As organizations today continue to compete in the global economy, cost containment strategies will be increasingly important. Controlling the rising cost of staff member ill health is becoming a priority for corporate leaders.
The emerging corporate culture in the U.S. is one which has an worker population centered in health, safety and wellness.
Developing a corporate strategy for wellness and disability management makes good corporation sense. the following eight-step process ensures a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and results-oriented approach.
The following process works best in organizations with strong leadership and a long-term commitment to staff member health.
1. Identify Your Program Champion
This person must be a leader in your organization and a strong advocate of health. Ordinarily this is a personal who actively pursues his or her own personal quest for optimal health.
The program champion must’ve the resources and authority to drive the program forward. the program champion’s key role is to ensure the strategic plan for health is aligned with the corporation’s business goals, strategic focus and organizational values.
For example when the organization promotes that “our strength is our individuals ” the health promotion program must demonstrate how programs will nurture and protect that valuable resource.
2. Form Your Health Promotion Strategy Team
The Health Promotion Strategy Team ought to include decision makers and stakeholders from areas of the corporation that can influence health and the company’s bottom line.
These areas may include; finance, human resources (HR), training and development, health services, compensation and benefits, staff member assistance services (EAP), marketing and advertising, facilities, health and safety, rehabilitation, cafeteria or food services and the union. A team of six to eight representatives is recommended.
The role of the Strategy Team is to develop and implement the strategic plan, look for opportunities to promote health, ensure the program is integrated into key areas of the organization, streamline efforts, maximize corporation resources and program evaluation.
3. Complete an Organizational Health Audit
The purpose of an Organizational Health Audit is to evaluate your existing programs and services, physical environment and policies and procedures that support health.
It’s also important to look at your organizational culture or “how things are done” around the corporation.
Members of the Strategy Team complete the Audit independently and then meet to discuss their evaluation. During the evaluation process, health issues and opportunities are discussed in preparation for the development of the strategic plan.
4. Analyze Your Corporation’s Cost Pressures
Cost pressures are identified by analyzing a number of areas including; benefit costs, Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, drug usage, type of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and EAP utilization.
This process assists to target areas that can be positively impacted by a health promotion program and to provide a baseline for investigating change.
5. Conduct a Health Risk (Assessment|Appraisal} or Worker Needs and Interest Survey
The next step is to determine your employee’s health risks, interests and readiness to change. A confidential health risk (assessment|appraisal} can accomplish many goals.
It provides a baseline from which to measure personal lifestyle changes, provides workers with relevant medical information, arouses workers to take charge of their health and helps in program planning.
Most health risk (assessment|appraisal}s provide individual reports and a corporate report identifying high-risk areas in the company.
Many organizations prefer to administer personalized needs and interest survey to evaluate worker needs. the advantage of this approach is that the corporation is able to gather information on the employees’ perceived wellness needs and program interests.
This information may be incorporated into the strategic plan. Administering a recent survey also has the added advantage of fostering a sense of worker ownership to the program.
6. Create Your Strategic Plan for Wellness
The strategic plan should incorporate information accumulated from the Organizational Health Audit, your organization’s cost pressures, and health risk (assessment|appraisal} data or employee survey results.
The strategic plan should include your program mission, three or four goals and several programs under each objective. the strategic plan provides a framework to encourage, support and evaluate “best health practices.”
It’s also important that the plan align itself with the vision, objectives and objectives of the organization.
The sample strategic plan that follows was created for blue jeans maker Levi Strauss and Co. (Canada) Inc. Levi Strauss and Co.’s mission statement and aspirations (how employees interact with each other in a corporation environment) guided the development of the plan.
Levi Strauss and Co.’s aspirations include the following statement – Above all, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and specialist lives, and to have fun in our endeavors.
The health promotion program plan included a number of components to ensure that it embraced this statement including the following –
1. A vision statement, which tied in with the organization’s aspirations.
2. An incentive system to encourage and reward the accomplishment of healthful milestones.
3. A recognition system to applaud success.
4. Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss and Co. locations to ensure a fun environment.
5. Opportunities to participate in small group educational programs to foster team support.
6. Initiation of support groups for employees completing health promotion programs (i.e. smoking control support group).
7. Programs dealing with work and family balance.
Other information that was evaluated and used to create the plan included –
1. Company demographics
2. Focus groups
3. Cultural audit
4. Top drug report
5. EAP utilization
6. Worker benefit services report
7. Health and dental claims
8. Operational performance summaries
9. Health risk (assessment|appraisal}s
7. Prepare a Company Case to Support Your Plan
Your business case for wellness provides the necessary details for approval at the executive management level. the business case includes –
1. the Strategic Plan for Health
2. A proposed program budget
3. Marketing and Advertising strategies
4. Program leadership options
5. An implementation plan
6. Investigation methodology.
In presenting the strategic plan it is important to highlight how the plan aligns itself with the strategic direction of the organization.
The program budget should include educational resources, advertising costs, rewards and incentives, leadership costs and supplies.
Marketing and Advertising strategies should address how the program will be promoted and rolled out to various groups within the organization i.e. decentralized locations, high risk staff members, older staff members.
Program leadership should address how volunteers will be used, internal resources and whether advisors have been proposed. All play an equally important role in the implementation of your health promotion program.
The program implementation plan should incorporate the following types of programs that help develop awareness of positive health practices, assist employees in making lifestyle changes and initiatives, which support long-term change.
Awareness programs create an awareness of the importance of healthy lifestyle practices and motivate employees to take the next step. Examples of awareness programs include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and brown bagger seminars.
Lifestyle change programs are more comprehensive and longer in duration. They’re designed to assist workers in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle change programs are nutrition education programs, stress management programs, back care courses and smoking control programs.
A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies and procedures, the physical environment and creating a corporate culture that supports good health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups for employees who have completed 6-10 week health promotion programs also provide a supportive environment for long-term change.
Analyzing the effectiveness of wellness is ongoing. A formal examination should be conducted annually and may include; re-administering steps three to five, program participation statistics and a year end survey to revisit “soft” issues like morale, program satisfaction and future program direction.
8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan
Staff Member input is crucial to the long-term success of your program. An Staff Member Advisory Committee ought to be formed to roll out the plan. Another key responsibility of this team is to solicit feedback from all levels of the organization to ensure buy-in.
Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups are also important. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a key role in supporting positive health practices.
Regular meetings are recommended with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address issues and orient new managers.
Conclusions
The World Health Corporation’s definition of health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of illness and infirmity.”
In order for us to create healthful workplaces, health promotion programs must have a program champion, have employee ownership, be management supported, results driven and strategically aligned with the overall company goals of the organization.
Health Promotion program that embrace these qualities will have a positive impact on an company’s bottom line. Canadian research points to many case studies where onsite programs have resulted in decreased absenteeism, lower claims and increased productivity.
Organizations who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business” have one thing in common. They demonstrate a commitment to their most valuable resource – their individuals .
They understand the increased pressures associated with downsized organizations, a rapidly changing workplace, an aging work force and the challenge of balancing work and family obligations. And they share a common belief that healthy workers are happier, absent less and more productive.
References –
Design of Health Promotion Programs by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published by the American Journal of Wellness.
Pro Fit-ability by Veronica Marsden. Group Health Care Management. May 1997.
Meeting Expectations by Laura Mensch. Employee Health and Productivity. August 1999
7 Steps to Health Promotion by Daphne Woolf and Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. February 1996.
Published in the Journal of Health Promotion for Northern Ireland, Issue 9, March 2000
Corporate Wellness Companies