Category — Worksite Wellness

When staffing your wellness program you need to consider whether to hire a wellness staff or contract with wellness specialists from outside your organization.

Small and medium size worksites don’t typically have a wellness specialist on staff. If your worksite is in this category, you’ll need to contract with providers outside your business.

Large businesses have several choices. They can hire a staff solely for the wellness program, they can contract with outside wellness providers, or they can use a combination of internal staff and outside providers.

When selecting  a provider some key questions in the areas of staff, program structure, process, and effectiveness need to be addressed. Each of these key questions is discussed in the following sections.

Wellness Corporation Staff

Health professionals become wellness professionals when they’re trained in the full range of wellness activities. Wellness professionals are generalists who come from a broad variety of backgrounds and schooling.

They may be nurses, dietitians, health educators, counselors, exercise physiologists, or have other backgrounds. But further to their primary training, they know something about all wellness topics, including smoking, stress, exercise, and nutrition.

They also know how to engage and support people  in making and sustaining health improvements and have good people  skills.

Normally, wellness specialists at worksites fall into three broad categories, wellness screeners, wellness counselors, and wellness instructors.

• Wellness screeners introduce workers to the program, take health measurements, collect health-related information, provide initial counseling, and help workers define for themselves what they need and want in a wellness program.

• Wellness counselors work with employees after the screening to help them create and carry out a plan to reduce their risks and improve their health.

• Wellness instructors teach courses and minigroups on different health topics.

A wellness program in a small business may be staffed by a single staff individuals who fills all three roles. Larger worksites will use different individuals  to fill these roles.

When selecting  staff or selecting  among wellness corporations, ask the following questions –

• Do prospective employees have a range of health backgrounds that’ll provide appropriate expertise in the topics to be addressed?

• Have prospective workers functioned well as wellness screeners, wellness counselors, and/or wellness instructors?

• Will this staff include people  from the ethnic and racial backgrounds found in your staff member population?

• is each employee comfortable with the range of backgrounds found in your employee population, and able to communicate effectively with the various social and educational levels of your employees?

• Do staff members have a warm, but expert, counseling style when interacting with employees?

An annual plan for the major wellness programs and activities is a useful management tool. This is an excellent wellness committee task. Often an activity and wellness theme per month is offered to employees.

Some organizations choose to follow a National Health Observances calendar which offers advantages. the materials developed by these various national health organizations are very credible. the materials are typically high quality and available free or at a nominal cost.

The company benefits from additional publicity that occurs in various media throughout the community related to the national observance. for planning suggestions you may want to utilize the HOPE Publications Wellness Resource Planning Guide available for free at this Web site.

A Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal}  is sometimes used in conjunction with a biometric testing. an HRA is a computerized assessment tool which looks at an individual’s family history, health status, and lifestyle.

An HRA seeks to identify precursors associated with premature death or serious disease and quantifies the probable impact for each individual.

An HRA instrument is derived from an understanding of the while a illness. Based on this understanding, useful prediction instruments may be constructed to assess the health risks of an individual. Individuals with a higher number of health risks tend to have more serious health problems over time.

Drawing attention to their health risks can help customers reduce risk factors which lead to the onset of unnecessary illness and subsequent premature death.

The questionnaire covers lifestyle habits (such as use of tobacco, seat belt use, and exercise) and physical measures (such as cholesterol, blood pressure levels, height, and weight).

For accuracy, it is vital to obtain direct measures of blood pressure, cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol. the HRA also provides recommendations and indicates what risks are modifiable. Kinds of measures to assess health risks are discussed under Screening Programs.

The impact of a health risk (assessment|appraisal} is much greater when it is given in-person, with immediate feedback to the customer. This also provides an opportunity to invite the customer’s participation in continuing health counseling and to gain their written consent to do pro-active outreach to them.

A health age may be computed based on the individual answers to the questionnaire and physiologic factors. the health age might indicate the individual to be younger or older than their chronological age.

HRA programs are one the most prolific types of wellness activities utilized by organizations. Continuing research on HRAs is examining the efficacy of this tool.

