Corporate Wellness ConsultantsCorporate Wellness Consultants and Corporate Wellness Programs

Even the best and most innovative businesses are experiencing the impact worker well-being on their organizations’ performance.  The bad news is that many of these businesses are unaware of the extent to which less-than-optimal worker health and well-being is impacting workforce capacity and performance.  The goods news is that there is an increasing body of research and practice than may help businesses mitigate this often unseen issue and create significant opportunities for improved workforce attraction, retention and performance!  This article focuses on how employeral leaders may improve physical and financial worker wellness in the workplace.

The Problems of Chronic Disease

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60 percent of deaths in 2005 could be attributed to chronic disease (cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes).1  The largest attributing factors to the chronic diseases include tobacco use, physical activity, and diet.2  The costs of these diseases are staggering.  For example, if there were a 10 percent reduction in mortality from heart disease and cancer, it could save the US $10.4 trillion annually.3  Further the WHO projects that over 80 percent of the US population will be either considered overweight or obese by the year 2015.

The Problems of Financial Distress and Dissatisfaction

As hard as it may be to fathom, a 2004 study found that 67 percent of U.S. Workers are dealing with Personal Financial Issues.4 In another study, it was found that these issues may exist in all segments of any workforce, regardless of income, education, or position level.5 Couple these facts with our workforce reality:

    * The workforce is aging and demand for professionals in many industries continues to exceed the supply – and will for the foreseeable future.
    * Due to the shortages of quality personnel the stress on our current workforce is increasing.
    * With these workforce shortages, most businesses cannot continue to pay spiraling market prices for professionals.
    * Lastly, those personality attributes that make many professionals great caregivers or service-providers also tend to make them less apt to focus on matters of personal financial management.

The ROI

There are significant reasons why businesses should employ Procedures to implement Corporate Wellness Programs for their workers:

    * Improve Productivity including reductions in health care and workers compensation claims, rates of absenteeism, and presenteesism;
    * Lower employer paid health care and re-insurances premiums; and
    * Improve worker, physicians and patient satisfaction; and
    * Improve staff retention and productivity.

A recent Towers Perrin case study6 found that a ten percentage point improvement on worker engagement was linked to a 4.6 percentage point improvement on customer satisfaction and revenue growth and labor cost improvements equal to a 2.8 percent impact on controllable margin.  

What all this shows is that providing Corporate Wellness Programs and rewards is more than just “the right thing to do.”  Rather, there is a profound business case.  As workforce capacity and engagement increase, a bottom-up cultural change takes place in your employer.  These changes drive improvements in customer satisfaction, productivity, rates of absenteeism, and presenteesism – all of which drive improvements in profitability.

The Course of Change

As an employer, you may have a tremendous impact on the health of the community.  Here are a few suggestions on how you may engage your workers (possibly include flowchart):

 1. Define the Plan – Determine if you have the internal resource availability and knowledge to develop a formal Corporate Wellness Program.  Many organizations, due to confidentiality legal and other reasons, choose to engage outside partners to manage these processes.
 2. Communication – Once you have developed the plan, communicate the plan to all workers – using multiple media and approaches.
 3. Lead by Example –Begin Corporate Wellness Programs at the top (walk the walk).  Provide yourselves the opportunity to go through a health risk assessment and a financial assessment.  If you can, communicate your results and your action steps to staff.
 4. Develop rewards for Staff Participation – Here are a couple of financial rewards you may provide staff that are low cost and optimally have a return on investment:

  1. Pay workers to take a risk assessment
  2. Lower employee contributions to health plan for those with lowered risk of chronic disease and correspondingly raise employee contribution to health plan for those with increased risk of chronic disease

 5. Offer Personal Risk Assessment Counseling – Offer resources that can meet one on one with each worker to understand their health risks and opportunities
 6. Eliminate Trans-Fat from Your Dietary Offerings – If you have worksite food facilities, and haven’t been required by legislative statute, you should eliminate trans-fatty oils from the worker and customer meals
 7. Eliminate Smoking Areas for Employees – More and more organizations, including large cities, are now banning tobacco use on their facilities.
 8. Offer Proper Monitoring Programs – Probably the hardest part of the plan, the ongoing monitoring is critical.  Some organizations are large enough to own or build wellness centers – but even then, many workers feel uncomfortable in using them.  Typically the users of wellness centers are those least in need.  The good news is that there are many external and online tools and options that are available today.
 9. Encourage Other Local Businesses to Offer Corporate Wellness Programs.  In some cases (e.g. hospitals), there are options where this may even generate revenue and/or deepen relationships with the communities you support.

