Corporate Wellness Programs are an investment in your company’s most important resource, your workers. Studies have shown that workers are more likely to be on the job and performing well when they are in feeling well both physically and mentally. Workers are also more likely to be attracted to, remain with, and appreciate an employer that values them. Corporate wellness programs improve company productivity by:

• Attracting superior quality staff
• Reducing the rate of absenteeism and time lost
• Enhancing on-the-job time utilization and decision making
• Improving worker morale which in turn lowers turnover

In addition to improved productivity, corporate wellness programs have been shown to be an effective tool in slowing the growth of health care costs. Selecting healthier options may reduce workers chances of suffering from illness. Less illness means businesses can lower health plan utilization, thereby lowering health benefit costs, and consequently increasing earnings. While health cost savings from corporate wellness programs may be less evident than productivity gains, research shows that medically high-risk workers are medically high-cost workers as they use additional health care and generate higher claims.

Finally, by investing in corporate wellness programs, businesses will be helping South Africa (and BioKare) to achieve its two major Healthy People 2010 worksite objectives:

1. 75% of all employers, regardless of size, providing wide reaching corporate wellness programs; and
2. 75% of all a company’s staff participating in employer-sponsored corporate wellness programs.

Getting Started

Wellness programs are based of the belief that unhealthy lifestyles can be changed with the right support structure. Whether the issues involve smoking cessation, stress management, obesity and depression; targeted programs based on the latest advances I behavioural health research and technology are providing employers with increasingly effective and affordable methods for improving workforce health and productivity.

Steps to starting a Wellness Program

1. Capture senior management support for the wellness program
2. Build a wellness program team
3. Assess the needs of your company and employees
4. Create a wellness program vision, mission and outcomes
5. Develop a comprehensive and strategic wellness program plan
6. Choose wellness program actions
7. Identify an incentive and reward strategy for the wellness program
8. Communicate to employees about the wellness program
9. Evaluate wellness program efforts and modify strategies

Capture senior level support for the wellness Program

• Build the business case for wellness – employee health and job satisfaction affect productivity
• Employees will follow what is done not what is said
• Employees need to see that managers believe in and are committed to employee health
• Commit funds, time and effort

• Serves as eyes, ears, arms and legs of the program
• Establishes continuity, motivation and broad ownership of wellness programs
• Represents co-workers ideas and concerns
• Helps reshape organizational culture toward health
• Select from employees interested in health promotion
• Reflect the diversity of you employee population
• Human resources, health and safety, and communications

• Evaluate all data sources to identify greatest opportunities for health improvement
• Management and employee surveys
• Review demographics
• Claims review
• Health risk data
• History of organizations wellness initiatives
• Health benefit plan design

Where are we going and how will we know when we get there?

• Establish clear vision of program direction
• Expectations
• What will be measured and how
• Identify two to five clearly stated goals
• Must be measurable and achievable

Develop a strategic wellness program plan

• Serves as a point of reference
• Helps the wellness program become strategic in nature
• Provides focus for:
  • Awareness
  • Lifestyle change
  • Supportive environment programs
  • Policies
  • Target appropriate health risk behaviours
  • Target needs of employees

Choose wellness program actions

• Use resources wisely for greatest impact on achieving goals and objectives
• Actions should flow from your data, goals, objectives and budget
• Make it fun, creative, appealing and effective

Identify an incentive & reward strategy for the wellness program

• Demonstrate organizations commitment to wellness
• What incentives are most meaningful to employees
• Motivates participation
• Reward use of program features and preventive services
• Types of incentives
• Cash or gifts
• Premium discounts (Vitality products)
• Time off
• Discounts to health clubs
• Bona fide wellness programs

Evaluate wellness program efforts and modify strategies

• Helps achieve continuous quality improvement
• Allows modification to meet changing needs and interests
• Measure before, during and after
  • Program participation
  • Utilization
  • Satisfaction
  • Behavioural changes
  • Workers compensation claims
  • Productivity
  • Turnover and absenteeism
  • Return on investment

Critical Wellness Program Success Factors

• Top management support
• Maximize participation in the program
  • Incentives
  • Plan Design
  • Effective and Frequent Communications
  • Personalized & tailored programs
  • Make it fun
  • Evaluation & reporting
  • Active account management & visibility

Primary focus of a wellness program

• Improve health
• Create culture that supports health
• Assist employees in being consumers instead of users of the health care system

Key components of a wellness program

• Assessment, identification & early identification
• Demand management/information on demand
• Medical self-care education
• Health coaching
• Disease management
• Prenatal risk management
• Medical management integration
• Regular evaluation and reporting

