How to Start an Employee Wellness Program

culled from:wikihow.com

Steps

1

Conduct a survey to find out what types of services and programs your employees would be interested in. It is often helpful to form a committee of employees to conduct a survey. Form a committee of representatives from all organizational levels, areas, and other groups, so you can have a range of opinions represented. In this committee, think about including people from your organization or corporation that have responsibility for some aspect of employee health or well-being, such as human resources, employee benefits, occupational health and safety, the employee cafeteria, and employee unions.

• This committee should meet regularly to ensure the program's success. They should write a mission statement based on the results of the survey.
  

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   Determine what type of lifestyle your employees are leading. How many employees take smoke breaks throughout the day? If you have a vending machine, how often does it need to be refilled? Do your employees exercise regularly? Do they eat 3 balanced meals a day? Do they go to the doctor regularly for checkups? Looking at questions like that will provide you with a better sense of the types of programs from which your employees would benefit.
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   Have a kick-off "healthy living fair". Offer employees free flu shot, blood pressure checks, cholesterol screenings, BMI assessments, smoking cessation programs. Work with your local hospital to coordinate these events.
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   Have a health or wellness event every week. One idea is to use Monday as the day for all things health and prevention. This will start the week out on a good note and employees will appreciate the opportunity to improve their health on their company’s dime! Employers could organize Monday walks, free fruit on Mondays, or Monday health screenings.^[3]
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   Encourage physical activity outside of the office as well. If employees want to enter a local run or walk for a charity race, run a marathon, or take a fitness class, sponsor them!
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   Set up a program to assist employees suffering from problems of abuse or addiction depending on the policies in your workplace. While some companies may choose a zero-tolerance policy for drugs, other companies may choose to offer on-site counselors to encourage employees to quit smoking, drinking, or using drugs. Using work site health promotion to help as many employees overcome their addictions will benefit the entire company.
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   Offer healthy incentives. If any employee achieves a health goal, reward them with an item that is useful and further promotes their health such as:^[4]
   • pedometer
   • microwave vegetable steamer
   • good athletic socks
   • orange peeler
   • dyna bands
   • stress balls
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   Follow up. Find out what's working, what isn't. Are employees losing interest? Continue taking surveys and adjusting your program so that it remains effective.