Legal Concerns

When thinking about a Corporate Wellness Program, one must take into account certain requirements under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and the Public Health Service Act (PHSA). All three laws were amended by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to provide for improved portability and continuity of health coverage. HIPAA also added Code section 9802, ERISA section 702 and PHSA section 2702, each of which prohibits discrimination in health coverage based on health status.

To be a bona fide Corporate Wellness Program, the plan must meet the following requirements:

    * An individual’s total incentive must be limited. A limit of 10 percent to 20 percent of the total cost of employee-only coverage may be appropriate, according to the DOL.
    * The program must be reasonably designed to promote good health or prevent disease.
    * The incentive must be available to all similarly situated individuals. The program must allow any individual for whom it is unreasonably difficult because of a health condition to meet the Corporate Wellness Program standard (or for whom it is medically inadvisable to attempt to meet the Corporate Wellness Program standard) an opportunity to meet a reasonable alternative standard.

1 2005 Preventing chronic disease:  A vital investment. World Health Organization
2 2007 Working Towards Wellness:  Accelerating the prevention of chronic disease.  World Economic Forum
3 2007 The Value of Health and Longevity.  Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topal, University of Chicago
4 2004 Employer/Employee Equation Research on Worker Types, Preferences and Engagement Issues – Concours Group, Age Wave and Harris Poll
5 1997 Neal E. Cutler, Ph.D
6 2003 Talent Report: New Realities in Today’s Workforce – Towers Perrin

Corporate Wellness Programs that support workers and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good return on investment. Corporate Wellness Programs may be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small businesses to make positive changes at little or no cost.

Corporate Wellness Program: Physical/Weight Management Programs

   1. Provide access to on- and off- worksite gyms and recreational programs before, during, and after work hours.
   2. Offer and encourage participation in after work recreation or leagues.
   3. Offer cash incentives or lowered insurance costs for participation in physical activity and/or weight management or maintenance programs.
   4. Offer shower and/or changing facilities onsite.
   5. Offer outdoor exercise areas such as fields and trails for worker use.
   6. Offer bicycle racks in safe, convenient, and accessible locations.
   7. Offer worksite fitness opportunities, such as group classes or personal training.
   8. Offer an onsite exercise facility.
   9. Set up programs that have strong social support systems and rewards, such as:
      o Buddy or team physical activity objectives
      o Programs that involve workers and family
      o Programs to encourage physical activity, such as pedometer walking challenges
      o Explore discounted or subsidized memberships at local health clubs, recreation centers, or YMCAs
  10. Offer flexible work hours to allow for physical activity during the day.
  11. Support physical activity breaks during the workday, such as stretching or walking.
  12. Host walk-and-talk meetings.
  13. Map out worksite trails or nearby walking routes and destinations.
  14. Have workers map out their own biking or walking route to and from work.
  15. Post motivational signs at elevators and escalators to encourage stair usage.
  16. Offer exercise/physical fitness messages and information to workers.
  17. Offer or support recreation leagues and other physical activity events onsite or in the community.
  18. Begin worker activity clubs such as walking or bicycling clubs.
  19. Offer worksite child care facilities to facilitate physical activity.
  20. Sponsor a bike to work day and reward workers who participate.
  21. Set up a box and solicit fitness and health tips.

Corporate Wellness Program: General Health Education Programs

   1. Have a current policy outlining the requirements and functions of a broad-based workplace Corporate Wellness Program.
   2. Have a wellness plan in place that addresses the purpose, nature, duration, resources required, participants in, and expected results of a workplace Corporate Wellness Program.
   3. Orient workers to the Corporate Wellness Program and give them copies of the physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco use policies.
   4. Promote and encourage worker participation in the physical activity/fitness and nutrition education/weight management program.
   5. Offer health education information to workers.
   6. Have a committee that meets at least once a month to oversee the Corporate Wellness Program.
   7. Offer regular health education seminars on various physical activity, nutrition, and wellness-related topics. Ask voluntary health associations, health care providers, and/or public health agencies to offer worksite education classes.
   8. Host a health fair as a kick-off event or as a celebration for completion of a wellness campaign.
   9. Designate specific areas to support workers such as diabetics and nursing mothers.
  10. Conduct preventive wellness screenings for blood pressure, body composition, blood cholesterol, and diabetes.
  11. Offer confidential health rist assessments.
  12. Offer worksite weight management/maintenance programs for workers.
  13. Add weight management/maintenance, nutrition, and physical activity counseling as a member benefit in health insurance contracts.

