The key elements of successful wellness program implementation

Before beginning to talk about successful wellness program implementation, it is important to first understand what exactly an employee wellness program is.An employee wellness program is an effective method to promote health and wellness amongst those who you employ.Wellness programs should encourage awareness of health related issues, improve morale, and often times reduce cost of healthcare throughout the corporation.

Another key element to successful wellness program implementation that you would do well to remember is that a wellness program is voluntary.You cannot require your employee's participation nor can you set guidelines dictating what they can and cannot do when it comes to their health. Find out how many employees would be interested and would participate in the employee wellness program.Doing so will give you a good estimate regarding how many employees are likely to take part in the employee wellness program.From this information, you can determine whether the wellness program is worth implementing.

There needs to be one individual who can be given the responsibility of coordinating your wellness program.This person will most likely be someone who is motivated and committed to leading a healthy lifestyle as well as being interested in promoting the employee wellness program.This person should be comfortable speaking to other colleagues and staff about the wellness program and should have an enthusiasm and positive attitude that is contagious.

You need to have a series of specific goals that you would like to achieve with your wellness program.These goals could include improving general health and well-being, productivity, teamwork, morale and attitude.You could also have the goals of decreasing absenteeism, reducing turnover rates and decreasing workplace injuries.A committee should be appointed to help your wellness leader in coordinating the events that will all lead back to fulfilling the wellness goals that you have made for your company.The responsibilities of the committee members will vary.Some will be in charge of booking external health care professionals, ensuring the availability of healthy snacks in break rooms and vending machines, and organizing various health-based events.Both during the planning stages and regularly throughout the year, the Committee members should coordinate their efforts and meet on a regular basis to keep each other updated on the progress of the employee wellness program.

The best way to gain participation is to create a wellness program that has the specific needs of your employees at its core.Identifying topics of health interest and concern may occur by conducting a survey among the employees.This survey could be anything from a simple printout that is sent home with each employee and then returned anonymously to a one-on-one consultation that takes place between the employee and a member of the wellness committee.

Bringing about a positive change not only in the individual members of your staff, but throughout the entire company is the ultimate goal that you should be aiming for.Better health is a life-long process that is met with changes and new challenges.Your wellness program should reflect the ever-changing needs of your employees and new resources provided in order to keep up with the changes that are occurring.Although there may be only one wellness program implementation, the nature of a successful wellness program is that changes are made in order to maximize the efficiency of the program. A successful wellness program is implemented with a fair amount of publicity because it is important for all of your employees, even the ones that will never participate in a wellness activity, to know that it is your goal to foster a healthy working environment.