Employee Wellness Programs: Low-Cost General Health Education Programs
Employee Wellness Programs that support staff members and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good wellness return on investment (ROI). Employee Wellness Programs can be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small businesses to make positive changes at little or no cost.
Employee Wellness Program: General Health Education Programs
- Have a current policy outlining the requirements and functions of a comprehensive workplace Employee Wellness Program.
- Have a wellness plan in place that addresses the purpose, nature, duration, resources required, participants in, and expected results of a workplace Employee Wellness Program.
- Orient staff members to the Employee Wellness Plan and give them copies of the physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco use policies.
- Promote and encourage staff member participation in the physical activity/fitness and nutrition education/weight management program.
- Make available health education information to staff members.
- Have a committee that meets at least once a month to oversee the Employee Wellness Program.
- Make available regular health education presentations on various physical activity, nutrition, and wellness-related topics. Ask voluntary health associations, health care providers, and/or public health agencies to offer workplace education classes.
- Host a health fair as a kick-off event or as a celebration for completion of a wellness campaign.
- Designate specific areas to support staff members such as diabetics and nursing mothers.
- Conduct preventive wellness screenings for blood pressure, body composition, blood cholesterol, and diabetes.
- Make available confidential health risk appraisals.
- Make available workplace weight management/maintenance programs for staff members.
- Add weight management/maintenance, nutrition, and physical activity counseling as a member benefit in medical insurance contracts.
Employee Wellness Program: Tobacco Cessation
- Establish a company policy prohibiting tobacco use anywhere on the property.
- Make available prompts/posters to support no tobacco use policy.
- Policy supporting participation in smoking cessation activities during duty time (flex-time).
- Make available counseling through an individual, group, or telephone counseling program onsite.
- Make available counseling through a health plan sponsored individual, group, or telephone counseling program.
- Make available cessation medications through medical insurance.
Employee Wellness Programs: Low-Cost Physical Fitness / Weight Management Programs
Employee Wellness Programs: Low-Cost Physical Fitness / Weight Management Programs
Employee Wellness Programs that support staff members and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good return on investment (ROI). Employee Wellness Programs can be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small businesses to make positive changes at little or no cost.
Employee Wellness Program: Physical/Weight Management Programs
- Allow access to on- and off- worksite gyms and recreational activities before, during, and after work hours.
- Make available and encourage participation in after work recreation or leagues.
- Make available cash incentives or reduced insurance costs for participation in physical activity and/or weight management or maintenance activities.
- Make available shower and/or changing facilities onsite.
- Make available outdoor exercise areas such as fields and trails for staff member use.
- Make available bicycle racks in safe, convenient, and accessible locations.
- Make available workplace fitness opportunities, such as group classes or personal training.
- Make available an worksite exercise facility.
- Set up programs that have strong social support systems and rewards, such as:
- Buddy or team physical activity objectives
- Programs that involve workers and family
- Programs to encourage physical activity, such as pedometer walking challenges
- Consider discounted or subsidized memberships at local health clubs, recreation centers, or YMCAs
- Make available flexible work hours to allow for physical activity during the day.
- Support physical activity breaks during the workday, such as stretching or walking.
- Host walk-and-talk meetings.
- Map out workplace trails or nearby walking routes and destinations.
- Have staff members map out their own biking or walking route to and from work.
- Post motivational signs at elevators and escalators to encourage stair usage.
- Make available exercise/physical fitness messages and information to staff members.
- Make available or support recreation leagues and other physical activity events onsite or in the community.
- Start staff member activity clubs such as walking or bicycling clubs.
- Make available workplace child care facilities to facilitate physical activity.
- Sponsor a bike to work day and reward staff members who participate.
- Set up a box and solicit fitness and health tips.
Employee Wellness Programs: Low-Cost Programs That Work
Employee Wellness Programs that support staff members and the setting that they work in have been shown to be a good wellness program return on investment (ROI). Employee wellness programs can be extensive and sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small businesses to make positive changes at little or no cost.
Employee Wellness Program: Nutrition Programs
Fruit and Vegetable Consumption
- Make available healthy eating reminders and prompts to staff members via multiple means (i.e. e-mail, posters, payroll stuffers, etc.).
- Make available appealing, low-cost fruits and vegetables in vending machines and in the cafeteria.
- Make available cookbooks, food preparation, and cooking classes for staff members’ families.
- Ensure workplace cafeterias follow healthy cooking practices and set nutritional standards for foods served that align with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
- Make available healthy foods at meetings, conferences, and catered events.
- Use point-of-decision prompts as a marketing technique to promote healthier choices.
- Make available healthy cooking demonstrations that teach skills (i.e. fruit and vegetable selection and preparation).
- Make available taste-testing opportunities at the workplace.
