Fitness Ideas:
• Workplace fitness center or exercise room
• Walking and/or running club (during lunch hour or breaks)
• Workplace bike rake
• Mind/body classes (yoga, tai chi) initiatives
• Team sports (basketball, volleyball softball)
• Host an exercise equipment swap

Lifestyle Change or Behavior Change Strategies:
• Tobacco cessation
• Weight management initiatives
• Substance abuse initiatives
• Fitness activity
• Stress management initiatives

Safety and Prevention Strategies:
• Back-injury training and prevention
• Education about Ergonomics
• Tool safety initiatives
• Fire safety initiatives

Awareness, Health Education, and Support Strategies:
• Lunch-and-learn or brown-bag wellness seminars (see your EAP for a list)
• Nutrition and diet information, plus make available healthy food alternatives in your vending machines and cafeteria, and make available food storage and preparation facilities to encourage healthier eating
• Prenatal care initiatives
• Work/Life Balance initiatives
• Elder care initiatives
• Cancer support groups
• Financial education

Stress-Reliever Strategies:
• Laughter bulletin board where staff can post jokes and cartoons (in good taste)
• Visiting massage therapist
• Stretch breaks
• Group lunches or celebrations

Disease Management Strategies:

• Obesity
• Depression
• Asthma
• Back pain
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Cancer

Healthy Work Environment Programs: Management Training

• scheduling
• incentive and recognition Strategies
• workload impact
• communication and feedback skills
• conflict management skills and support skills
• priority setting
• all of which are apart of the four employment relationship factors (trust, commitment, influence, and communication – from Canadian Policy Research Network)

Healthy Work Environment Programs: Contributions and Benefits

• massage – try an worksite massage therapist or seated massage breaks
• orthotics
• orthodontics
• gym membership subsidies
• education subsidies
• tobacco cessation and weight control partial reimbursement incentives
• safety shoe reimbursement
• out-of-country coverage
• vision care
• alternative therapy coverage

Healthy Work Environment Programs: Support Building
• exercise  breaks and stretches
• team challenges
• organization sport teams such as soccer, volleyball, and hockey
• use staff members who are in-house experts e.g., gardening, yoga, construction
• celebrate birthdays, anniversaries – other significant dates and achievements
• 5 minute catch-up at beginning of work week
• pot lucks and food for meetings
• green room for time outs and regrouping self
• encouraging face to face communications
• learn names

**The creation of health or harm within an organization depends on how work is managed.  Workplace Culture Strategies must address high demand/low control, high effort/low reward, fairness, purpose and trust.

**Healthy Living Strategies should assist in the development of self-efficacy which means that the individual has a senses that they can influence the course of events in their normal daily life, that they can deal with their normal consequences, that they feel confident and sure of themselves.

The purpose of completing the assessment is to establish your worksite’s strengths and areas in need of improvement. The assessment will lead your workgroup to recommend actions for changes to make the worksite more supportive of healthy behaviors (i.e. healthy food choices in vending machines, policies to enforce no tobacco use on worksite grounds or encouraging walking during break times). You may find some of the actions for supporting healthy behaviors are easy to do and others may not be feasible or efficient in your worksite.  The assessment results can also be used as a baseline measure for evaluation.  The initial assessment can later be compared with a follow-up assessment several months later to note progress.

Who should do the Corporate Health Promotion Plan Environment Assessment?

Establish a workgroup (at least 4-5 staff members) who will be responsible for completing the assessment.  This may be a subset of your wellness workgroup.  Forming a diverse group from all areas and levels of your organization is important for meaningful assessment and successful planning and implementation. Suggested members include: human resources, staff members from various departments, administrators, supervisors, employee or wellness staff.

When should the Corporate Health Promotion Plan Environment Assessment be Done?

Use the assessment as a starting point for your Corporate Wellness Program. Once you have completed the assessment, determine which areas the workgroup will focus on (i.e. healthy eating, physical activity, general health, etc.). Create a time for the workgroup to meet and monitor the progress. Also determine a schedule for annual assessments, so that the assessment can serve as a tool for continuous improvement and accountability over time.