Corporate Wellness Program: Tobacco Cessation

   1. Establish a company policy prohibiting tobacco use anywhere on the property.
   2. Offer prompts/posters to support no tobacco use policy.
   3. Policy supporting participation in smoking cessation programs during duty time (flex-time).
   4. Offer counseling through an individual, group, or telephone counseling program onsite.
   5. Offer counseling through a health plan sponsored individual, group, or telephone counseling program.
   6. Offer cessation medications through health insurance.

Corporate Wellness Programs that support workers and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good return on investment. Corporate Wellness Programs may be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small businesses to make positive changes at little or no cost.

Corporate Wellness Program: Nutrition Programs

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

   1. Offer healthy eating reminders and prompts to workers via multiple means (i.e. e-mail, posters, payroll stuffers, etc.).
   2. Offer appealing, low-cost fruits and vegetables in vending machines and in the cafeteria.
   3. Offer cookbooks, food preparation, and cooking classes for workers’ families.
   4. Ensure worksite cafeterias follow healthy cooking practices and set nutritional standards for foods served that align with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
   5. Offer healthy foods at meetings, conferences, and catered events.
   6. Use point-of-decision prompts as a marketing technique to promote healthier choices.
   7. Offer healthy cooking demonstrations that teach skills (i.e. fruit and vegetable selection and preparation).
   8. Offer taste-testing opportunities at the workplace.
   9. Offer worker-led campaigns, demonstrations or programs.
  10. Offer local fruits and vegetables at the workplace (i.e. workplace farmer’s market or community-supported agriculture drop-off point).
  11. Use competitive pricing (price non-nutritious foods in vending machines and cafeterias at higher prices).
  12. Offer protected time and dedicated space away from the work area for breaks and lunch.
  13. Make kitchen equipment available to workers.
  14. Offer an opportunity for worksite gardening if possible.

Sweetened Beverage Consumption

   1. Make water available throughout the day.
   2. Offer appealing, low-cost healthful drink options in vending machines and the cafeteria.
   3. Modify worksite vending contracts to raise the number of healthy options.
   4. Price non-nutritious beverages at a higher cost.
   5. Use point-of-decision prompts to promote healthier choices.

Portion Control

   1. Label foods to show serving size and/or nutritional content.
   2. Offer food models, food scales for weighing and pictures to help workers determine portion size.
   3. Offer appropriate portion sizes at meetings, workplace events and in the cafeteria.

Breastfeeding

   1. Support nursing mothers by providing them rooms for expressing milk in a secure and relaxed setting, a refrigerator for storage of breast milk, policies that support breast feeding, and lactation education programs.
   2. Offer flexible scheduling and/or worksite or near-site child care to allow for milk expression during the workday.
   3. Adopt alternative work options (i.e. teleworking, part-time, extended maternity) for breastfeeding mothers returning to work.
   4. Educate personnel on the importance of supporting breastfeeding co-workers.

T.V. & Food Advertising

   1. Place televisionss in non-eating areas of the workplace.
   2. Limit food advertising in the cafeteria (i.e. print and other media).

(Adapted from The Health Promotion First Act prepared by David Anderson, Ph.D., StayWell Health Management)

Worker Lifestyles Impact Worker Health
• Approximately 40 percent of all deaths in the United States are premature (at least 900,000 deaths annually) and are due to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as tobacco use, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, misuse of alcohol and drugs, and accidents. Other contributors to early death include genetic predisposition (30 percent), social circumstances (15 percent), poor access to quality health care (10 percent), and environmental  exposures (5 percent).
• Unhealthy lifestyle is the primary contributor to the six leading causes of death in the U.S. – heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes – which collectively account for over 70 percent of all deaths.
• People with healthier lifestyles live an average of 6 to 9 years longer,  postpone disability by 9 years and compress disability into fewer years at the end of life.
• The prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults rose to 30 percent in 1999-2000, a 33 percent increase from a decade earlier,  and the prevalence of diabetes also rose by 33 percent during approximately the same period (1990 to 1998).
• About two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, 55 percent do not get enough physical activity,  26 percent are completely inactive,10 and only 25 percent eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables  If diet/physical activity patterns continue worsening at their current rate, these behaviors will soon surpass tobacco use as contributors to mortality.
• Among young people, the prevalence of overweight has more than quadrupled in the past 20 years to 16 percent,  daily participation in high school physical education classes has dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003,  more than 60 percent eat too much saturated fat, and almost 80 percent do not eat recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables. 
• Lifestyle diseases disproportionately affect women, racial and ethnic minorities, the poor and seniors:
 • The prevalence of diabetes among African Americans is about 70 percent higher than among white Americans, and the prevalence among Hispanics is nearly double that for white Americans.
 • Women comprise more than half of the people who die each year of cardiovascular disease.
 • Chronic conditions significantly limit daily activity for 35 percent of persons over 65 years of age. 

