate gym memberships and quit-smoking programs.
Example incentive: Each employee who quits smoking will be awarded a half-day of vacation for each month they are tobacco-free. Points will be given for each visit to the gym which will accumulate toward vacation day points.
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4
Get outside help. Contact organizations such as the American Heart Association to find out about sponsorship programs and national corporate wellness plans. Contact gyms in the area to see if they have corporate membership rates and programs. Network with other businesses in the area that have established wellness programs to see what outside support and sponsorship they use. See the resources section to get ideas that will address the wellness needs of your company.
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5
Write up a wellness program proposal and budget. Open the proposal with a summary of the data gathered from surveys taken of employees showing statistics on smoking, stress, fatigue, unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise. Include goals and a mission statement, objectives of the plan and incentives for the company and employees. Include information about outside vendors, organizations and businesses willing to support the wellness program through discounts, marketing or the trading of services. Estimate the cost of the plan per employee, as well as the overall savings if the plan is successful. Add a timeline for when specific goals of the plan should be met at one month, six months, a year and so on.
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6
Follow through and market the plan. Hand out information weekly or monthly to keep employees updated on wellness-program events and special dates. Set dates for employee health assessments regularly. Stay in contact with outside vendors, corporate wellness program companies and sponsors.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider the use of an outside company that specializes in planning, proposing and establishing corporate wellness programs.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Vassia Atanassova-Spiritia: Wikimedia Commons