Part 1 – Corporate Health Promotion Plan Assessment Checklist

Complete a Worksite Wellness Assessment Checklist to determine what wellness components you currently have at your worksite.   This can be done with the full workgroup or you may want a few key personnel (such as the Human Resources lead, Wellness Coordinator or Workgroup Coordinator) to do a preliminary scan based on information they gather and then let the full workgroup react to their findings. Ask your broker for a sample wellness assessment checklist or create your own.

Completion of the checklist provides a reference point of the wellness functions that are currently in place or in process and it provides an overview of some of the items that should be considered for a comprehensive Corporate Wellness Program.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Checklist Components:

Categories.  There are six major categories (General, Physical Activity, Nutrition, Health Screening, Tobacco Use and Emergency Response Plan).  Each category has several questions that address what you currently have in place at your worksite.

Current Status.  Initially, list whether you have the component (Yes), are in the process of instituting the component or you are planning for the component (In Process) or don’t have the component at all (No).  At the end of each category, sub-total the number in each column and then total all of the categories at the end of the checklist to get an overview of where your worksite Corporate Health Promotion Plan currently rates. You should also use this baseline measure as a benchmark for later evaluation.  By evaluating where your worksite is on each wellness component, you will be able to get a general idea of your status across each category and all 57 items.

Potential Priorities.  After you have completed the assessment and the employee interest survey, you can use the potential priority column to indicate what components you might want to focus on that are either currently in process or don’t exist.  This can serve as a first screening of possible areas to focus on as you develop your action plan.

Part 2: employee Input

Why would we want to do an employee survey?

You should conduct an employee survey to get a better understanding of your target audience (your organization’s staff members) and get an initial idea of their current health habits and interest areas.  The survey can be tailored to your worksite and can be done in paper form or through the use of survey instruments on the internet or that can be purchased.   You can create your own employee survey or ask your broker for a Workplace Wellness Needs and Interest Survey.

As was the case with the worksite environmental assessment, the employee survey results can also be used as a baseline measure for later evaluation.  The initial survey results can later be compared with a follow-up survey several months later to note progress.

You should also consider engaging staff members in focus groups or informal interviews to gather information on their wants and needs.  This can be done either before or after the survey, or if you don’t have the resources to survey staff members, you could use this method to gather information in place of the survey.

Whatever method you use to gather information, make it as easy as possible for staff members to complete and submit the information so you get a high return rate.  Consider offering an incentive or prize for staff members who complete the survey.

Key Factors in Corporate Health Promotion Plan

In today’s society there are many primary factors that influence people’s health behaviors.  Consider the following list in maintaining participation in your program:

1.    TIME.  People are busy, so the more you can work activity and healthy eating into their existing schedules, the better your chances for success.  Example: A walk during lunch doesn’t take away from existing time, it just uses it differently.  Also review the time of the day and length of any activity you might be promoting, since both time components may be factors.
2.    ACCESS.   How accessible is your Corporate Wellness Program.  Is it onsite or at a nearby site?  Do you offer access at breaks or outside of normal work hours?
3.    KNOWLEDGE.  People need to know “Why” they are taking part in (the benefits) and also will need information about the “How to” in areas that are not commonly known.
4.    COST.  Ensure that you can provide no cost or decreased cost Corporate Wellness Programs will help participation rates.  Coupled with incentives for participation, rates of participation will likely increase dramatically.
5.    INCENTIVES.  Some staff members need incentives to get started in a Corporate Wellness Program.  A full list of Corporate Health Promotion Plan incentive options can be on the website.

Key Time Periods in Corporate Health Promotion Plan

Good habits are often difficult to develop.  There tends to be some critical times when staff members drop out or fall off of a physical activity or diet program.   The first key time zone seems to be around 6 weeks.   If staff members can start and stay consistent with a program through the first 6 weeks, they have made a fairly serious commitment to incorporate the habits into their lifestyle.  The second key time is at about 6 months.  Those who made it past 6 weeks may get bored and/or distracted from their program after several months.  If staff members can get past 6 months and sustain behavior through a full set of weather seasons, they have a very good chance of making the changes permanent.

