As employers today continue to compete in the global economy, expense containment
strategies will be increasingly valuable. Controlling the rising expense of
employee sickness is becoming a priority for corporate leaders. The emerging
corporate culture in this country is one which has an employee population centered
in health, safety and wellness.
Establishing a corporate strategy for Corporate Health Promotion and disability
management makes great company sense. The following eight-step process ensures
a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and results-oriented approach.
The following process works best in employers with strong leadership and a
long-term responsibility to employee health.
1. Identify Your Corporate Health Promotion Program Champion
This person should be a leader in your organization and a strong advocate of
health. Usually this is an individual who actively pursues his or her own personal
quest for ideal health.
The program champion must have the resources and authority to propel the program
forward. The program champion’s key role is to ensure the strategic plan
for health is in line with with the company’s objectives, strategic focus and
company values. For example if the organization promotes that “our strength
is our people” the wellness program must demonstrate how drives will nurture
and protect that valuable resource.
2. Form Your Corporate Health Promotion Program Strategy Team
The Corporate Health Promotion Program Strategy Team should include decision
makers and stakeholders from areas of the company that have the potential to
effect health and the company’s bottom line. These areas may include;
finance, human resources, training and development, health services, compensation
and benefits, employee assistance services (EAP), marketing, 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 cultivate and implement the strategic plan,
look for opportunities to reward health, ensure the program is integrated into
key areas of the organization, streamline efforts, maximize company resources
and program assessment.
3. Complete an Employer Health Audit
The purpose of an Employer Health Audit is to evaluate your existing programs
and services, physical environment and policies & procedures that support
health. It is also valuable to look at your company culture or “how things
are done” around the company.
Members of the Strategy Team complete the Audit independently and then meet
to discuss their assessment. During the assessment process, health problems
and opportunities are discussed in preparation for the development of the strategic
plan.
4. Analyze Your Organization’s Cost Pressures
Cost pressures are identified by analyzing a number of areas including; benefit
costs, Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, prescription drug usage,
type of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and EAP utilization. This process
helps to target areas that have the potential to be positively impacted by a
Corporate Health Promotion Program and to offer a baseline for evaluating change.
5. Conduct a Health Risk Appraisal or Employee Needs & Interest
Survey
The next step is to determine your employee’s health risks, interests
and readiness to change. A confidential health risk appraisal can accomplish
numerous goals/objectives. It supports a baseline from which to measure personal
lifestyle changes, supports workers with relevant health information, motivates
workers to take charge of their health and assists in program planning. Most
health risk appraisals offer individual reports and a corporate report identifying
high-risk areas in the company.
Many employers choose to administer customized needs and interest survey to
evaluate employee needs. The benefit of this approach is that the company is
able to gather information on the employees’ perceived wellness needs
and program interests. This information can be incorporated into the strategic
plan. Administering a survey also has the added benefit of fostering a sense
of employee ownership to the program.
6. Organize Your Strategic Plan for Wellness
The strategic plan should incorporate information gathered from the Employer
Health Audit, your organization’s expense pressures, and health risk appraisal
data or employee survey results. The strategic plan should include your program
mission, three or four objectives and several drives under each intention. The
strategic plan supports a framework to encourage, backing and evaluate “best
health practices.”
It is also valuable that the plan align itself with the vision, goals/objectives
of the organization.
The sample strategic plan that follows was developed for blue jeans maker Levi
Strauss & Co. (Canada) Inc. Levi Strauss & Co.’s mission statement
and aspirations (how workers interact with each other in a company environment)
guided the development of the plan.
Levi Strauss & Co.’s aspirations include the following statement:
Most importantly, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships,
balanced personal and professional lives, and to enjoy our endeavors. The wellness
program plan included a number of components to see that it embraced this statement
including the following:
- A vision statement, which tied in with the company’s aspirations.
- An incentive system to encourage and reward the accomplishment of healthy
milestones. - A recognition system to applaud success.
- Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss & Co. locations to ensure
an enjoyable environment. - Opportunities to participate in small group educational programs to cultivate
team backing. - Initiation of support groups for workers completing wellness programs (i.e.
smoking control support group). - Programs dealing with work and family balance.
Other information that was analyzed and used to cultivate the plan included:
Employer demographics
- Focus groups
- Cultural audit
- Top prescription drug report
- EAP utilization
- Employee benefit services report
- Health and dental claims
- Operational success summaries
- Health risk appraisals
- Prepare a Employer Case to Support Your Plan
Your company case for wellness supports the necessary details for approval
at the management level. The company case includes:
- The Strategic Plan for Health
- A proposed program budget
- Marketing strategies
- Program leadership options
- An implementation plan
- Evaluation methodology.
In presenting the strategic plan it is valuable to highlight how the plan aligns
itself with the strategic direction of the organization.
The program budget should include educational resources, marketing costs, rewards
and incentives, leadership costs and supplies.
Marketing strategies should address how the program will be promoted and rolled
out to various groups within the organization i.e. decentralized locations,
high risk workers, older workers.
Program leadership should address how volunteers will be used, internal resources
and whether consultants have been proposed. All play an equally valuable role
in the implementation of your wellness program.
The program implementation plan should incorporate the following types of programs
that help establish awareness of beneficial health practices, assist workers
in making lifestyle changes and drives, which support long-term change.
Awareness programs establish an awareness of the effect of healthy lifestyle
practices and excite workers to take the next step. Examples of awareness programs
include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and lunch and learn
seminars.
Lifestyle change programs are more accross the board and longer in duration.
They are designed to assist workers in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle
change programs are diet education programs, stress management programs, back
care classes and smoking control programs.
A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies
& procedures, the physical environment and creating a corporate culture
that supports great health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups
for workers who have completed 6-10 week wellness programs also offer a supportive
environment for long-term change.
Analyzing the effectiveness of a Corporate Health Promotion Program is ongoing.
A formal assessment should be conducted each year and may include; re-administering
steps three to five, program participation statistics and a year end survey
to revisit “soft” problems such as morale, program satisfaction
and future program direction.
8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan
Employee input is vital to the long-term success of your program. An Employee
Advisory Committee should be formed to roll out the plan. Another key responsibility
of this team is to solicit feedback from all echelons of the organization to
ensure buy-in. Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups
are also valuable. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a
key role in supporting beneficial health practices. Regular gatherings are advised
with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address problems and orient
new managers.
Conclusions
The World Health Organization’s definition of health is “a state
of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease and infirmity.” In order for us to establish healthy workplaces,
wellness drives must have a program champion, have employee ownership, be management
supported, results driven and strategically aligned with the overriding company
objectives of the organization.
Wellness initiative that embrace these qualities will have a beneficial effect
on an organization’s bottom line. Canadian research points to numerous
case studies where onsite programs have resulted in decreased absenteeism, lower
claims and increased productivity.
Businesses who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business”
share one thing in common. They demonstrate a responsibility to their most valuable
resource – their people. They understand the increased pressures associated
with downsized employers, 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 constructive.
References:
Design of Corporate Health Promotion by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published
by the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Pro Fit-ability by Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare 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
