Posts from — October 2008

Locating an individual to lead your employer in establishing a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative

Without a qualified Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator to lead and manage your employer’s creation of a culture of wellness, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s essential that the creation of a culture of wellness be someone’s priority, not all employers need a full-time coordinator.  There are a number of ways to secure the time of a qualified coordinator.

Be careful not to confuse Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Workplace Wellness Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator:

• knowledge of population health, community health and worksite Workplace Wellness Programs
• competent working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative data
• competent managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• competent in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative Strategies.

What will a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator do?

The Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator is accountable for guiding a process that establishes worksite facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Workplace Wellness Program:

• act as a liaison between leadership and the Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative
• establishe and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative Strategies
• facilitate Workplace Health and Wellness Initiative Committee meetings
• lead your employer in establishing measurable goals for the Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative
• recommend effective Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative Strategies, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative Strategies and goals.

Where can we find a qualified Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator?

Explore the following when looking for a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator:

• Existing employees: Are there individuals on employees who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to support as a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your employer’s Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative Strategies? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative position.
• New employees – Can you hire an individual to be your employer’s Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative Consultation – Various employers (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative consultation on building a culture of wellness within a worksite.

An outside Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative consultant can advise an internal Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative coordinator and your Workplace Health and Wellness Initiative Committee on establishing priorities and deciding on Strategies. Or, you can contract with a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.

Strong and visible leadership support for the Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative promotes health and is essential to securing necessary Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative resources (staff, time, and money) and implementing recommended changes.

1. Establish a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative champion

In a small employer, there may be a single leader who is the clear choice to champion the Workplace Wellness Program. In a larger employer, look for an executive with the authority to sway others in the highest levels of the organization regarding the Workplace Wellness Program. The Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative champion need not be the fittest member of leadership. Rather, look for a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative leader with the disposition to be a visible and vocal supporter of worksite policies that encourage healthy behaviors. Organizations with multiple sites can consider whether it would be useful to have an executive Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative champion at each site.

2. Find existing Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative allies

There may already be a number of individuals within your employer who recognize the value of a Workplace Wellness Program. Think about who those individuals are in your employer; consider areas such as occupational safety, union representatives, risk management, medical officers, and human resources when looking for a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative ally. Obtain their stated support for the Workplace Wellness Program. Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative support could include contributions of staff time or expertise, financial resources, agreement to endorse/support policy and environmental changes, or agreement to participate in, and voice their support for, changes in the worksite that will help to build a culture of wellness.

3. Build a business case for the Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative

There is a reason that more and more businesses are finding a way to promote the health of the employees via a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative and policies: A Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative makes good business sense. staff members with healthy behaviors, on average, are more productive when at work (higher presenteeism)1 and incur lower health care costs than employees with less healthy behaviors.2,3  As a result it would be foolish not to have a Workplace Wellness Program.

4. When developing a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative use what you know about leadership styles and the decision-making process within your employer

Every employer is different. Build leadership support for the Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative in the way that makes the most sense for your employer. Think about the following as you plan how to approach leadership for Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative support:

• What are the current pressures and priorities facing executives? How could a Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative and a healthier workforce support those priorities?
• How do your leaders prefer to receive data: written documents? verbal presentations?
• What kinds of Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative information are likely to sway decisions? Do they want data and Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative statistics specific to your employer, or are state or national data sufficient? Are your leaders more influenced by internal factors or by what competitors are doing?
• Who would your leaders see as a reliable messenger for this Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative information? Does someone from the risk management area carry more clout than someone from the human resources area?
• How do decisions get made in your employer? Informal committee meetings? Formal or informal meetings between executives? Plan accordingly and you increase the odds that the Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative will become a reality.

5. Maintain Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative support once you have it

Once you have appropriate Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative support, ensure that you keep it by regularly updating your leaders on the health of the employees and progress toward establishing a culture that promotes health. Ask upper management how frequently they want to receive Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative progress reports.

Source Information:
1 Bunn, JOEM, 2006, 48:10.
2 Foldes, Bland, An et al. Modifiable Health Risks and Short-Term Health Care Costs. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota internal research, submitted for publication.
3 Anderson, 2000, American Journal of Health Promotion, 15:1.