Sample Employee Wellness Plan Activities
Health Testing:
Blood pressure
Breast cancer Testing
Skin cancer Testing
Diabetes Testing
Cholesterol Testing
Eye exams
Body-fat Testing
Flu shots
Posture screening, spinal analysis
Onsite child immunizations
Prostate cancer screenings
Fitness Testing
Depression Testing
Fitness Activities:
Onsite excercise room or fitness center
Walking and/or running club (during lunch hour or breaks)
Onsite bike rake
Mind and Body classes (yoga, tai chi) initiatives
Team sports (basketball, volleyball softball)
Host an exercise equipment swap
Behavior Change or Lifestyle Change Programs:
Smoking cessation
Weight management initiatives
Substance abuse initiatives
Fitness activity
Stress management initiatives
Safety and Prevention Programs:
Back-injury training and prevention
Education about Ergonomics
Tool safety initiatives
Fire safety initiatives
Awareness, Health Education, and Support Programs:
Lunch & Learn or brown-bag wellness seminars (see your EAP for a list)
Diet and Nutrition information, plus make available healthy food alternatives
in your vending machines and cafeteria, and make available food storage and
preparation facilities to encourage healthier eating
Prenatal care initiatives
Work-Life Balance initiatives
Elder care initiatives
Cancer support groups
Financial education
Stress-Relief Programs:
Laughter bulletin board where employee can post jokes and cartoons (in good
taste)
Visiting massage therapist
Stretch breaks
Group lunches or celebrations
Disease Management Programs:
Obesity
Depression
Asthma
Back pain
Hypertension
Diabetes
Cancer
Employee Wellness Plan Return On Investment
For well over a decade, research has been showing the effectiveness of Employee
Wellness Programs. For every dollar spent on Employee Wellness Programs, the
returns have been cost savings of between $2.30 and $10.10 in the areas of decreased
rates of absence, fewer sick days, decreased WSIB/WCB claims, lowered health
and insurance costs, and improvements to staff member performance and productivity.
Statistics do show that Employee Wellness Programs increase staff member morale,
improve the ability to attract and retain key employees, all while having more
alert and productive employees. Some Employee Wellness Plan ROI statistics of
note:
- Canada Life Insurance reported a return of $3.43 on Employee Wellness Program,
and an overall Employee Wellness Plan ROI of $6.85 on each business dollar
invested on decreased turnover (32.4% lower), productivity gains and decreased
medical claims, - DuPont’s Employee Wellness Plan pilot sites saw a saving of 11,726 disability
days and a return of U.S. $2.05 for every dollar invested by the end of the
second year, - The Canadian government’s Employee Wellness Plan ROI was $1.95-$3.75 per
staff member per dollar spent (as reported by Dr. Roy Shephard), - Municipal employees in Toronto, missed 3.35 fewer days in the first six
months of their Employee Wellness Plan than employees not enrolled in the
program, - British Columbia Hydro employees enrolled in a Employee Wellness Plan had
a turnover rate of just 3.5% compared with a Corporation average of 10.3 percent, - Johnson & Johnson estimated an average saving of U.S. $224.66 per staff
member per year for the four years examined after the program introduction,
with the bulk of the savings being in the third and fourth years, - Pacific Be ll reported that overall rates of absence decreased after starting
a Employee Wellness Program, - Coca Cola report saving $500 every year per staff member after starting
a Employee Wellness Program, with only 60% of their employees taking part, - Coors Brewing Co. reported that for each dollar spent on their Employee
Wellness Plan they saw a $5.50 return, and the employees who participated
decreased their absentee rate by 18 percent, and - Prudential Insurance Company reported that the benefits costs for employees
taking part in their program were $312, as opposed to $574 for non-members
Employee Wellness Plan Ideas: Health Education Programs
Employee Health Services
onsite medical services
workplace medical examinations
health risk testing and counselling:
blood pressure testing,
blood cholesterol testing,
blood glucose testing clinics,
thyroid testing,
bone density testing,
prostrate cancer testing
promote self-exams - breasts, testicles
medical surveillance Programs
immunizations and flu shots
disability case management
Active rehab
Return to work Programs
Self-care Programs
Disease management information and presentations:
diabetes,
stomach disorder,
arthritis,
asthma,
allergy,
foot and back care Programs,
chronic fatigue,
migraines
Online health education with continuous learning/reminders/tips
Daily/weekly/monthly email tips or news bulletins
Fitness appraisals
Health and safety fairs
Hand-washing tips and reminders
Visiting your doctor guide - tips to efficiency
links and information on help lines
Employee Wellness Plan Ideas: Occupational Wellness Programs
- clearly communicated vision and mission
- clear and accurate job descriptions
- supportive appraisal system
- staff member empowerment through decision-making, pace of work and connection
to business goals, (on-line tools that connect to goals such as Baxter Healthcare) - two-way communication training
- ‘no lunch hour’ meeting rules unless it is a lunch ‘n’
learn - rates of absence and attendance program
- career tracking, (on-line tools like Pfizer)
- continuing education
- job rotation, special project assignments
- time management
- innovative ideas program
- change and complaint process
- email guidelines
- technology courses and assistance
- vacation useage
- shift work rotations and breaks
- conflict management skills
- handling negative attitudes workshops
Occupational Wellness Programs: Management Training
scheduling
incentive and recognition Programs
workload impact
communication and feedback skills
conflict management skills and support skills
priority setting
all of which are apart of the four employment relationship factors (trust, commitment,
influence, and communication – from Canadian Policy Research Network)
Occupational Wellness Programs: Remuneration and Benefits
massage - try an onsite massage therapist or seated massage breaks
orthotics
orthodontics
gym membership subsidies
education subsidies
tobacco cessation and weight control partial reimbursement incentives
safety shoe reimbursement
out-of-country coverage
vision care
alternative therapy coverage
Occupational Wellness Programs: Support Building
exercise breaks and stretches
team challenges
business sport teams such as soccer, volleyball, and hockey
use employees who are in-house experts e.g., gardening, yoga, construction
celebrate birthdays, anniversaries - other significant dates and achievements
5 minute catch-up at beginning of work week
pot lucks and food for meetings
green room for time outs and regrouping self
encouraging face to face communications
learn names
**The creation of health or harm within an corporation depends on how work
is managed. Workplace Culture Strategies must address high demand/low control,
high effort/low reward, fairness, purpose and trust.
Employee Wellness Programs: corporation Flu Shots
Flu Shot Facts & Myths
Myth: The flu isn’t a serious disease.
Fact: Influenza (flu) is a serious disease of the nose, throat, and lungs, and
it can lead to pneumonia. Each year about 200,000 employees in the U.S. are
hospitalized and about 36,000 employees die because of the flu. Most who die
are 65 years and older. But small children less than 2 years old are as likely
as those over 65 to have to go to the hospital because of the flu.
Myth: The flu shot can cause the flu.
Fact: The flu shot cannot cause the flu. Some employees get a little soreness
or redness where they get the shot. It goes away in a day or two. Serious problems
from the flu shot are very rare.
Myth: The flu shot does not work.
Fact: Most of the time the flu shot will prevent the flu. In scientific studies,
the effectiveness of the flu shot has ranged from 70% to 90% when there is a
good match between circulating viruses and those in the vaccine. Getting the
vaccine is your best protection against this disease.
Myth: The side effects are worse than the flu.
Fact: The worst side effect you’re likely to get from a flu shot is a
sore arm. The nasal mist flu vaccine might cause nasal congestion, runny nose,
sore throat and cough. The risk of a severe allergic reaction is less than 1
in 4 million.
Myth: Only older employees need a flu vaccine.
Fact: Adults and children with conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease,
and kidney disease need to get a flu shot. Doctors also recommend children 6
months and older get a flu shot every year until their 5th birthday.
Myth: You must get the flu vaccine before December.
Fact: Flu vaccine can be given before or during the flu season. The best time
to get vaccinated is October or November. But you can get vaccinated in December
or later.
For more information, ask your health care provider or call 800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636).
