Health promotion programs come in all shapes and sizes. But regardless of plan design there are five common components that set the successful wellness programs apart from the rest.
At their core, wellness programs require constant monitoring and periodic adjustments. The wellness programs that get mediocre results are the ones that are left to run on autopilot. That’s why it’s critical to -
1. Know thine enemy You have to know what’s driving your biggest claim costs on your health care plan – both among staff and their dependents.
2. Create realistic expectations. With wellness, what an corporation gets will nearly always depend on how much it spends, how well it plans and how well it sustains communications with participants and the provider.
3. Maintain strong communications. The health promotion programs that achieve the greatest success are those which are communicated aggressively from the get go and are sustained. Repetition is your friend when doing worker education.
4. Integrate wellness with other benefits. Real-life experience has shown that you should consider your staff member assistance programs (EAPs) an extension of the health promotion program. You should also consider issues like absenteeism, disability and worker’s compensation to be pieces of the wellness puzzle.
5. Practice what you preach. The key to ensuring staff member buy-in is for upper management to lead the wellness program by setting a positive example. If upper-level managers are unwilling to participate and address their own health issues, don’t expect many staff to take the wellness program seriously.
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