Employee Health Promotion

Prior to you begin drafting your Employee Health Promotion you need to have a benchmark. Attaining a thorough needs assessment is vital to the performance 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 have the potential to be achieved. Secondly the needs assessment provides the information you will need to evaluate the effectiveness of your wellness program. It is often tempting to hurry through the assessment – especially when time is limited or those with experience already have an idea of needs. Do not give in to this temptation! It is vital that you be aware of what your business needs are, what upper management expects, and what employees want as well as expect, before you begin a Employee Health Promotion . Consider and collect data on:

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

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

• Confidential Health Risk Appraisals with a Corporation Group Summary Report click here for more information on Health Risk Appraisals or Assessments
• Health Screenings such as cholesterol, Blood Pressure and blood glucose click here for additional information on wellness 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 begin drafting and prioritizing program options. Starting ought to be based upon goals/objectives and identified outcomes, Step 4 of the seven step process!