Employee Health Promotion

Before you start creating your Employee Health Promotion you need to know where
you are now and then decide where you want to go. Attaining a thorough needs
assessment is vital to the effectiveness of your wellness program for two reasons:
First it ensures that your Employee Health Promotion activities will be targeted
to meet your company’s specific needs so that outcomes can be achieved.
Secondly the needs assessment supplies the information you will need to evaluate
the effectiveness of your wellness program.

It is often tempting to rush the assessment – especially when time is short
or those with experience already have an idea of needs. Do not give in to this
temptation! It is essential that you be aware of what your organization needs
are, what senior staff expects, and what employees want as well as expect, before
you begin a Employee Health Promotion .

Consider and gather data on:

• Employee Demographic Information
• Employee Health Risk Factors
• Health Claims
• Injury Rates & Causes
• Workers’ Compensation Claims
• Short and Long Term Disability Claims
• Absenteeism
• Employer Culture Audits
• Employee perceived needs and health risks
• Senior Management’s expectations or desired outcomes

There are many ways to evaluate this information. Although some of data gathering
process may be time consuming, remember that it is nonetheless essential to
plan programs that target specific problems. This information will be essential
to set goals/objectives and for evaluating program effectiveness. How else can
you know if outcomes have been achieved?

Options to help gather the information:

• Confidential Health Risk Appraisals with a Employer Group Summary Report
  click here for more information on Health Risk Appraisals or Assessments
• Wellness Screenings such as cholesterol, Blood Pressure (BP) and blood
  glucose click here for additional information on health screenings.
• Employee Needs and Interest Surveys
• Suggestion boxes placed around the organization
• Focus Groups or hosting a luncheon meeting as a focus group
• Sending out a confidential email questionnaire
• Review records and databases including OSHA logs, first aid reports, insurance
  costs

Once your needs assessment is complete, the Employee Health Promotion Committee
can review the outcome and start creating and prioritizing program options.
Creating must be based upon goals/objectives and identified outcomes, Step 4
of the seven step process!

A Employee Health Promotion without goals/objectives is somewhat akin to taking
a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re
going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even
whether or not you have arrived! The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.
Yet, with a modest amount of thoughtful planning, you broaden your chances for
a successful experience. Clear goals/objectives are required to plan your wellness
program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program goals/objectives are different from one organization to another
depending on the population, needs, interests and resources. However, well thought
out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the
foundation of a successful wellness program!

Employee Health Promotion Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Employee Health Promotion
. The mission statement is the central expression of what the Employee Health
Promotion Committee wants to accomplish by launching a wellness program. It
is important to consider how your Employee Health Promotion fits in with the
organization mission statement, contributes to the central mission and supports
the organization bottom line. This will integrate your efforts throughout the
organization operations.

Below are some examples of Employee Health Promotion mission statements:

“At XYZ Employer, maintaining an environment that supports employee health
and safety is our underlying value. It is the mission of the Employee Health
Promotion to help in planning Employee Health Promotion services that fosters
and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Employee Health Promotion Committee to
foster healthier lifestyle choices to reduce health risk factors, improve central
wellness, and maintain a productive, active work force.”

Employee Health Promotion Goals

The goals/objectives further define your mission and are based on your needs
assessment. Depending on the needs assessment, senior staff expectations and
employee interests, examples of goals/objectives can include:

The objective(s) of XYZ Employee Health Promotion in year XXXX is to: (one
or more of the following examples)

• Decrease absenteeism by one day per employee
• Lower musculoskeletal injuries by ten%
• Lower unnecessary emergency room visits
• Lower or contain health care costs
• Improve dietary habits of employees
• Lower health risk factors

Employee Health Promotion Objectives

Specific Employee Health Promotion objectives help meet your long-term goals/objectives.
Both short term and long term objectives must be developed as the stepping stones
to accomplish the goals/objectives. In addition to objectives for the expected
participant outcomes, process objectives must also be developed for the program
process itself. By way of example, process objectives may include the number
of employees you want to take part in the programs, the number of sessions on
a topic will be provided, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented,
etc.

Objectives need to be easily measurable within a set time frame. Try using
the SMART formula to create both your long and short-term goals/objectives:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be inspected or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method. By way of
example, an objective for a weight loss program that has an central objective
of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Members (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what
that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific
what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per participant (attainable
and realistic).

Or:

Members (who) will attend 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable)
and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific
what, when, where)

An example of an objective for coaching employees with elevated cholesterol
might be:

To reduce the total cholesterol (specific what) of high risk employees with
cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much)
through one-on-one counseling sessions provided at the worksite (where) by X
date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to
reduce the risk factor for heart disease (why).

And one last example of a process intention for a smoking cessation program
with an central objective to help participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week smoking cessation program, ten% of the participants
will have quit smoking. Each participant will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months
and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process
intention) and ten% of those who quit will still be tobacco-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including implementing your Employee
Health Promotion Committee. It is now time to plan your wellness activities!