Financial Impact of Lifestyle
• It is estimated that lifestyle-related chronic diseases account for 70 percent of the nation’s health care costs,  which translates to over 11 percent of the entire U.S. gross domestic product.
• Two broad-based scientific reviews identified 83 peer-reviewed studies reporting that people with unhealthy habits have higher health costs.
• Research conservatively estimates that high health risks (high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc) account for at least 25 percent of total health costs. 
• Recent research indicates a direct relationship between modifiable lifestyle risks and lower worker productivity, and relevant data suggest that the costs to businesses in lost productivity due to poor employee health may be substantially more than the direct health and disability costs.
• Unhealthy lifestyles often lead to chronic disease, many of which cannot be cured and require years or decades of expensive treatments. Below are estimated annual costs of selected unhealthy lifestyles and chronic diseases including obesity,  tobacco use,  hypertension,  diabetes,  stress,  and inactivity.
 
Corporate Wellness Programs Improve Health and Yield Major Savings
• Comprehensive scientific reviews identified 378 peer-reviewed studies showing that Corporate Wellness Programs improve health knowledge, health behaviors, and underlying health conditions.
• Research has demonstrated that lifestyle modification may often be more effective and cost-effective than health intervention in decreasing morbidity  and mortality.
• Several scientific reviews indicate that Corporate Wellness Programs reduce health costs and rates of absenteeism and produce a positive return on investment.  The most definitive review of financial impact reported that:
 • 18 studies indicated that these programs reduce health costs, and 14 studies indicated that they lower rates of absenteeism costs.
 • 13 studies that calculated benefit/cost ratios all showed the savings from these programs are much greater than their cost, with health cost savings averaging $3.48 and the rates of absenteeism savings averaging $5.82 per dollar invested in the programs.
• Medical costs are expected to exceed 16 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 and to grow at 7.2 percent annually through 2015, when health expenditures will account for 20 percent of GDP:
 • Per capita health costs in the U.S. are the highest in the world and more than double the median for OECD countries,  yet the United States ranks 26th in terms of healthy life expectancy.  
 • Medicaid is the second largest item in most state budgets, and its portion of the total budgets is increasing each year.
 • Rising health costs for U.S. businesses continue to outpace general inflation, averaging 12 percent per year for the past 10 years.   This trend is causing a tremendous financial hardship on U.S. businesses.

1. Senior management involvement in the Corporate Wellness Program- Evidence of enthusiastic commitment and involvement of senior management helps workers understand their businesses’ serious commitment to health.  Employees need to perceive that their senior management, supervisors, and coworkers have positive attitudes toward health since these factors have all been associated with improved employee health status.   Management-related factors have been shown to contribute more to success than the content of the intervention. 

2. Participatory planning – A Corporate Wellness Program should be undertaken in partnership with the workforce.  Employees from all levels of staff should be actively engaged in the health and management aspects of the project as well as all on-going processes of any Corporate Wellness Program.  Planning must also include processes for maintaining communication with all staff and building their commitment to the process.   Beginning Corporate Wellness Program steering committees to lead interventions during the planning and delivery of workplace health promotion programming improves worker awareness, participation, and satisfaction. Worker committees may identify perceived worker interests regarding educational programming, determine work site-specific characteristics that may affect the intervention or influence participation, and suggest the best methods for promotion and delivery of Corporate Wellness Programs and activities.  Ways to maximize worker input and involvement might include interest surveys, focus groups, and peer counsellors. 

3. Primary focus on workers’ needs – A Corporate Wellness Program should meet the needs of all workers, regardless of their current level of health and recognize the needs, preferences, and attitudes of different groups of participants. Program designers should consider the major health risks in the target population, the specific risks within the particular group of workers, and the employer’s needs.   In other words, interventions should be tailor-made to the characteristics and needs of the recipients.   This means that different programs must be offered at different levels.   Participation and commitment may be increased if a group of workers has the opportunity to address a specific modifiable risk factor of their choice.  

4. Optimal use of on-site resources – Planning and implementation of Corporate Wellness Programs should optimize use of on-site personnel, physical resources, and organizational capabilities.   For example, whenever possible, initiatives should use on-site health and safety, management, work organization, communication, HR, and other specialists.   Well-qualified external leadership may be introduced when in-house expertise is lacking. 

