A Wellness Program is an organized program to assist and support workers in establishing healthier lifestyles.  This can include increasing staff member awareness on health topics, scheduling behavior change programs, and/or establishing corporation policies that support health-related goals.  

Programs and policies that promote increased exercise, use of tobacco avoidance and cessation, and healthful food selections are a few examples.   

Dimensions of Wellness

Wellness is more than physical fitness.  In addition to physical fitness, the dimensions of optimal health include

· Spiritual Wellness

· Emotional Wellness

· Social Wellness

· Intellectual Wellness

These dimensions are often depicted as a "life wheel" with examples of health components that include -

· fitness,
· nutrition,
· purpose in life,
· financial planning,
· social connections and support systems,
· stress management,
· mind-body health,
· career planning and
· continued learning.  

The key for individual health is keeping the "life wheel" in balance.  A robust wellness program addresses most, when not all, of these dimensions.

Why Corporate Wellness?

Staff Members spend a excellent deal of time on the job, and the reality is that our traditional work-week is increasing.  In truth, the average American now works about 47 hours per week.  

Plus, technologies such as modems, laptops, cellular phones, voice and email have blurred the work-life boundary.  These realities reduce the amount of time that the average individual is able to devote to wellness pursuits, and yet staff members are expected to be at top performance when at work.

A recent study  by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses found that corporate wellness or wellness programs are successful in assisting staff members make positive health changes due to a few factors such as convenience, environmental support, and coworker or social acceptance.   

What's the Link between Wellness and the Workplace?

Programs and policies that promote healthy behaviors may make a big difference on staff member wellness AND have an impact on the corporation's bottom line.   Studies have shown that for every dollar invested by businesss in corporate wellness/wellness programs, there were savings ranging from $1.49 to $4.91 with a median savings of $3.14*.  

In company terms, that's more than a 3 - 1 minimum return on investment - a number that is hard to ignore, and a best practice that should warrant serious consideration from businesses.  

The key to success for Wellness Programs is to take a strategic approach. Here are ten steps to consider when beginning a Wellness Program.

1. Begin with  executive management. Without  executive management support, a wellness strategy can fall flat. Begin with the health of your executive team and discover your wellness champions at the top of the organization.

2. Analyze the problem. Look at your healthcare claims and analyze the trends. Which conditions are driving your medical, disability, and workers' compensation claims and which are modifiable? What's worked and what hasn't as a result far? What's the long-term impact of doing nothing?

3. Hold an initial wellness meeting. Invite your key stakeholders both inside and outside the company. Ask your broker to facilitate the meeting and invite key health vendors including health, disability, Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP), fitness, and occupational nursing.

Review claims and utilization data and identify key areas of concern. Look at current offerings and see how they are able to be tailored to the needs of the population.

4. Consider both healthful and unhealthful employees. Since 85 percent of claims are usually attributed to 15 percent of claimants, it's essential to reach those with the most costly conditions while also reaching people  who are at risk for developing preventable diseases in the future.

Voluntary wellness programs such as lunchtime wellness seminars miss many of the individuals  who need them most. Consider programs that are population-wide or target intact workgroups. Wellness incentives help but don't motivate everyone.

5. Be sure to set short-term goals for the wellness programs. Be sure to set some realistic short-term goals based on your key areas of concern. Are there any plan design changes that could have an immediate impact on spending? Are there some programmatic actions that could have immediate results?

6. Find out what staff members are thinking. Hold some focus groups to determine where individuals  are with wellness. What's working? What isn't? How much interest do individuals  have in the Wellness Programs? What obstacles and barriers are staff members experiencing when they try to change behavior?

7. Be certain you've a high-impact Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Your first wellness dollars should go into upgrading your Employee Assistance Program (EAP). A highly utilized Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can provide a foundation for all your future wellness activities.

A good Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP) is a trusted link to the hearts and minds of staff members. at no additional cost, the Staff Member Assistance Program (EAP) can provide needed follow-up coaching and personal attention for staff members who are working on modifiable health behaviors or involved in disease management programs.

Nutritionists, fitness, pregnancy, and stress management professionals are all part of a high-value Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

8. Be sure to set three to five year goals for health care savings and measure them. Get help from your broker and insurance carrier help you on long-term goals for your health, disability, and staff members compensation plans.

Establish program metrics that'll help you to measure ROI. Go beyond participation rates, completion rates and program satisfaction. Measure changes in readiness, changes in behavior, and changes in risk factors. Establish rigorous methods to measure health care savings over the long term.

9. Be sure to set goals for organizational health. Consider the more intangible benefits of a wellness program and quantify them whenever possible. Include staff member turnover rates, cost of new hires, staff member morale, benefit satisfaction data, and corporation of choice issues in setting goals. Establish ways to measure success in these areas.

10. Add specifics to your short and long-term plan. Include a program strategy, a communication strategy, and an incentive strategy that'll fit with your corporate culture. Focus on integration of related components along a health continuum with communications that are focused, simple, and human.

Establish a budget that includes key components such as consumer education, wellness, health risk (assessment|appraisal}s, and regular biometric screens.