Making it all work together

• Enhance workforce health and productivity and contribute to employer financial health
• Complete integration to provide the most effective approach for managing potentially costly acute and chronic conditions
• Solutions to reduce costs, increase employee care and provide a better work environment

Ideas for Health Promotion Activities

• Set up a health and wellness in the workplace committee and have them take responsibility for implement the selected ideas for health promotion activities
• Designate a wellness coordinator for implementing action plans
• Allocate a budget for health and wellness in the workplace activities\develop good employment practice and policies, eg, communication systems: training and personal development: supervision, appraisal and mentoring: attendance / absence management: equal opportunities: return to work/rehabilitation for people with illnesses or disabilities: time off for career responsibilities (children, other dependants): fob sharing: flexi-time and flexible hours / days: dealing with harassment and bullying: grievance procedure: disciplinary procedure
• Include health and wellness in the workplace activities in manager’s objectives
• Link green transport issues with opportunities for physical activity – walking and cycling to work when possible
• Assess the needs for different kinds of health and wellness in the workplace activities

Health and Wellness in the Workplace: General health activities

• Health and wellness seminars / discussions – with guest speakers
• Wellness information – notice boards, leaflet racks, information points, wellness handouts
• Regular supply of specific information / leaflets to all staff in individually via wage slips, email
• Participate in national health and wellness in the workplace campaigns
• Health and Wellness in the workplace articles in regular staff newsletter
• Employee Health and Wellness newsletter
• Awareness raising, workshops, training sessions on health topics
• Training in team building, assertiveness, time management, communication skills
• Health promotion videos playing in waiting in waiting areas
• Health and wellness in the workplace awareness days or events
• Brief sections on health awareness in health and safety training and first aid training
• Health policies and procedures- alcohol and substance use, general health and well being, health eating, HIV/AIDS, physical activity, smoking, stress and mental health
• Health risk assessments to take account of health and lifestyle related behaviours
• Paid time off for staff to go for employee heath screening (via GP or other facilities, rather than at work)
• Give employees some paid time off (a certain number of hours per month or year) to pursue activities they feel are good for their health
• Share health and wellness in the workplace activities and resources with other local workplaces
• Allow staff with back or musculoskeletal problems paid time off to attend appointments with Biokineticists, Physiotherapists or other health professionals.

Health and Wellness in the Workplace: Alcohol and Substance Abuse

• Policy for all staff to raise awareness of issues
• Training for all involved in implementing the policy
• Support and referral for staff with an alcohol or substance use problem
• Information about agencies and organizations dealing with alcohol or substance misuse problems

Health and Wellness in the Workplace: Health Eating

• Ensure healthy options are available in canteen/vending facilities
• Training for catering staff
• Negotiate with local restaurants or cafes to provide some healthy options
• Allow staff to take paid time off for appointments with dieticians about any eating problems
• Let staff eat or drink at regular intervals if they need to as part of medical treatment for various eating disorders or diabetes

Health and Wellness in the Workplace: Physical Activity

• Encourage people to use stairs rather than elevators
• Provide marked routes, with distances, for walks during breaks
• Provide bicycle racks, showers and changing facilities: to encourage people to cycle to work or to do some physical activity during breaks
• Allow people to arrive 5 or 10 minutes late and leave 5 or 10 minutes early (without loss of pay) if they walk or cycle to work
• Arrange for intra-company games and sports teams
• Provide an onsite fitness centre
• Provide onsite group exercise classes like yoga, tai chi or similar sessions before work/ on lunch breaks/ after work
• Arrange corporate memberships or negotiated reduced fees for local health clubs and facilities

Health and Wellness in the Workplace: Smoking

• Policy on smoking and protecting staff from passive smoking
• Total ban in the workplace to provide a smoke-free environment
• If smoking is allowed then restrict it to designated smoking areas
• If smoking is allowed then restrict it to designated smoking times
• Help for staff who want to gibe up smoking: paid time off to attend stop smoking counselling or group sessions
• Training for volunteers who want to help others to give up smoking

Health and Wellness in the Workplace: Stress and Mental Health

• Stress audit to identify problem areas / jobs
• Develop a stress action plan to tackle problems
• Awareness raising sessions for all staff on recognizing stress and mental ill health symptoms in themselves and others
• Training for managers, supervisors, trade union representatives on recognizing stress and mental ill health symptoms in themselves and others
• Avoid stigmatization of people who have taken time off or sick leave for mental health reasons
• Relaxation, aromatherapy, yoga or similar sessions before work / in lunch breaks / after work
• Counselling service in-house or referral to outside agency
• Rehabilitate back into the workforce anyone who has been off sick with mental health problems
• Encourage social activities among work colleagues