One of the large benefits of this tool is that it can provide an aggregate group report of a business and may be utilized as an evaluation tool.

Detailed information is available from the Society of Prospective Medicine (www.spm.org/desc.html) who publishes a handbook on HRAs.

The most common screening performed in wellness programs is heart health assessment.

The screening can include a written heart health test, blood pressure (BP) measurement, cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol test, glucose (blood sugar), weight, educational materials specific to diet, nutrition, exercise, cholesterol, smoking, and weight.

The health expert conducting the screening then provides a consultation and assists set objectives with the participant.

The backbone of wellness programming at the worksite is health testing. It is the first major activity a corporation ought to do when first beginning a wellness program.

Medical screening is often used coupled with the administration of a Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal} .

The most effective way to screen is to utilize a health expert trained in wellness screening techniques and counseling to privately and individually assess participants.

This wellness specialist takes a brief health history and measures blood pressure and cholesterol. With computerized cholesterol desktop analyzers, results are acquired in about four minutes.

Immediate feedback, consultation, and educational materials are provided. for those identified at-risk, follow-up appointments may be scheduled at this time. the whole process takes about twenty minutes per individual.

The screening also provides an immediate opportunity to register participants in various health betterment programs based on their interests and identified health risks.

Medical screening could be done on an annual basis and used as a means of monitoring health risks within the worksite.

A health screening program needs to provide multiple opportunities for participation. the service must be provided for all the various shifts of a business. the screening program must be conducted in highly visible areas so the process can be observed.

Reluctant employees often like to be able to see what the program is about before they participate. When wellness screeners aren’t busy, they should perform outreach going to areas where employees gather and attempt to recruit employees.

When well-planned and promoted, medical testing can attract participation rates of 60 percent to 100 percent. These high participation rates have a positive impact on management producing support for further programming.

Objectives are broad-based statements about what the program is expected to do. the goal of the wellness program is to enhance the health of the individual and the organization. Objectives like mission statements provide direction in a program.   

Goals are specific and provide a means of measurement of the program to determine effectiveness. There are two kinds of objectives, process and outcome.    

Process goals state the activities that need to occur to achieve a desired outcome.

Examples of process objectives are –

• Number of participants screened

• Number of participants in and completing health improvement programs

• Satisfaction of program participants

• Number of participants who were medically referred and saw their physician

• Number of promotional activities

• Number of participants seen in follow-up

Example of outcome objectives are –

• Number of participants who improved fitness level

• Number of participants who decreased cholesterol level

• Number of participants who lost weight, body fat

• Number of participants who quit use of tobacco

• Number of participants with high blood pressure who reduced their blood pressure

• Number of participants whose initial level of alcohol consumption put them at-risk who are no longer at-risk

• Number of participants with risk factors who saw their doctor and are being treated for high blood pressure or cholesterol years later

Wellness committees are important in that they create a sense of ownership in the program, and facilitate various tasks involved in wellness programming at the workplace.

The committee ought to be composed of a cross-section of workers representing various occupations, levels, and subgroups with the organization.

A common mistake is filling the committee with the most health/fitness-conscious people  in the company. Don’t rely solely on volunteers to fill a committee. Be sure that your committee members have enough power in the company to run an effective wellness program.

The wellness committee is made up of workers from the workplace. It oversees the wellness program and assists carry it out.

The committee should meet about once a month to review the previous month’s activities and plan future ones. When the program is just beginning, the committee may meet weekly until things get going.

Committee members do not carry out medical procedures, counsel clients, or handle confidential medical information. Wellness specialists perform these tasks.

In general, the committee’s duties fall into three areas –  planning, promoting, and helping to run programs.

Planning the programs can include –

• Locating space for activities

• Planning and organizing worksite-wide events such as contests

• Reviewing reports prepared by the program staff and making recommendations

Promoting the program can include –

• Recruiting workers to participate in screening and health betterment programs

• Encouraging staff members to participate in follow-up counseling

• Organizing promotional strategies using newsletters, signs, bulletin boards, computers, and other media available within the workplace

Assisting to run the program can include –

• Establishing up equipment for various activities

• Helping to conduct worksite-wide activities

• Monitoring all activities and evaluating  the performance of the specialist staff

• Acting as wellness mentors to fellow workers

The size of the wellness committee will be dependent on the size of the organization. Choose members by asking day management to nominate or appoint employees.

