Employee Health Promotion

Collaboration and Effective Employee Health Promotion Programs

Why should you collaborate?

Active, ongoing partnerships and cooperative efforts multiply Employee Health Promotion Program resources in order to better serve Employees and their families.

How can you build collaboration into a Employee Health Promotion Program?

Get Ready…
• Brainstorm a list of every potential Wellness partner you can think of. Be creative!
• Be a politician: introduce yourself to everyone BEFORE you need their help.
• Develop a plan to get Upper Management support from as high up the chain as possible. Ensure that to include specific ways that your Employee Health Promotion Program will impact force readiness.
• Determine how YOU can help your partners (not just what they can do for you).

Be Steady…
• Solicit input from everyone that your Employee Health Promotion Program will affect. Make a special effort to talk to the workers closest to Employee Health Promotion Program implementation (those with “boots on the ground”).
• Your most frequently asked questions should be: “What would you suggest?” and “How do you think this would work best?”
• Find someone who has done the same type of Employee Health Promotion Program before and ask their advice. (Hint: the Employee Health Promotion Program has a list of many Wellness POCs.)
• Plan NOW to show Employee Health Promotion Program effectiveness. Identify who may ALREADY BE COLLECTING information that will show the Employee Health Promotion Program is working.

Get Set…
• Step back and review your Employee Health Promotion Program from a potential partner’s point of view.
• Brainstorm questions your collaborators might have, and have the answers ready.
• Be ready to frame your “selling points” in terms that are important to each specific partner.
• Put the Employee Health Promotion Program benefits in language your collaborators will understand.
• Emphasize to potential partners how this Employee Health Promotion Program will provide benefit to them.

And Go…
• Build as many partnerships as you can BEFORE you implement a Employee Health Promotion Program.
• Make your partnerships a two-way street: always let your collaborators know what you can do for them – then follow-up and do what you say you would do.
• Maintain Upper Management support by providing a regular flow of information. Invite Upper Management participation in the Employee Health Promotion Program and special events whenever possible. (Hint: they make great judges if you have a contest.)
• Provide regular feedback to your collaborators.
• Don’t hog the spotlight: let your collaborators share in the visibility of the Employee Health Promotion Program.

Employee Health Promotion Programs at the corporate level are beneficial, right? Wellness statistics clearly show that such Employee Health Promotion Programs are not only cost-effective to the organization but can assist the worker in developing a healthier lifestyle. With the rising cost of health care, Employee Health Promotion Programs simply make sense. So where does the problem come in? Let’s examine the topic from both perspectives.

Employee Health Promotion Programs: The Good
• A sampling of return on investment for Employee Health Promotion Programs: Bank of America: 600%; General Motors:370%; Pepsico: 300%; Citibank: 465%; and the Washoe County School District leading the pack at a whopping 1,560%. (Campbell,J., Wellness Improvement Experts, www.wellnessimprovementexperts.com, Albuquerque, New Mexico.)
• Companies with Employee Health Promotion Programs have realized a 28% reduction in sick leave, a 26% reduction in adjunctive healthcare costs and a 30% reduction in disability and workers compensation costs. (Health Affairs, Volume 21, No.2, March, 2002.)
• The Washoe county School District in Northern Nevada realized a $15.60 return on investment for every dollar spent due to a 20% reduction in rates of absence. (Hardy,A. (2005). At the Top Of The Class. WELCOA’s Absolute Advantage Magazine, 5(1), 14-20.)
• Employee Health Promotion Programs provide the structure, encouragement, incentives and ongoing support that many individuals need in order to make lifestyle changes.
• Employees also realize returns on their efforts. FiServ, a financial services technology business, gave workers who filled out a health risk assessment a significant discount on their health insurance premium. (Holland, Kelley, The New York Times, July 22, 2007.)

Employee Health Promotion Programs: The Bad
The flip side of the argument centers on basic human rights. Do we want/need our employer to tell us to eat our veggies or lose 30 pounds? Some organizations are doing just that and at least one lawsuit has resulted because of it.
• Three hundred organizations have requested assistance from a national employment and labor law firm to institute more aggressive Employee Health Promotion Programs.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)
• Clarian Health, based in Indianapolis, Will start reducing worker paychecks by $10.00 for every worker who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of greater than 29.9 because not enough workers were utilizing their wellness services.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)
• Scott Rodrigues filed a suit against his prospective employer, Scotts Miracle-Gro, because he believed the business’s antismoking policy violated his civil rights. The business has a policy against hiring workers who smoke and Mr. Rodrigues’drug screen was positive for nicotine.(Holland, Kelley, The New York Times,July 22,2007.)
• worker advocates are concerned that health discrimination may not be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.(Cornwell, Lisa, Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, September 10,2007.)

Penalizing workers by hitting them hardest where it hurts the most, in their pocketbook, does not appear to be a a good approach to molding human behavior.
Such tactics may result in increased resentments and retaliation, primarily in the form of rates of absence and presenteeism (decreased productivity on the job.) Voluntary, incentive-based initiatives, such as the one in the Washoe County School District, can and do produce results. A positive attitude on the part of management along with an opportunity for workers to have a stake in the decision-making may yield the greatest dividends to both employer and worker.The motivation and resolve needed to change unhealthy lifestyle habits can best be derived from the basic tenets of encouragement, respect and support.