Creating an active Employee Health Promotion Committee provides opportunities for both upper management and employee participation in the program. The Wellness Committee ought to be a group of employees and managers who formally meet to plan activities to encourage healthier employee lifestyles. Typical Functions of a Employee Health Promotion Committee:

• Evaluating needs & interests
• Coming up with program ideas
• Starting activities
• Establishing communication plans
• Promoting programs to co-employees
• Serving as champions of the Employee Health Promotion Programs
• Assisting with evaluation

Your Employee Health Promotion Committee ought to be representative of all levels of the business. Consider all sections of the workforce – multiple sites, shift employees, diversity (race, gender, ethnicity), and departments. It’s also valuable to consider who will chair or co-chair the Employee Health Promotion Committee and whether or not there are the finances to support a Employee Health Promotion manager or occupational health consultant, even on a part-time or contractual basis. Click here for more information on the benefits of a health consultant. Depending on your business size and resources, if you already have a business Safety Committee you might want to think about making it the Safety & Employee Health Promotion Committee. You have the potential to request volunteers or invite employees to participate. The number of Employee Health Promotion Committee members depends on the size of your business; however, you need enough members to get the work done and yet not too many to keep it manageable, usually a minimum of 4 members and maximum of 12 to 15 members. It’s valuable to include skeptics of wellness as well and not just those employees already practicing healthy lifestyles. Depending on your worksite, consider representatives from the following areas:

• Employee representatives from a cross section of different departments
• Senior Leadership
• Health and safety consultant(s)
• Human resources consultant(s)
• Employee benefits representative or someone from finance
• Your EAP provider (if applicable), Click here for more information on EAPs
• Occupational health employee (if applicable).

Establish a strong Employee Health Promotion Committee! The Employee Health Promotion Committee ought to meet often with a planned agenda and action items. Effective Wellness Committees have a shared mission, vision and goals/objectives. Participants must believe that their participation is worthwhile and appreciated, that their work is valuable, benefits the organization and co-employees, and they are appreciated for their contributions. Refer to the NC Workplace Programs section for examples of what other organizations have implemented.

The program design options depend on the goals/objectives and desired outcomes of your program. If your objective is to help employees change behavior, decrease risk factors, or save healthcare money then your wellness program would be designed to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be necessary to support that design. Wellness program design options vary, depending on desired outcomes and budgets. Each level has advantages and disadvantages. The intentions or results are quite different, are not interchangeable in terms of obtaining similar results, and therefore ought not be confused. For example, planning activities such as an employee health & wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having brochures available do not usually result in behavior modification, but may increase awareness on a topic. If the objective is behavior modification then a different design is necessary, such as Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs and Corporation Support. The outline below describes the wellness design levels with a short explanation. Awareness Programs: At this level a business makes health information available and accessible to employees. This type of program often includes handouts on a variety of issues, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc. Also, most wellbeing and health fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors providing information and providing wellness screenings to employees. Awareness programs are cheap and do not require extensive employee or business time commitments. However, these programs do not usually yield behavior change. Improving awareness isn’t usually enough to generate lifestyle changes for most individuals, unless used to arouse employees to register for a program being available at the business or area on the topic. An example of this would be providing information on the harmful effects of smoking and inviting employees who use tobacco to register for a tobacco cessation class. Education Programs: Educational programs often offer more information on a topic and are able to also provide time for Q & A, but are similar to awareness programs. An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic. These cost the business a little more than awareness programs; however, they are still inexpensive and do not require a great deal of time for planning or attending a session. Again, increasing awareness and providing information may not lead to the desired behavior modification unless ongoing backing or incentives are also planned. Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs: These programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or sessions to offer wellbeing and health education, address barriers and offer opportunities to practice the desired skills. Behavior change programs therefore require more business resources, cost more, and also require more employee responsibility, time and effort. The results are often the desired positive lifestyle change, which if sustained can lead to potential cost savings. Examples include tobacco cessation classes, weight loss and weight management meetings, or an ongoing exercise program. Environmental and Corporation Support: Environmental backing is often considered the highest and most valuable level to include when beginning your wellness program in order to support and maintain healthy lifestyles. These types of design options include policy changes such as:

• Creating a smoke-free workplace
• Designating a walking path
• Creating worksite fitness centers
• Ensuring healthy vending machines selections
• Offering healthy diet choices in the cafeteria, and/or
• Creating flex-time policies.

