The program design options hinge upon the goals/objectives and desired outcomes
of your program. If your goal is to help workers change behavior, lower risk
factors, or save health care money then your wellness program would be designed
to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be significant to support that
design.
There are different wellness program design levels 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 the
same results, and therefore ought not be confused. For example, scheduling 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 goal is behavior modification
then a different design is required, such as Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs
and Employer Support. The outline below outlines the wellness design levels
with a short explanation.
Awareness Programs: At this level a company makes health information available
and accessible to workers. This type of program frequently includes pamphlets
on a variety of topics, 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 offering information and offering wellness
screenings to workers.
Awareness programs are inexpensive and do not require extensive employee or
company time commitments. Nevertheless, these programs do not usually yield
behavior modification. Increasing awareness isn’t usually enough to generate
lifestyle changes for most American citizens, unless used to excite workers
to register for a program being offered at the company or neighborhood on the
topic. An example of this would be offering information on the deleterious effects
of smoking and inviting workers who use tobacco to register for a smoking cessation
class.
Education Programs: Educational programs frequently offer more information
on a topic and have the potential 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 company a modest amount more than awareness programs;
however, they remain inexpensive and do not require a great deal of time for
planning or attending a session. Again, building awareness and offering information
may not yield the desired behavior modification unless ongoing backing or rewards
and incentives are also planned.
Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs: These programs are designed as 4 to 12
weekly sessions or classes to offer wellbeing and health education, address
barriers and offer opportunities to practice the desired skills. Behavior change
programs therefore require more company resources, cost more, and also require
more employee responsibility, time and effort. The results are frequently the
desired beneficial lifestyle change, which if sustained can lead to potential
cost savings.
Examples include smoking cessation classes, weight loss and weight management
meetings, or an ongoing physical activity program.
Environmental and Employer Support: Environmental backing is frequently considered
the highest and most valuable level to include when starting 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 onsite fitness centers,
- Ensuring healthy snack machines choices,
- Offering healthy food choices in the cafeteria, and/or
- Creating flex-time policies.
Other examples include subsidizing healthy snack machines or cafeteria choices;
reimbursing health club or weight loss and weight management program memberships;
or offering insurance rewards and incentives for healthy lifestyles.
Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of all of these options.
The more comprehensive the approach, the more efficacious the results will be.
For example, a company can have tobacco cessation information available; can
schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of smoking and
how to quit; can implement an onsite smoking cessation program, supply self
quit smoking kits, or support workers to attend a neighborhood program; and/or
on an environmental backing level can establish a smoke-free workplace and grounds,
offer decreased healthcare insurance for non-smokers, or offer pharmacological
quit smoking aids for free.
Corporate Health Promotion Program: Components for Success
There are many important components that have to be considered to see to the
success of your Corporate Health Promotion Program or Corporate Health Promotion
Program. These include:
- Senior Leadership Reinforcement & Employee Participation
- Active Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee
- Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
- Goals and Objectives are Determined
- Detailed Action Plan Based upon Resources & Budget
- Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
- Evaluation of Outcomes and Program