You can also get more information about flu shots by visiting the following
Website: www.cdc.gov/flu
Source: The Department of Health and Human ServicesCenters for Disease Control
and Prevention
Employee Wellness Plan Ideas: Mental Wellness
- childcare Programs and information
- family planning information
- parenting classes
- Elder care Programs and information
- retirement planning
- individual responsibility leave
- alternative work arrangements such as telecommuting, job sharing
- work-family-life transition support
- anger management and family violen
- family counselling initiatives
- budgeting and financial counselling
- understanding credit reports
- money safety tips - ATMS, credit cards
- advertising and promotion of community support groups
- cafeteria take-out program
- tax preparation initiatives
- will, power of attorney, and estate experts
- vacation planning and safe travel
- interpersonal relationship speakers
- motivational speakers
- bereavement informationshift work and lifestyle Programs
- limit overtime
- family wellness days - bike rodeos, BBQ, picnics
- swimming pool safety
- charity information - United Way, MADD
- other information sessions on:
- chemical free lawn and garden care,
- menopause,
- infertility,
- poisoning,
- fire safety initiatives
- seat belts and booster seats,
- playground safety,
- internet safety,
- home safety and energy efficiency
Employee Wellness Plan Ideas: Environmental Wellness Programs
- violence in the workplace
- equity in the workplace initiatives
- harassment policy and training
- literacy/numeracy Programs
- professional development and skill enhancing training
- air quality and sick building testing
- smoke-free workplace
- fire safety initiatives
- hazard control and WHIMS Training
- injury prevention, CPR/First Aid, emergency response Programs
- improved signage
- installing guard rails
- work station design, ergonomic and repetitive strain reduction training
- stretching initiatives
- safety and health written and implemented policies
- Safety Audits
- access to bike racks, showers and change areas
- make stairs attractive and post signs to promote their use
- proper lighting
- monitoring noise levels
- shift work strategies related to lighting, noise, air, breaks etc.
Employee Wellness Plan Ideas: Healthy Living Programs
- Offer Stress Management Programs and mental health Programs
- Offer substance use and abuse Programs
- Offer smoking cessation and control
- Offer nutrition counselling
- Offer weight control Programs and counselling
- Offer promote use of food logs
- Offer posting BMI charts
- Offer juice dispensing machines
- Offer water coolers
- Offer snack machines with low-calorie snack choices
- Offer snack machines with fruit, vegetable and calcium choices
- Posting nutritional information on snack machines
- Offer color-coded cafeteria choices
- Encourage breakfast - suggest choices to start the day
- healthy packed lunch ideas for adults and kids
- partnering with local restaurants for healthy lunch choices
- healthy recipes on-line
- healthy or low-cost cooking Programs
- healthy shopping instruction
- naturopaths, homeopaths, herbal remedies and vitamins
- Offer information sessions on fad diets
- Offer disease prevention information
- STD’s
- active living and fitness Programs such as a aerobics, walking or cycling
clubs - Offer self-defense training
- Offer relaxation training
- chiropractors
- relaxation and energy specialists
- Offer stretching classes such as yoga, tai chi
- Offer active living challenges
- walking challenges with pedometers
- stair climbing challenge
- sleep and sleep disorders e.g. snoring
- napping information and sleep rooms
- alertness and driving sessions
- encouraging light breaks
- create a wellness Yellow Pages
- information sessions on
- insect bites,
- memory enhancement,
- motion sickness,
- nose bleeds,
- healthy skin,
- frost bite,
- gingivitis and mouth care,
- hair loss,
- ear infections,
- fever,
- psoriasis,
- TMJ,
- varicose veins,
- shingles,
- defensive driving,
- sun safety,
- avoiding home and vehicle theft,
- food safety
- handwashing
**Healthy Living Programs should assist in the development of self-efficacy
which means that the individual has a senses that they can influence the course
of events in their normal daily life, that they can deal with their normal consequences,
that they feel confident and sure of themselves.
Employee Wellness Plan Environment Assessment
Why Complete a Employee Wellness Plan Environment Assessment?
The purpose of completing the assessment is to establish your worksite’s strengths
and areas in need of improvement. The assessment will lead your workgroup to
recommend actions for changes to make the worksite more supportive of healthy
behaviors (i.e. healthy food choices in snack machines, policies to enforce
no tobacco use on worksite grounds or encouraging walking during break times).