- Make available staff member-led campaigns, demonstrations or programs.
- Make available local fruits and vegetables at the workplace (i.e. workplace farmer’s market or community-supported agriculture drop-off point).
- Use competitive pricing (price non-nutritious foods in vending machines and cafeterias at higher prices).
- Make available protected time and dedicated space away from the work area for breaks and lunch.
- Make kitchen equipment available to staff members.
- Make available an opportunity for workplace gardening if possible.
Sweetened Beverage Consumption
- Make water available throughout the day.
- Make available appealing, low-cost healthful drink options in vending machines and the cafeteria.
- Modify worksite vending contracts to increase the number of healthy options.
- Price non-nutritious beverages at a higher cost.
- Use point-of-decision prompts to promote healthier choices.
Portion Control
- Label foods to show serving size and/or nutritional content.
- Make available food models, food scales for weighing and pictures to help staff members determine portion size.
- Make available appropriate portion sizes at meetings, workplace events and in the cafeteria.
Breastfeeding
- Support nursing mothers by providing them rooms for expressing milk in a secure and relaxed setting, a refrigerator for storage of breast milk, policies that support breast feeding, and lactation education programs.
- Make available flexible scheduling and/or workplace or near-site child care to allow for milk expression during the workday.
- Adopt alternative work options (i.e. teleworking, part-time, extended maternity) for breastfeeding mothers returning to work.
- Educate personnel on the importance of supporting breastfeeding co-workers.
Television & Food Advertising
- Place TV’s in non-eating areas of the workplace.
- Limit food advertising in the cafeteria (i.e. print and other media).
Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals (HRA)
Gathering information on staff member health behaviors
If your organization is interested in measuring the impact of your Employee Wellness Plan efforts in future years, you’ll want to gather relevant baseline data on the health and health behaviors of your staff member population.
Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals (HRA):
Some health plans offer businesses free web-based health risk assessments (HRA), complete with summary aggregate reports. If your health plan does not offer a free health risk assessment, you could pay for an health risk assessment either through your health plan or through a third party vendor.
To encourage taking part in an health risk assessment, assure staff members of confidentiality and consider providing rewards for completing the assessment. The higher the participation rate, the more likely that the aggregate data will accurately represent the behaviors and risks of your staff member population.
Employee Wellness Health Surveys
You can get a general sense of staff members’ health-related attitudes and behaviors using a “lowtech” paper survey. As with a health risk assessment, staff members will be more likely to respond to a survey if there is an incentive and if they are confident that their responses are confidential. Remember that without widespread participation you’ll only get a “feel” for staff member behaviors rather than a statistically accurate picture.
Employee Wellness Plan Focus Groups and Informational Interviews
The information you can collect from focus groups or informational interviews with staff members is an important supplement to the anonymous survey or health risk assessment data. Listening to staff members discuss their attitudes, values, receptivity and obstacles related to health provides a wealth of information on which to base decisions on how to improve your organization’s Employee Wellness Program. Employee Wellness Plan focus groups are especially useful for obtaining information from hard-to-reach staff member populations, such as those for whom English is a learned language.
Keep Employee Wellness Plan focus groups small (8-19 staff members, ideally all of a similar job class). If possible, offer rewards such as movie tickets or lunch, to recruit participants. Develop a list of open-ended questions in advance and allow 60-90 minutes for the discussion.
Informational interviews are an alternative to Employee Wellness Plan focus groups. The Employee Wellness Plan coordinator of your health improvement Strategies or selected members of the Health Promotion Committee can conduct one-on-one interviews with staff members in a variety of positions to better understand their attitudes, interests and obstacles related to a) health behaviors and b) the workplace policies, settings and practices.
Population Health Data
If data on the employee population are not available, you can use state or national data to estimate the prevalence of risk behaviors among staff members.
Wellness Assessments: Workplace Culture
Wellness Assessment Of Workplace Culture And Setting
In addition to looking at the health behaviors of staff members, take a good look at your organization (i.e., workplace culture). The following wellness assessment contains questions that can help you establish opportunities for your organization to support and encourage healthy behaviors among staff members.
A strong foundation for employee health improvement
1. To what extent does the senior management in your organization actively and visibly support the Employee Wellness Program?
__ No support for the Employee Wellness Plan
__ Support, but not at senior level
__ Support at senior level, but not visible to staff members
__ Strong and visible Employee Wellness Plan support
Comments:
2. Is the Employee Wellness Plan tied to your organization’s mission statement?
__ No
__ Yes, the Employee Wellness Plan is tied to business plan OR mission statement
__ Yes, the Employee Wellness Plan is tied to both business plan and mission statement
Comments:
3. Is there an staff member within your organization whose job responsibilities include Employee Wellness Plan coordination?