Other examples include subsidizing healthy vending machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing gym or weight loss and weight management program memberships; or providing insurance incentives for healthy lifestyles. Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of each of these options. The more comprehensive the approach, the more successful the outcome will be. For example, a business can have smoking cessation information available; can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of smoking and how to quit; can enable an worksite tobacco cessation program, supply self quit smoking kits, or support employees to go to a area program; and/or on an environmental backing level can establish a smoke-free workplace and grounds, offer lower medical insurance for non-smokers, or offer pharmacological quit smoking aids for free.

Employee Health Promotion : Components for Success

There are many critical parts that need to be considered to see to the performance of your Employee Health Promotion or Employee Health Promotion . These include:

• Senior Leadership Support & Employee Participation
• Active Employee Health Promotion Committee
• Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
• Goals and Objectives are Established
• Detailed Action Plan Based upon Resources & Budget
• Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
• Assessment of Outcomes and Program

As with any program, the two most important elements for the performance of your wellness program are upper management backing & employee participation. Senior Leadership determines the vision and provides the resources from which action plans flow. Genuine backing from senior personnel also lends credibility to the wellness plan. It is critical a Chance to Give Recommendations on Each Assessment Tool Any one or combination of several techniques will ensure that the wellness program meets what employees want. Step 3 provides additional information on determining wellness program needs. But first, establishing a Employee Health Promotion Committee can help you involve upper management & employees, determine need, and plan your wellness program.

Major benefits of healthy employees include:

• Lower Healthcare expenditures
• Reduced Injuries
• Reduced Absenteeism
• Boosted Morale and Loyalty
• Increased Productivity
• Reduced Use of Healthcare Benefits
• Reduced Workers’ Comp/Disability
• Positive Image in Community
• Reduced Turnover
• Better recruitment for competent employees

What is NOT Having a Employee Health Promotion Costing Your Corporation?

Let us look at the health risk factors that are contributing to chronic diseases for adults:

• 59% of adults are overweight or obese
• More than 60% of American citizens do not get regular exercise
• More than 75% of American citizens do not get the minimum recommendations for fruits and vegetables
• Heart disease is the leading common cause of death and the # 1 cause of death in smokers
• 26% of employees reported they were often or very often burned out or stressed by their occupation

Healthcare expenditures are Rising: Healthcare costs are at a record figure of $1.7 trillion with no signs of holding steady, let alone going down. The average expense of yearly healthcare spending is over $5,000 per person and including dependents almost $10,000. Recent data shows that healthcare expenditures now cost North Carolina organizations thousands of dollars per employee, per year. Most Illnesses Can Be Avoided: Although it sounds unrealistic, experts indicate that preventable illness makes up 60% – 70% of the entire burden of illness in the U.S.. In North Carolina, it is estimated that more than 53% of all deaths are preventable, and that 2/3 of all preventable deaths are due to tobacco use, a sedentary lifestyle, and poor diet. Stress Levels are On the Rise: As business resources become less and organizations adopt leaner work practices, the effects of absenteeism and lost productivity have a greater influence. In a current national poll, 78% of Americans described their jobs as stressful, and most felt that stress levels have worsened over The last 10 years. In addition, high levels of business stress have the potential to adversely affect a business by increasing injuries, absenteeism, and healthcare costs while decreasing productivity. Simple solutions such as stress management education, flexible work schedules, quality social interaction, and increased participation in business decision-making have the potential to better stress levels in the workplace.

What is the Upfront Cost and Time Investment for a Employee Health Promotion ?

The expense depends on the type of Employee Health Promotion implemented. There are several options to encourage employee health with advantages and disadvantages of each. The program design depends on the goals/objectives of the wellness program, the business resources, and the area resources available. Improving dietary practices, increasing physical activity levels, managing stress or approaching work life balance problems, and reducing/eliminating tobacco use, are primary strategies for preventing many of the most common preventable chronic diseases. The possibilities of how your business addresses these problems are endless and can range from increasing employee awareness, which may include purchasing a few handouts on a variety of topics, and measuring walking distances around your facility, to establishing business backing such as funding a full-time occupational health consultant or building an worksite fitness center. When well-planned and based on your goals/objectives, any of these programs have the potential to help you succeed. Refer below to Employee Health Promotion Design Options for additional ideas.