Make an announcement through flyers, memos, and meetings to recruit potential members. Explain the purpose of the committee, duties and responsibilities, and the time commitment.

Recognize your wellness committee volunteers. Allow them to participate in programs at a lowered cost. Hold appreciation breakfasts/lunches/dinners.

Print names of committee members on company communications about the wellness program.

Purchase special T-shirts, caps, and buttons for them. Write letters to supervisors saying that you appreciate the member’s service. Develop awards certificates for members.

The following could be used as a guide for committee size –    

• Less than 300 employees   2 to 4

• 300 to 1,000 employees   4 to 6

• 1,000 workers or more   6 to 12

Effective wellness programs recognize the importance of building a supportive cultural environment. the workplace culture includes shared values/heartfelt beliefs about what is important. It includes social standards of expected and accepted behavior called “cultural norms.”

It includes colleague support from family, friends, and colleagues. This support can help one adopt healthy lifestyles. Tools are available to audit a corporation.

The long-term success of any wellness program is dependent on the corporate culture.

Some healthy culture signs in a company are –

• Staff Members communicate openly

• Leaders support diversity and opinion

• Employees have fun

• Policies support wellness

• Workers are encouraged to grow

• Workers work together as a team

• Employees’ skills and talents are matched to their jobs.

• Flexible work schedules are available

• Companys consider workers as their most asset

Effective wellness programs try to create healthy workplace climates. A healthy workplace climate is one which encourages teamwork, cooperation, and empowerment of the individual.

Individuals  have a sense of community, a shared vision, and a positive outlook. Policies promote and support wellness efforts within the workplace.

• Effective programs identify ways that business policies and organizational traditions encourage wellness.

• Effective programs work at the group and organizational level to build support for healthy lifestyle choices.

• Effective programs set clear target objectives and objectives for the health improvement of the worksite.

An initial medical testing can include a recent survey of employees’ interests as part of the assessment. Successful wellness programs are designed to meet the needs and interests of the employees.

The information you need to get from a recent survey depends on the scope of your program. A sample survey can be obtained in the HOPE Publications Web site.

If you plan to adapt this sample survey or develop your own survey, keep the following hints in mind –

• Ask mainly closed-choice questions, particularly when you’ll be sending the survey to a large number of staff members. Closed-choice questions provide specific options and are easy to tabulate. You might want to use a computer for data entry and analysis.

• Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions after the survey. Open-ended items are more challenging to summarize.

• Include a brief explanatory cover letter with the survey with the signature of the corporation president. Make certain to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.

• Ask a group of representative staff members to review the survey before it’s distributed. Find out when the questions will be understood by staff members and won’t be objected to.

• Include demographic information at the starting or end of the survey. Consider various ways that you could analyze the responses by demographic characteristics (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).

When considering who should get the survey, a simple rule is when you have under 500 workers, everybody should receive one. the public relations advantage of everybody receiving a recent survey can be significant.

Over 500 staff members, a sample of the work population will suffice. A sample saves on costs and time. You may want to consider consulting with a statistician to determine an appropriate sample size for your worksite.

Needs surveys are confidential and anonymous; they don’t request information that may identify a person.

Getting support from management is critical to the success of the program.

One way to do this is to survey managers (see forms) and conduct interviews with decision-makers in the organization. You can use the surveys here or make up your own.

If you decide to do your own, keep the survey short. It should not take more than ten minutes to complete.

The interview process can also serve as a means of educating management. Give concise fact sheets on the benefits of wellness programs for management.

When surveys and interviews are completed, tally the surveys and write brief summaries of the interviews. Give these reports to management.

Once completed present a brief executive summary to management. Highlight a few intriguing findings that may be used immediately to make decisions about the program.

Utilize charts and graphs to make your points. Prepare a detailed report for wellness committee members itemizing each response. Provide a short article about the survey in the company newsletter.

The higher the response the more exact and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is acceptable.