__ No
__ Yes, but has little time available to dedicate to Employee Wellness Plan
__ Yes, and has at least component of the job dedicated to Employee Wellness Plan
__ Yes, and has at least one full-time position dedicated to Employee Wellness Plan
__ Yes, and has at least component of the job dedicated to wellness AND has a background that includes Employee Wellness Plan qualifications
__ Yes, our organization has at least one full-time position dedicated to health improvement AND the staff member’s background includes Employee Wellness Plan qualifications
Comments:
4. Does your organization have an active wellness committee with diverse representation?
__ No (does not have a Health Promotion Committee, or has a committee that doesn’t meet)
__ Yes, we have a Health Promotion Committee, but with limited representation
__ Yes, we have a Health Promotion Committee with widespread representation
__ Yes, we have a Health Promotion Committee with widespread representation AND committee involvement is part of each representative’s job responsibilities
Comments:
5. Does your organization have an annual budget for Employee Wellness Plan expenses? (Employee Wellness Program expenses may be associated with providing a health assessment, paying for behavior change programs/coaching programs, covering rewards that encourage healthy behaviors, subsidizing healthy food options, communications and activities around specific health topics, fitness centers/walking paths, etc).
__ No
__ Yes, but funds are earmarked for Employee Wellness Programs (e.g. only for Weight Watchers or fitness discounts) and do not meet all existing Employee Wellness Plan needs
__ Yes, funds are available to meet current Employee Wellness Plan needs
Comments:
6. Does your organization have a plan for engaging staff members in the Employee Wellness Program?
__ No
__ Yes, we have a communications plan for our Employee Wellness Plan
__ Yes, we have a communication plan AND we offer meaningful incentives or rewards (such as premium discounts or debit cards) for the Employee Wellness Plan to engage in healthy behaviors.
Comments:
A data-based approach to the Employee Wellness Plan
7. Does your organization have clearly stated Employee Wellness Plan objectives and priorities for employee health improvement?
__ No
__ Yes
__ Yes, data (e.g. HRA, claims, productivity) are the basis for defining Employee Wellness Plan objectives or priorities
__ Yes, data AND evidence-based best practices are a basis for defining Employee Wellness Plan objectives or priorities
__ Yes, data and best practices are basis for defining Employee Wellness Plan objectives or priorities as well as measuring Employee Wellness Plan progress (evaluation)
Comments:
8. Has your organization completed a Health Risk Assessment?
__ No
__ Yes, but more than 2 years ago
__ Yes, within the last two years, and achieved a participation rate of less than 50%
__ Yes, within the last two years, and achieved a 50% - 79% participation rate
__ Yes, within the last two years, and achieved an 80% or greater participation rate
Comments:
A workplace culture and setting that supports healthy behaviors
9. Does your organization’s tobacco reduction strategy reflect best practices?
(Check all that apply)
__ A no-tobacco use policy that includes both buildings AND grounds
__ 100% coverage for the cost of over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapy
__ Employee access to – and strong promotion of — a tailored stop-smoking program
Comments:
10. Does your organization provide opportunities (time and places) for physical activity during the work day?
__ No
__ Yes, indoor places for physical activity (on-site fitness center) OR outdoor places for physical activity (walking paths)
__ Yes, both indoor AND outdoor places for physical activity
__ Yes, indoor and outdoor opportunities AND workers can use work time for physical activity
Comments:
11. Does your organization promote healthy eating by providing access to fruits and vegetables?
__ No
__ Yes, fruits and vegetables are available at the workplace (in vending machines, break areas, or cafeterias)
__ Yes, fruits and vegetables are available and discounted at the workplace
Comments:
Benefits that support employee health improvement
12. Does your organization provide staff members with self-care resources?
(Check all that apply)
__ Distribution of self-care books
__ web-based access to health information
__ Nurse advice line
Comments:
13. Which of the following preventive services are covered at 100% by your organization’s health benefits?
(Check all that apply)
__ Vision screening
__ Hearing
__ Immunizations (per CDC/ACIP recommendations)
__ Radiology
__ Laboratory services
__ STD screening
__ Preventive medical examination for adults
__ Cancer screen (includes: colon, cervical, breast, prostate and ovarian cancers)
__ Contraceptive management
Comments:
14. Which of the following are included in your organization’s pharmacy benefit?
(Check all that apply)
__ Mail order or other 90-day supply option for medications
__ Specialty pharmacy network
__ Incentive-based tiered formulary design
Comments:
15. Do your organization’s health benefits provide coverage for behavioral health (such as depression, mental illness, counseling, stress management, and chemical dependency)?
__ Yes, at the same level as medical benefits
__ Yes, but at a reduced level (less coverage) than medical benefits
__ No coverage for mental or behavioral health
Comments:
