Implementing wellness programs

Implementing a wellness program for your workplace can take some time, but the results are often well worth the effort.In the beginning stages of planning and implementing a wellness program, you want to ask yourself a series of questions.First, decide what your objectives for wanting to start an employee wellness program really are.You need to know what you want to see happen because of your implementation of your wellness program.In addition, you need to determine who your target audience for the wellness program is.Is the program for all staff members or only for certain groups?Another question you will have to ask yourself is what type of wellness program you want to implement.Some wellness programs are rigid in their structure and have strict guidelines.Other programs are for informational purposes only and some programs are meant to be fun and engaging.The tone of your wellness program will determine a lot when it comes to the result of your implementation.In order to answer these important questions you may want to establish a workplace committee in charge of implementing the wellness program.

Implementing a wellness program should start from the top of an organization and move downward.Have a contact in upper management who can serve as the company contact person for the wellness program.Make sure that upper management is supportive of the wellness program and is willing to lead by example as they too participate in the wellness program. Make sure that your wellness program has the support that it needs to be sustainable.Get as many people involved as possible.Include union/worker representatives, management, health and safety professional(s), human resources professional(s), your employee assistance program (EAP) provider, medical or occupational health staff, and local groups from your community.

Do not start from scratch if you already have employee wellness programs in place.Build on and learn from the programs that you already have.Involve those who were involved in these earlier forms of implementing wellness programs to participate in the newer wellness program implementation.These individuals will likely have a good deal of insight that they can share.Encourage the sharing of ideas among employees and take suggestions.In doing so you will be able to identify the key needs, attitudes, and preferences of the employees that you are designing the wellness program for.

Once you have gathered all of your ideas you need to work with a smaller implementation committee on developing a detailed plan of action.Identify the most important goals that are expected to be met by the implementation, prioritize those needs, and set realistic timelines for meeting those goals.Part of this planning process needs to include the specific strategies to be implemented during the first portion of the implementation and over the course of time so that employees remain interested in the wellness program.Have a clear idea of the resources that you will need for each step of the implementation.Resources to consider include the amount of time the implementation and program management/maintenance will require, the amount of money to be allocated to the project, the staff that is needed, etc.

Put your plan into action.Make sure that your implementation is well publicized.Everyone in the company should know that you are now offering a wellness program (regardless of whether or not they choose to participate).You will need to monitor the progress of your program.There will always be changes that you can make to improve.Use what resources you have to gage how well the wellness program is working and what might be done to improve future results.