Posted by Worksite Wellness | Posted in worksite wellness programs | Posted on 01-07-2009
According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health. Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle modification can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, change behavior, and establish environments that support good health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest influence in producing lasting change.”
Worksite Wellness Program: Action Steps
The process of building a Worksite Wellness Program involves:
- Identifying the current health status of your workers
- Determining the appropriate programs and interventions to offer
- Promoting and implementing the programs
- Building in motivational incentives
- Measuring the influence
- Revising programs based on evaluation outcomes
It may even include starting policies and procedures that support employee participation in wellness activities at your worksite (such as flextime).
Steps to Starting a Worksite Wellness Program
- Conduct an company assessment
- Obtain senior staff support
- Establish a Worksite Wellness Program Committee
- Obtain employee input
- Develop goals and objectives
- Design and enable program activities
- Choose incentives
- Review outcomes
One of the ways the government plans to improve the nation’s health is through comprehensive Worksite Wellness . According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help workers live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior change programs. In fact, one of the goals and objectives of Healthy People 2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to increase the proportion of workers that take part in a comprehensive Worksite Wellness Program at their worksite to 75 percent.