You may find some of the actions for supporting healthy behaviors are easy to
do and others may not be feasible or efficient in your worksite. The assessment
results can also be used as a baseline measure for evaluation. The initial assessment
can later be compared with a follow-up assessment several months later to note
progress.
Who should do the Employee Wellness Plan Environment Assessment?
Establish a workgroup (at least 4-5 employees) who will be responsible for
completing the assessment. This may be a subset of your wellness workgroup.
Forming a diverse group from all areas and levels of your corporation is important
for meaningful assessment and successful planning and implementation. Suggested
members include: human resources, employees from various departments, administrators,
supervisors, staff member or wellness staff.
When should the Employee Wellness Plan Environment Assessment be Done?
Use the assessment as a starting point for your Employee Wellness Program.
Once you have completed the assessment, determine which areas the workgroup
will focus on (i.e. healthy eating, physical activity, general health, etc.).
Create a time for the workgroup to meet and monitor the progress. Also determine
a schedule for annual assessments, so that the assessment can serve as a tool
for continuous improvement and accountability over time.
Part 1 – Employee Wellness Plan Assessment Checklist
Complete a Worksite Wellness Assessment Checklist to determine what wellness
components you currently have at your worksite. This can be done with the full
workgroup or you may want a few key personnel (such as the Human Resources lead,
Wellness Coordinator or Workgroup Coordinator) to do a preliminary scan based
on information they gather and then let the full workgroup react to their findings.
Ask your broker for a sample wellness assessment checklist or create your own.
Completion of the checklist provides a reference point of the wellness functions
that are currently in place or in process and it provides an overview of some
of the items that should be considered for a comprehensive Employee Wellness
Program.
Employee Wellness Plan Checklist Components:
Categories. There are six major categories (General, Physical Activity, Nutrition,
Health Screening, Tobacco Use and Emergency Response Plan). Each category has
several questions that address what you currently have in place at your worksite.
Current Status. Initially, list whether you have the component (Yes), are in
the process of instituting the component or you are planning for the component
(In Process) or don’t have the component at all (No). At the end of each
category, sub-total the number in each column and then total all of the categories
at the end of the checklist to get an overview of where your worksite Employee
Wellness Plan currently rates. You should also use this baseline measure as
a benchmark for later evaluation. By evaluating where your worksite is on each
wellness component, you will be able to get a general idea of your status across
each category and all 57 items.
Potential Priorities. After you have completed the assessment and the employee
interest survey, you can use the potential priority column to indicate what
components you might want to focus on that are either currently in process or
don’t exist. This can serve as a first testing of possible areas to focus
on as you develop your action plan.
Part 2: staff member Input
Why would we want to do an employee survey?
You should conduct an employee survey to get a better understanding of your
target audience (your corporation’s employees) and get an initial idea
of their current health habits and interest areas. The survey can be tailored
to your worksite and can be done in paper form or through the use of survey
instruments on the internet or that can be purchased. You can create your own
employee survey or ask your broker for a Workplace Wellness Needs and Interest
Survey.
As was the case with the worksite environmental assessment, the employee survey
results can also be used as a baseline measure for later evaluation. The initial
survey results can later be compared with a follow-up survey several months
later to note progress.
You should also consider engaging employees in focus groups or informal interviews
to gather information on their wants and needs. This can be done either before
or after the survey, or if you don’t have the resources to survey employees,
you could use this method to gather information in place of the survey.
Whatever method you use to gather information, make it as easy as possible
for employees to complete and submit the information so you get a high return
rate. Consider offering an incentive or prize for employees who complete the
survey.
Employee Wellness Program: Maintaining Motivation and Interest
Once you start a Employee Wellness Plan you will have a range of staff member
members. Some will already be very engaged in being active and eating well and
your program will only reinforce and enhance their health. On the other end
of the spectrum will be employees who may not engage no matter what you do.
The remaining group is probably the largest group in most organizations: employees
who are at various stages of readiness to improve their health given the right
type of programming and motivation. Summarized below are some tips you may want
to employ once your program is up and running.
