Health promotion programs come in all shapes and sizes. But regardless of plan design there are five common components that set the successful programs apart from the rest.

At their core, health promotion programs require constant monitoring and periodic adjustments. the programs that get mediocre results are the ones that are left to run on autopilot. That’s why it’s critical to –

1. Know thine enemy You’ve to know what’s driving your largest claim costs on your healthcare plan – both among employees and their dependents.

2. Create realistic expectations. With wellness, what an business gets will nearly always depend on how much it spends, how well it plans and how well it sustains communications with participants and the vendor.

3. Maintain strong communications. the health promotion programs that achieve the greatest success are those which are communicated aggressively from the get go and are sustained. Repetition is your friend when doing staff member education.

4. Integrate wellness with other benefits. Real-life experience has shown that you ought to consider your employee assistance programs (EAPs) an extension of the health promotion program. You should also consider issues like absenteeism, disability and worker’s compensation to be pieces of the wellness puzzle.

5. Practice what you preach. the key to ensuring staff member buy-in is for management to lead the program by setting a positive example. If upper managers are unwilling to participate and address their own health issues, don’t expect many staff members to take the program seriously.