5. Integration – An overall workplace health policy should be developed.  The policies governing the health of the employees must align with the corporate mission, vision, and values, supporting both short- and long-term objectives. These consistent policies must affirm the value of worker health and a commitment to engage workers in health enhancement.  Corporate Wellness Program Procedures should be integrated into a company’s regular management practices and eventually should be formally incorporated into the company’s corporate plan  with adequate resources attached to them.

6. Recognition that a person’s health is determined by an interdependent set of factors – Any Corporate Wellness Program must address multiple components of an individual’s life:
 • the workplace physical and psychosocial setting;
 • their personal resources such as social support, sense of empowerment, etc.; and
 • their lifestyle practices influencing health.  
 
7. Tailoring to the special features of each workplace setting  – Corporate Wellness Programs must be responsive to the unique needs of each workplace’s procedures, organization and culture.   Integrating health behaviors and program participation into the existing corporate culture will normalize program participation.

8. Corporate Wellness Program Assessment – Project management should flow through needs analysis, determining priorities, planning, implementation, continuous monitoring, and evaluation.   Assessment must include a clearly-defined range of process measures and outcomes  as well as mechanisms for monitoring the impact of non-intervention workplace changes such as plant closure, major workplace re-organization, and new technology on staff health. 

9. Long-term commitment – To sustain the benefits of the Corporate Wellness Program, the worksite must continue the initiative over time, reinforcing risk-reduction behaviours and adapting the programs to ongoing personal, social, economic, and workplace changes.

Introduction to Corporate Wellness Programs

Risky health behaviors by workers cost a company. Changing those behaviors can save the employer money and raise the worker’s productivity.

Because work gives an worker a stable setting and support system, Corporate Wellness Programs can have a great impact on decreasing high-risk behaviors. This impact results in reduce health claims cost, less rates of absenteeism, and less short-term disability.

Corporate Wellness Programs may include:

Awareness Rasing Programs: Health and wellness newsletters, health topics covered in payroll stuffers, healthy emails.

Health Risk Assessment: Employee health screenings, wellness fairs / health fairs, health rist assessments.

Educational Programs: Lunch and Learn wellness seminars, guest speakers at staff meetings.

Skill Building: Healthy cooking demostrations, activity challenges, CPR instruction opportunites, stress management classes, weight management classes.

Interventions: Massage, smoking cessation, and skills to help you get the most out of your doctor visit.

Physical setting: Healthy items in the vending machines and cafeterias, clean air practices, ergonomics, bike racks, flex time, welllit stairways.

Assessment: Worker needs assessment, baseline Corporate Wellness Program evaluation measures, ongoing Corporate Wellness Program evaluation of overall effectiveness.

Why Offer Corporate Wellness Programs

The typical employer spends about $8,000 a year on an employee’s health care. This includes health insurance, disability and worker’s compensation. As these costs climb, health insurance is expected to rise at least 10 percent per year.

A 1999 study showed that businesses using Corporate Wellness Programs had a return on investment from $1.49 – $13 in benefits per dollar spent. The amount depended on the nature of the Corporate Wellness Programs used. (S. Aldana, American Journal of Wellness, 2001; 15:296-320)

One study showed that a “stop smoking” element to Corporate Wellness Programs may save between $404 -$40,829 per employee, depending on the age and sex of the worker.

The Corporate Wellness Programs at Traveler’s Company included a self-care book, a newsletter, single-topic brochures, and videotapes. The Corporate Wellness Programs saved the company $7.8 million in employee benefi t costs, decreased doctor visits, and it lowered rates of absenteeism by 1.2 days per worker per year. The estimated Corporate Wellness Programs ROI was $3.40 per dollar spent.

In 1998, the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) reported a study of 46,026 workers from six large businesses for three years. Employees with an inactive lifestyle had 10 percent higher costs; workers with depression had 70 percent higher costs.

Benefits of Corporate Wellness Programs

Increased Productivity – The Canada Life Assurance Company realized a 4 percent increase in productivity after starting an employee fitness program.

Increased Job Satisfaction – According to employee opinion surveys conducted by the Silverstone Group about thier Corporate Wellness Programs, workers’ morale increased, which helped support a more creative work setting.

Enhanced Recruitment & Retention – In the midst of a tight labor market, Corporate Wellness Programs could be a vital tool to draw new recruits.

Decreased Absenteeism – Canada Life Assurance Company’s rates of absenteeism dropped 42 percent among workers in the Corporate Wellness Programs.

Decreased Workers Comp & Disability – In one year, Boeing Company’s number of back injuries decreased by 34 percent. Six million dollars was saved by tracking injuries as they occurred.

Managed Medical Care Costs – Golden, Colorado Adolf Coors Company’s Corporate Wellness Programs returned $6.19 for every dollar spent.

