Posts from — December 2008

Take the time to plan Workplace Wellness Programs before they are started.

Strategic planning enables better use of all your resources. Include all the steps below when you plan a Wellness activity.
• Do your homework – Find the science and research that support your interventions. Look for similar Workplace Wellness Programs that already exist.
• Determine the specific health need(s) – Use these needs to target interventions to problems that are an issue for your population.
• Organize a team – A team is a resource multiplier. Network and build as many partnerships as you can.
• Make a plan, but don’t start completely from scratch. Make a written plan for your Workplace Wellness Program. Look for every opportunity to take advantage of resources that already exist. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
• Select a focus – Choose one or two main target areas for Workplace Wellness Programs. Address all five stages of change in the target areas rather than trying to hit every possible Wellness topic.
• Determine your resources – What assets do you have? What assets will you need? How can you fill the gaps?
• Get Upper Management support – Think like Upper Management. Communicate the value of Wellness from Upper Management’s perspective.
• Begin the activity- Be flexible. Be prepared for unexpected challenges.
• Market the activity – Keep your Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative visible for Upper Management, line and medical personnel, Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative participants, and potential partners and volunteers.
• Collect and analyze outcomes – Outcomes indicate Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative impact. Begin with just a few outcomes – you don’t have to collect everything. Remember that it’s never too late to start measuring Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative impact.
• Evaluate, improve and re-evaluate – Use participant feedback and Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative outcomes to determine Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative impact. Establish areas in need of improvement. Use outcomes to determine if expended resources were worth the results.

Why use small steps toward health behavior change?

Small steps give participants immediate feedback on the changes they make towards better health. Measuring these small steps is also an excellent way to collect interim Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative effectiveness information.

Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative small steps make a big difference

Small steps for Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative participants
• Walk to work.
• Use fat free milk instead of whole milk.
• Each day think of two things you are grateful for.
• Do sit-ups while you watch TV.
• Drink water before a meal.
• Take 10 deep breaths to relieve tension.
• Eat half your dessert.
• Skip second helpings and buffets.

Measuring small Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative steps
• Use short pre- and mid-point surveys to ask:
• How many glasses of water do you drink a day?
• How frequently you do eat fast food?
• How frequently do you skip a meal?
• How frequently do you engage in physical activity?
• How many servings of fruits and vegetables do you eat each day?

Use the results to show participants how their health behaviors are changing for the better.

• Ask participants to rate their health status and/or stress levels before and after an intervention.
• Add up individual (or team) steps and mark the progress on a map towards a far away destination.
• Be innovative! Do not rely only on weight loss, BMI, or cholesterol tests as health status progress indicators or health behavior change feedback.

Wise words for taking small Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative steps

• The first wealth is health. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• We are what we repeatedly do. (Aristotle)
• The victory is not always to the swift, but to those who keep moving. (CDC)
• There are 1440 minutes in every day…schedule 30 of them for physical activity. (CDC)