Worksite Wellness ProgramsWorksite Wellness Programs

Effective Worksite Wellness Programs include the use of data sources in support of Worksite Wellness Program planning, implementation, and evaluation. Information sources can be used to complete a community needs assessment, develop realistic Worksite Wellness Program goals and objectives, and gain Upper Management support.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Information and statistics
• http://www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics/
• Information and statistics are available by topic (i.e., asthma, injuries, MRSA).
• Information access tools are available to customize data tables and query datasets (i.e., Healthy People DATA2010, smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs).
• Nationwide survey data is available (i.e., National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)).

CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
• http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm
• BRFSS is the world’s largest, ongoing telephone health survey system. BRFSS has been tracking health conditions and risk behaviors in the US yearly since 1984.
• Chronic Disease Indicators are divided into seven categories: physical activity and nutrition, tobacco and alcohol use, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, overarching conditions, and other disease and risk factors.
• Prevalence data is also available (i.e., weight classification by Body Mass Index and age).

Worksite Wellness Program data collection and analysis is often avoided because of a perceived lack of resources for this very important Worksite Wellness Program component. Use the suggestions below to take advantage of a variety of resources available at your installation or in the local community.

Medical Interns and Residents

• If your Medical Center has an internship Worksite Wellness Program, get to know the Internship Director.
• Take advantage of these resources – including having the Director and/or interns/residents implement the outcome data collection plan for your Worksite Wellness Program.

Local college and graduate students

• Where appropriate volunteer agreements are in place, use local college/graduate students to help collect, input, and analyze Worksite Wellness Program data.
• Take advantage of the fact that these students are often looking for projects.
• If there are no “health-related” students/interns in your area, consider using organization students. Let them calculate a cost avoidance or return on investment for your Worksite Wellness Program.

Other Medical Personnel

• Partner with other Medical Personnel. Determine who is collecting data, what data they are collecting, and how they are collecting it.
• If they are using a survey and the survey administration process is already in place, ask if you can add a question or two.
• Be aware of other research going on at your facility. They may already be collecting data you need OR may have analysis resources that can be shared.
• Ensure that other departments in the Medical center know you can always use some extra help if they have personnel with any down time. Use these resources for data entry or other administrative tasks.
• Make use of the volunteers at your Medical Treatment Facility to help collect and input data.

Past Worksite Wellness Program participants

• Past Worksite Wellness Program participants are also a good resource.
• They may be willing to lead a class session, provide encouragement to current Worksite Wellness Program participants, or help collect data.
You can improve data collection and analysis by taking advantage of local resources. Using these resources expands the reach and impact of your Worksite Wellness Program.

A gap analysis is an assessment tool that enables a organization to compare its current capabilities and performance with industry benchmarks and expectations for performance. A gap analysis is used to identify areas that have room for improvement.

Gap analysis can also be used for your Worksite Wellness Program to determine where the program stands now and how the Worksite Wellness Program can better follow evidence-based recommendations.

To start a gap analysis, ask these simple questions about your Worksite Wellness Program:
• What is the current state of the Worksite Wellness Program?
• How does the Worksite Wellness Program measure up to evidence-based practices? (i.e., the desired state)

The gap is the difference between the current and desired states.

After the gap has been identified, the next step is to determine the action steps that are needed to close the gap. These actions answer the question: “How can the Worksite Wellness Program move forward towards the desired state?”

Sometimes the gaps that need to be filled can be addressed through Worksite Wellness Program changes; other gaps might require policy changes. However, using a gap analysis will help you identify areas for Worksite Wellness Program improvement as well as the actions needed to make progress towards those goals.

Worksite Wellness Program organization plan review (from Key #19)
• A Worksite Wellness Program organization plan is a roadmap for success.
• Your Worksite Wellness Program organization plan should convincingly demonstrate that your Worksite Wellness Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

More smart Worksite Wellness Program organization planning strategies

Planning the Worksite Wellness Program
• Determine how your organization plans so that your planning process will be in sync with what already happens in the organization.
• Involve other workers. A planning team brings their combined experience and perspective to the process. Including potential partners as you plan will make it easier to get their buy-in later.

Thinking of the big picture
• Consider the barriers and challenges that might be encountered during Worksite Wellness Program implementation. Develop strategies ahead of time to overcome these potential problems.
• Do a SWOT analysis and examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This analysis will help you identify potential problem areas or resource shortfalls as well as opportunities for growth or increased partnerships with other installation personnel.

The WORST organization planning strategy: sitting in your office; working by yourself.

The best Worksite Wellness Program organization planning strategies
• Get out of your office; get out of the organization. The more workers you involve in the Worksite Wellness Program planning process, the better. Always look for ways to expand your network.
• Keep your budget workers informed. Get to know their philosophy of financial management.
• Be able to articulate the impact if your budget is not fully funded.
o Stay away from basing your impact-if-not-funded argument only on: “We have to.”
o Instead, describe the impact-if-not-funded with phrases like: injuries to workers, increased compensation costs, increased medical care costs for patients, lost work time, loss of licenses/accreditations, loss of workload to the Tricare network.
• Always have purchase requests ready to be submitted. There is often a short window of time to process these requests. Having the information gathered ahead of time will make it easy to submit the information right away.

A well thought-out Worksite Wellness Program organization plan is essential in these times of shrinking budgets and resources. A good organization plan will help you gain leadership support and help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Worksite Wellness Program.