Key Factors in Employee Wellness Plan
In today’s society there are many key factors that influence people’s
health behaviors. Consider the following list in maintaining participation in
your program:
- TIME. People are busy, so the more you can work activity
and healthy eating into their existing schedules, the better your chances
for success. Example: A walk at lunch doesn’t take away from existing
time, it just uses it differently. Also review the time of the day and length
of any activity you might be promoting, since both time components may be
factors. - ACCESS. How accessible is your Employee Wellness Program.
Is it onsite or at a nearby site? Do you offer access at breaks or outside
of normal work hours? - KNOWLEDGE. People need to know “Why” they are
participating (the benefits) and also will need information about the “How
to” in areas that are not commonly known. - COST. Make certain that you can provide no cost or decreased
cost Employee Wellness Programs will help participation rates. Coupled with
incentives for participation, rates of participation will likely increase
dramatically. - INCENTIVES. Some employees need incentives to get started
in a Employee Wellness Program. A full list of Employee Wellness Plan incentive
options can be on the website.
Key Time Periods in Employee Wellness Plan
Good habits are often difficult to develop. There tends to be some critical
times when employees drop out or fall off of a physical activity or diet program.
The first key time zone seems to be around 6 weeks. If employees can start and
stay consistent with a program through the first 6 weeks, they have made a fairly
serious commitment to incorporate the habits into their lifestyle. The second
key time is at about 6 months. Those who made it past 6 weeks may get bored
and/or distracted from their program after several months. If employees can
get past 6 months and sustain behavior through a full set of weather seasons,
they have a very good chance of making the changes permanent.
Consider these time periods and think about how you can “boost”
your employees to get them past these critical time markers. Promoting individual
or group “challenges”, using incentives, or raised publicity/marketing
are a few of the things you can do to help get your employees through these
key time periods
Goal Setting for Employee Wellness Plan
Setting goals has been shown to lead to better participation and more employees
making a strong commitment. Whether it be a team goal of walking the equivalent
of once around your state or an individual goal of so many miles or minutes
of activity, the fact that there is something concrete to shoot for increases
the likelihood employees will stick with the program.
Buddy Systems or Team Goals for Employee Wellness Plan
The social aspects of improving one’s health cannot be underestimated.
Many research studies point to tight social groups being the backbone for a
successful campaign because each individual has a commitment to something bigger
than themselves and besides, it’s just more fun for most employees. Build
your program around some type of teams or partners and see what happens.
Team “Campaigns” for Employee Wellness Plan
Some employees like competition and others don’t. Nevertheless, a worksite
wide campaign has the advantage of keeping the message more visible and alive.
Encourage campaign participation, but make it voluntary so that those who prefer
that type of motivation can join while others can take part in their own way
and at their own pace. If the idea of a campaign seems like too much work, consider
tapping into existing campaigns where someone else provides resources for you.
Incentives for Employee Wellness Plan
Incentives are often helpful in maintaining or raising interest. Significant
incentives such as cash or medical insurance rebates have proven to be very
strong motivators for staff member participation. However, even smaller incentives
can be beneficial. Listed below are some sample incentives:
- Achievement awards. Verbal praise and a pat on the back
are motivational to some, but a token of recognition of achievement may offer
more. A colorful certificate to congratulate an staff member for achieving
a health-related goal is one example. - Public recognition. Announced recognition at campaign
mid-point or wrap-up festivities. - Food. Include some healthy foods to kick-off, revitalize
or wrap up a wellness campaign. - Entertainment. Events serve a purpose in jump-starting,
reenergizing or wrapping up a campaign. Having entertainment of any kind can
boost morale. - Merchandise. There is a long list of merchandise incentives,
including sports equipment and small gift certificates to use at local merchants. - Monetary incentives. Nothing says incentive better than
cash. Businesses that have used cash or rebates as an incentive have shown
much higher participation rates. - Time off. Maybe the next best incentive to cash, or for
some employees even better. This type of incentive makes good business sense
if the number of absences drops significantly and attendance is used as one
of the criteria.
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