The program design options hinge upon the objectives and goals and desired outcomes of your program. If your intention is to help employees change behavior, decrease risk factors, or save health care dollars then your wellness program would be designed to accomplish those outcomes and a budget would be essential to support that design.
There are different wellness program design levels depending on desired outcomes and budgets. Each level has advantages and disadvantages. The intentions or results are quite different, are not interchangeable in terms of obtaining similar results, and therefore should not be confused. For example, planning activities such as an employee health & wellness fair or lunchtime education sessions, or having pamphlets available do not usually result in behavior modification, but may expand awareness on a topic. If the intention is behavior modification then a different design is required, such as Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs and Employer Support. The outline below describes the wellness design levels with a brief explanation.
Awareness Programs: At this level a employer makes health information available and accessible to staff members. This type of program frequently includes pamphlets on a variety of issues, wellness articles in newsletters, bulletin board displays, e-mail health messages, etc. Also, most wellness fairs are designed as awareness programs with vendors providing information and providing health screenings to staff members.
Awareness programs are cheap and do not require extensive employee or organization time commitments. Still, these programs do not usually result in behavior change. Improving awareness isn’t usually enough to generate lifestyle changes for most people, unless used to arouse staff members to register for a program being provided at the organization or area on the topic. An example of this would be offering information on the dangerous effects of smoking and inviting staff members who use tobacco to register for a tobacco cessation class.
Education Programs: Educational programs often support more information on a topic and are able to also provide time for questions & answers, but are similar to awareness programs. An example is lunch-n-learn sessions on a health related topic. These cost the corporation a little more than awareness programs; however, they are still inexpensive and do not require much time for planning or attending a session. Again, increasing awareness and providing information may not lead to the desired behavior modification unless ongoing backing or incentives are also planned.
Lifestyle/Behavior Change Programs: These programs are designed as 4 to 12 weekly sessions or seminars to support wellness and health education, address barriers and support opportunities to practice the desired skills. Behavior change programs therefore require more organization resources, cost more, and also require more employee commitment, time and effort. The results are frequently the desired positive lifestyle change, which if sustained may lead to potential cost savings.
Examples are tobacco cessation classes, weight loss and weight management meetings, or an ongoing exercise program.
Environmental and Company Support: Environmental backing is often considered the highest and most significant level to include when creating your wellness program in order to support and maintain healthy behaviors. These types of design options include policy changes such as:
• Creating a smoke-free workplace
• Designating a walking path,
• Establishing worksite fitness centers,
• Ensuring healthy vending machines selections,
• Offering healthy food choices in the cafeteria, and/or
• Establishing flex-time policies.
Other examples include subsidizing healthy snack machines or cafeteria choices; reimbursing gym or weight loss and weight management program memberships; or providing insurance rewards and incentives for healthy behaviors.
Ideally, the wellness program design would include some of all of these options. The more comprehensive the approach, the more efficacious the results will be. For example, a employer can have smoking cessation information available; can schedule a one hour awareness session on the harmful effects of smoking and how to quit; can enable an onsite tobacco cessation program, supply self quit smoking kits, or support workers to catch a neighborhood program; and/or on an environmental backing level can establish a tobacco-free workplace and grounds, offer reduced healthcare insurance for non-smokers, or provide pharmacological quit smoking aids for free.
Workplace Health Promotion Program: Components for Success
There are several key parts that have to be considered to ensure the effectiveness of your Worksite Wellness Program or Worksite Wellness Program. These include:
• Senior Leadership Support & Employee Involvement
• Active Worksite Wellness Program Committee
• Program is Based on Employee Needs & Interests
• Goals and Objectives are Established
• Detailed Action Plan Based on Resources & Budget
• Program Implementation & Internal Marketing
• Evaluation of Outcomes and Program
