Employee Wellness : What is a Worksite Wellness Program?

According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of ideal health. Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle modification can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, change behavior, and establish environments that support good health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”

Worksite Wellness Program: Action Steps

The process of building a Worksite Health Promotion Program involves:

• Identifying the current health status of your staff members
• Determining the appropriate programs and interventions to offer
• Promoting and implementing the programs
• Building in motivational incentives and rewards
• Measuring the influence
• Revising programs based on assessment outcomes

It may even include beginning policies and procedures that support employee participation in wellness activities at your workplace (such as flextime).

Steps to Starting a Company Wellness Program

• Conduct an corporation assessment
• Obtain senior staff support
• Establish a Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee
• Get employee input
• Develop objectives and goals
• Design and start program activities
• Identify incentives
• Evaluate outcomes

One of the ways the government plans to improve the nation’s health is through accross the board Employee Wellness Programs. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help employees live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior change programs. In fact, one of the goals of Healthy People 2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to stimulate the proportion of employees that take part in a accross the board Employee Wellness Program at their worksite to 75 percent.