Why have Corporate Wellness Program objectives?

Corporate Wellness Program objectives take your employer’s priorities for employee health improvement and make them specific and measurable. Well-defined Corporate Wellness Program objectives provide direction for deciding on Procedures and a basis for which to measure progress.

Writing Corporate Wellness Program objectives

Writing Corporate Wellness Program objectives is not complicated or difficult. It does require some thought, about your employer’s Corporate Wellness Program vision for a culture of health and they should be:
 
 Specific Corporate Wellness Program Goals
 Measurable Corporate Wellness Program Goals
 Attainable Corporate Wellness Program Goals
 Realistic Corporate Wellness Program Goals
 Timely Corporate Wellness Program Goals

Specific Corporate Wellness Program Goals: What is the specific outcome your employer is looking for? “Reduce tobacco use among workers” is more specific than “Improve the health of workers.” You may wish to write some objectives about specific outcomes (reducing smoking among workers) and other objectives about specific progress (implementing a tobacco-free campus policy or decreasing the price of fresh fruit in the cafeteria to 25 cents a piece).

Measurable Corporate Wellness Program Goals: Making your objectives measurable provides a means of evaluating your progress and success. There is an adage: “what gets measured, gets done.” Measurable objectives can be powerful motivators for your employer. “Provide more time for workers to be physically active” is much less measurable than “implement a daily 15-minute walking break into the schedule of all workers.” “Increase the number of workers who want to quit smoking” is less measurable than “increase enrollments in the stop-smoking program to 120 workers per year.”

Attainable Corporate Wellness Program Goals: Determine objectives that challenge your employer to change and that will demonstrate a real commitment to the health of the employees. At the same time, set objectives that are achievable. Goals that are set too far out of reach can be overwhelming and may become a barrier rather than a motivator.

Realistic Corporate Wellness Program Goals: Write objectives that are do-able, given the skills, time, finances and overall strategy of the employer. A realistic project may push the skills and knowledge of the people working on it but it shouldn’t break them.

Timely Corporate Wellness Program Goals: When do you hope to achieve the goal? Next week? Next year? Without a timeframe, the goal is still not clear and is much less likely to galvanize resources and energy within your employer.

“Reduce the percent of workers who use tobacco from 20 percent to 10 percent” is much less of a challenge than “By the end of 2010, reduce the percent of workers who use tobacco from 20 percent to 15 percent”.

If your employer is interested in measuring the impact of your Corporate Wellness Program efforts in future years, you’ll want to gather relevant baseline data on the health and health behaviors of your worker population.

Corporate Wellness Program Data on your worker population

Health Risk Assessments

Some health plans offer businesses free online health risk assessments (HRA), complete with summary aggregate reports. If your health plan does not offer a free HRA, you could pay for an HRA either through your health plan or through a third party vendor.

To encourage participating in an HRA, assure workers of confidentiality and consider providing rewards for completing the assessment. The higher the participation rate, the more likely that the aggregate data will accurately represent the behaviors and risks of your worker population.

Corporate Wellness Program Health Surveys

You can get a general sense of workers’ health-related attitudes and behaviors using a “lowtech” paper survey. As with a health risk assessment, workers will be more likely to respond to a survey if there is an incentive and if they are confident that their responses are confidential. Remember that without widespread participation you’ll only get a “feel” for worker behaviors rather than a statistically accurate picture.

Corporate Wellness Program Focus Groups and Informational Interviews

The information you can collect from focus groups or informational interviews with workers is an important supplement to the anonymous survey or HRA data. Listening to workers discuss their attitudes, values, receptivity and barriers related to health provides a wealth of information on which to base decisions on how to improve your employer’s Corporate Wellness Program. Corporate Wellness Program focus groups are especially useful for getting information from hard-to-reach worker populations, such as those for whom English is a learned language.

Keep Corporate Wellness Program focus groups small (8-19 workers, ideally all of a similar job class). If possible, offer rewards such as movie tickets or lunch, to recruit participants. Develop a list of open-ended questions in advance and allow 60-90 minutes for the discussion.

Informational interviews are an alternative to Corporate Wellness Program focus groups. The Corporate Wellness Program coordinator of your health improvement Procedures or selected members of the Health and Wellness Committee can conduct one-on-one interviews with workers in a variety of positions to better understand their attitudes, interests and barriers related to a) health behaviors and b) the workplace policies, settings and practices.

Population data

If data on the employee population are not available, you can use state or national data to estimate the prevalence of risk behaviors among workers.