Consider these time periods and think about how you can “boost” your staff members to get them past these critical time markers.  Promoting individual or group “challenges”, using incentives, or raised publicity/marketing are a few of the things you can do to help get your staff members through these key time periods

Goal Setting for Corporate Health Promotion Plan

Setting goals has been shown to lead to better participation and more staff members making a strong commitment.  Whether it be a team goal of walking the equivalent of once around your state or an individual goal of so many miles or minutes of activity, the fact that there is something concrete to shoot for increases the likelihood staff members will stick with the program.

Buddy Systems or Team Goals for Corporate Health Promotion Plan

The social aspects of improving one’s health cannot be underestimated.  Many studies point to tight social groups being the backbone for a successful campaign because each individual has a commitment to something bigger than themselves and besides, it’s just more fun for the majority of staff members. Build your program around some type of teams or partners and see what happens.

Team “Campaigns” for Corporate Health Promotion Plan

Some staff members like competition and others don’t.  Nevertheless, a worksite wide campaign has the advantage of keeping the message more visible and alive.  Encourage campaign participation, but make it voluntary so that those who prefer that type of motivation can join while others can participate in their own way and at their own pace.  If the idea of a campaign seems like too much work, consider tapping into existing campaigns where someone else provides resources for you.

Incentives for Corporate Health Promotion Plan

Incentives are often helpful in maintaining or raising interest.  Significant incentives such as cash or health insurance rebates have proven to be very strong motivators for employee participation.  However, even smaller incentives can be beneficial.  Listed below are some sample incentives:
• Achievement awards. Verbal praise and a pat on the back are motivational to some, but a token of recognition of achievement may offer more. A colorful certificate to congratulate an employee for achieving a health-related goal is one example.
• Public recognition.  Announced recognition at campaign mid-point or wrap-up festivities.
• Food.  Include some healthy foods to kick-off, revitalize or wrap up a wellness campaign.
• Entertainment.  Events serve a purpose in jump-starting, reenergizing or wrapping up a campaign.  Having entertainment of any kind can boost morale.
• Merchandise.  There is a long list of merchandise incentives, including sports equipment and small gift certificates to use at local merchants.
• Monetary rewards.  Nothing says incentive better than cash.  Businesses that have used cash or rebates as an incentive have shown much higher participation rates.
• Time off.  Maybe the next best incentive to cash, or for some staff members even better.  This type of incentive makes good business sense if the number of absences drops significantly and attendance is used as one of the criteria.

1. Improved Morale – When the organizational culture begins to change as a result of your health promotion efforts, you and your staff members may actually begin to see and feel a new level of energy within the organization.  Ultimately, one of the most ambitious goals of any comprehensive health promotion program is to attempt to influence the attitudes and actions of the organization’s most valuable resource — its staff members.
2. Decreased Turnover – As we all know, employee replacement costs can be quite high for any kind of organization.  The effort and expense associated with running employment ads, reading applications, checking references, interviewing qualified candidates, hiring and training a new employee can be a serious burden on any organization.  In light of the challenges that high employee turnover pose, many companies are looking to health promotion programs as an additional perk that can help to prevent staff members from jumping ship.
3. Increased Recruitment Potential – In the midst of a very tight labor market, companies are forced to pull out the stops in order to recruit new talent.  In some instances, Wellness can prove to be a very valuable tool in sealing the deal.
4. Decreased Absenteeism – When an employee misses work in a organization setting, the entire organization is forced to absorb his/her responsibilities.  Even in the event of the occasional absence caused by things like colds and the flu, work can back-up and tensions can build.  Even worse is a long-term absence caused by a major health event that requires hospitalization and/or rehabilitation.  By preventing certain types of illness caused by poor lifestyle habits, health promotion programs can play an important role in decreasing absenteeism.
5. Medical Cost Containment – Most companies don’t start a health promotion program with cost containment in mind.  However, cost containment for certain health problems should be considered a viable goal by many companies.
6. Improved employee Health Status – One of the greatest advantages of a well-designed Corporate Wellness Program is the promise of enhanced health.  There is a growing body of evidence that suggests well-designed Corporate Wellness Programs can successfully impact such behaviors as tobacco use, high-risk alcohol use, and more.