In addition to looking at the health behaviors of workers, take a good look at your employer. The following questions can help you identify opportunities for your employer to support and encourage healthy behaviors among workers.

A strong foundation for employee health improvement

1. To what extent does the senior management in your employer actively and visibly support the Corporate Wellness Program?

__ No support for the Corporate Wellness Program
__ Support, but not at senior level
__ Support at senior level, but not visible to workers
__ Strong and visible Corporate Wellness Program support
Comments:

2. Is the Corporate Wellness Program tied to your employer’s mission statement?

__ No
__ Yes, the Corporate Wellness Program is tied to business plan OR mission statement
__ Yes, the Corporate Wellness Program is tied to both business plan and mission statement
Comments:

3. Is there an worker within your employer whose job responsibilities include Corporate Wellness Program coordination?

__ No
__ Yes, but has little time available to dedicate to Corporate Wellness Program
__ Yes, and has at least part of the job dedicated to Corporate Wellness Program
__ Yes, and has at least one full-time position dedicated to Corporate Wellness Program
__ Yes, and has at least part of the job dedicated to wellness AND has a background that includes Corporate Wellness Program qualifications
__ Yes, our employer has at least one full-time position dedicated to health improvement AND the worker’s background includes Corporate Wellness Program qualifications
Comments:

4. Does your employer have an active wellness committee with diverse representation?

__ No (does not have a Health and Wellness Committee, or has a committee that doesn’t meet)
__ Yes, we have a Health and Wellness Committee, but with limited representation
__ Yes, we have a Health and Wellness Committee with widespread representation
__ Yes, we have a Health and Wellness Committee with widespread representation AND committee involvement is a component of each representative’s job responsibilities
Comments:

5. Does your employer have an annual budget for Corporate Wellness Program expenses? (Corporate Wellness Program expenses may be associated with providing a health assessment, paying for behavior change programs/coaching programs, covering rewards that encourage healthy behaviors, subsidizing healthy food options, communications and programs around specific health topics, fitness centers/walking paths, etc).

__ No
__ Yes, but funds are earmarked for Corporate Wellness Programs (e.g. only for Weight Watchers or fitness discounts) and do not meet all existing Corporate Wellness Program needs
__ Yes, funds are available to meet current Corporate Wellness Program needs
Comments:

6. Does your employer have a plan for engaging workers in the Corporate Wellness Program?

__ No
__ Yes, we have a communications plan for our Corporate Wellness Program
__ Yes, we have a communication plan AND we offer meaningful incentives or rewards (such as premium discounts or debit cards) for the Corporate Wellness Program to engage in healthy behaviors.
Comments:

A data-based approach to the Corporate Wellness Program

7. Does your employer have clearly stated Corporate Wellness Program objectives and priorities for employee health improvement?

__ No
__ Yes
__ Yes, data (e.g. HRA, claims, productivity) are the basis for defining Corporate Wellness Program objectives or priorities
__ Yes, data AND evidence-based best practices are a basis for defining Corporate Wellness Program objectives or priorities
__ Yes, data and best practices are basis for defining Corporate Wellness Program objectives or priorities as well as measuring Corporate Wellness Program progress (evaluation)
Comments:

8. Has your employer completed a Health Risk Assessment?

__ No
__ Yes, but more than 2 years ago
__ Yes, within the last two years, and achieved a participation rate of less than 50 percent
__ Yes, within the last two years, and achieved a 50 percent – 79 percent participation rate
__ Yes, within the last two years, and achieved an 80 percent or greater participation rate
Comments:

A workplace setting that supports healthy behaviors

9. Does your employer’s tobacco reduction strategy reflect best practices?

(Check all that apply)
__ A no-tobacco use policy that includes both buildings AND grounds
__ 100 percent coverage for the cost of over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapy
__ Worker access to – and strong promotion of — a tailored stop-smoking program
Comments:

10. Does your employer provide opportunities (time and places) for physical activity during the work day?

__ No
__ Yes, indoor places for physical activity (on-site fitness center) OR outdoor places for physical activity (walking paths)
__ Yes, both indoor AND outdoor places for physical activity
__ Yes, indoor and outdoor opportunities AND workers can use work time for physical activity
Comments:

11. Does your employer promote healthy eating by providing access to fruits and vegetables?

__ No
__ Yes, fruits and vegetables are available at the workplace (in vending machines, break areas, or cafeterias)
__ Yes, fruits and vegetables are available and discounted at the workplace
Comments:

Benefits that support employee health improvement

12. Does your employer provide workers with self-care resources?

(Check all that apply)
__ Distribution of self-care books
__ online access to health information
__ Nurse advice line
Comments:

13. Which of the following preventive services are covered at 100 percent by your employer’s health benefits?

(Check all that apply)
__ Vision screening
__ Hearing
__ Immunizations (per CDC/ACIP recommendations)
__ Radiology
__ Laboratory services
__ STD screening
__ Preventive health examination for adults
__ Cancer screen (includes: colon, cervical, breast, prostate and ovarian cancers)
__ Contraceptive management
Comments:

14. Which of the following are included in your employer’s pharmacy benefit?

(Check all that apply)
__ Mail order or other 90-day supply option for medications
__ Specialty pharmacy network
__ Incentive-based tiered formulary design
Comments:

15. Do your employer’s health benefits provide coverage for behavioral health (such as depression, mental illness, counseling, stress management, and chemical dependency)?

__ Yes, at the same level as health benefits
__ Yes, but at a lower level (less coverage) than health benefits
__ No coverage for mental or behavioral health
Comments:

Why it’s important and how to do it

The Corporate Wellness Program Vision

A Corporate Wellness Program vision statement is a concise statement that summarizes the purpose and objectives of your employer’s commitment to starting a Corporate Wellness Program. Taking the time to clarify and describe your employer’s Corporate Wellness Program vision can provide a focus and a consistent direction for your Procedures for years to come. The vision statement reminds leaders and workers of the link between worker health and the employer’s ability to achieve its overall mission.

Answer the following questions and you’ll have the components needed to build a simple and powerful Corporate Wellness Program vision for your employer’s culture of health:

 • What do you want your Corporate Wellness Program to accomplish?
 • How do you plan to accomplish it?
 • How does this Corporate Wellness Program mission support or further the employer’s mission?

A sample Corporate Wellness Program vision statement might be . . .

 To have workers who perform at their best and who enable XYZ Corporation to be an industry leader in printing quality and customer service (employer’s mission), XYZ Corporation is committed to providing opportunities for healthy behaviors during the workday (how) in order to encourage workers not to smoke, to be active, and to eat healthfully (what).

The Corporate Wellness Program Brand

In the same way that your employer’s name and brand image provide visibility for your business, your Procedures toward starting a Corporate Wellness Program will benefit from being easily recognizable to workers:

 • A consistently used Corporate Wellness Program brand on all communications sends a message to workers that the commitment to a culture of health is here to stay.
 • A Corporate Wellness Program brand institutionalizes the culture and makes it more likely to withstand changes in staff and budget.

Do what you can to engage workers in starting the identity (brand) for your employer’s Corporate Wellness Program. Not only are they more likely to accept the name, it’s also a great way to announce to workers the employer’s Corporate Wellness Program commitment. Here are two possible approaches to involving workers:

Option 1: Have a Corporate Wellness Program contest

 1. Announce the Corporate Wellness Program contest guidelines and deadline.
 2. Have the Health and Wellness Committee review the ideas submitted, and choose a name.

  If, for example, your company, Premier Building and Design, is in the commercial construction business, you might receive the following Corporate Wellness Program ideas from workers:

  • Cornerstone: Feeling well is what it’s all about
  • Premier Elements: Building healthier workers
  • Custom Build: Building health builds wealth
  • Building Health: Designing better worker health

  After reviewing the entries, your Health and Wellness Committee determines that it likes the name “Premier Elements” and the subtitle “Building health builds wealth”. Your committee awards the “name the Corporate Wellness Program contest” prize to the two workers, those who submitted the pieces of the name that represent the final product.

 Premier Elements: Building health builds wealth

 3. Choose a Corporate Wellness Program logo to go with the name.

  The Corporate Wellness Program logo is an important piece of the branding

  • Review any ideas submitted for Corporate Wellness Program logos.
  • If you’re fortunate to have a graphic design professional at your company, enlist her or his help with developing the Corporate Wellness Program logo!
  • As an alternative, choose a piece of clip-art that fits with the Corporate Wellness Program name you’ve selected. For example, the company referenced above might look for a symbol that conveys building, health and wealth.

Option 2: Health and Wellness Committee determines the name and brand

 1. Have your Health and Wellness Committee brainstorm Corporate Wellness Program names.
  • To get ideas flowing, ask members to write down all health-related words and words associated with your employer or industry.
  • Try clustering words together as in the construction company example above.
 2. Once your Health and Wellness Committee has narrowed down the possibilities to about three ideas, have committee members vote to select a name for your culture of health.
 3. Choose a Corporate Wellness Program logo to go with the winning name.
 4. Announce the employer’s Corporate Wellness Program and the corresponding Corporate Wellness Program name. Explain that workers on the advisory committee chose the name.