Take the time to plan Corporate Health Promotion Programs before they are implemented.

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 Corporate Health Promotion 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. Create a written plan for your Corporate Health Promotion 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 Corporate Health Promotion 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 Senior Management support – Think like Senior Management. Communicate the value of Wellness from Senior Management’s perspective.
• Start the activity- Be flexible. Be prepared for unexpected challenges.
• Market the activity – Keep your Corporate Health Promotion Plan visible for Senior Management, line and medical personnel, Corporate Health Promotion Plan members, and potential partners and volunteers.
• Collect and analyze outcomes – Outcomes indicate Corporate Health Promotion Plan impact. Start with just a few outcomes – you don’t have to collect everything. Remember that it’s never too late to start measuring Corporate Health Promotion Plan impact.
• Evaluate, improve and re-evaluate – Use member feedback and Corporate Health Promotion Plan outcomes to determine Corporate Health Promotion Plan impact. Identify areas in need of improvement. Use outcomes to determine if expended resources were worth the results.

Why Corporate Health Promotion Plan follow up?

Getting feedback from Corporate Health Promotion Plan members serves two purposes: to obtain information that quantifies a Wellness Program’s impact, and to find ways to improve a Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Building follow up into your Corporate Health Promotion Plan

Keep it simple
• Keep follow up to information you absolutely require. A three-question survey is more likely to get a response than one with 20 questions.
• Use email or phone for follow-up. Use personal and business email addresses; use cell phone and unit phone numbers.
• Go to the Employees: go to the unit or somewhere else they will all be gathered, and get follow up information there.
• Give members a stamped envelope addressed to you, with a printed form listing the information you will need.

Make it structured
• Tell members right from the beginning that you will be doing follow up after the Corporate Health Promotion Plan is finished. Be specific about the information you will collect.
• If you need to do hands-on measurements, find out if members will be coming back to your location for another reason (like another clinic appointment). Ask them to stop by while they are in the building – or, better yet, go to where they will be.
• Ask members where they will be the next time you will be collecting information. They may already know their next duty station if they will be PCSing soon.
• Plan ahead for follow up and put it on the schedule. Planning to do follow up “when you have time” usually means follow up will never get done.

Make it catchy
• Give members something to go along with the request for information. For example, if you send an email to ask for information, send along a yummy recipe or a timely fitness tip.
• Schedule a ‘reunion’ day to collect follow up information. Invite members to come back and share successes and challenges. Have some (healthy) munchies available.
• Have a silly contest – the team with the most follow up information wins something, like having their photos posted on a prominently-placed bulletin board or an eggplant trophy, or some other fun thing.

Why bother to market your Corporate Health Promotion Programs?
Because of the transient nature of the many worker populations, you must market your Corporate Health Promotion Programs all the time. Your goal should be to keep your Corporate Health Promotion Programs as visible as possible.

Creative marketing can increase awareness of your Corporate Health Promotion Plan for:
• Potential Corporate Health Promotion Plan members
• Senior Management
• Line and medical personnel
• Potential partners and volunteers

Creative Corporate Health Promotion Plan marketing ideas

Involve Senior Management in your marketing Corporate Health Promotion Plan as frequently as possible.
• For example: invite Senior Management to judge a Corporate Health Promotion Plan logo contest.

Link your Corporate Health Promotion Programs to national advertising campaigns
• …like the Great American Smokeout and the Dairy Council’s Milk Mustache campaign.

Work closely with personnel in the home office.
• Submit articles about your Corporate Health Promotion Programs that coincide with National Health Observances. For example: highlight your Asthma Program in May, which is National Asthma Awareness Month.
• Let the home office know you can always provide an article to them when they run short on material. (Then make sure you always follow through.)
Word of mouth is the most effective advertising for your Corporate Health Promotion Plan
• Use real employees in your advertising: enlist the help of successful Corporate Health Promotion Plan members or use Employees and other post personnel for your marketing materials, when possible.
• Establish “buzz” by incorporating an element of competition: which ‘team’ had the most steps over the past week? Which department engaged most frequently in physical activity?
Make use of technology
• Use post television and radio resources.
• Use email whenever you can.
Don’t simply market your Corporate Health Promotion Plan to potential members, but market the opportunities for others to be involved, as well.
• For example: does the Red Cross know you can always use a volunteer? Do other departments/clinics know that you can always use personnel with some temporary down time?
Don’t be “old news”
• If you put advertising materials up, be sure to take them down in a timely manner.
• Update marketing logos and themes as appropriate.

What is Corporate Health Promotion Plan data?

Corporate Health Promotion Plan data is information that is collected about your Corporate Health Promotion Program. All Corporate Health Promotion Programs should include data as an integral part of the Corporate Health Promotion Plan plan.

Why should you care about Corporate Health Promotion Plan data?

Information tells the Wellness story. Information is the tangible evidence of a Wellness Program’s impact.

Building data into Corporate Health Promotion Programs

Why bother with Corporate Health Promotion Plan Data?

You need Corporate Health Promotion Plan data to:
• Evaluate whether or not your Corporate Health Promotion Plan is working.
• Answer the ‘so what?’ about the need for a Corporate Health Promotion Program.
• Provide information to Senior Management about the impact of the Corporate Health Promotion Program.
• Write a budget justification so you can secure Corporate Health Promotion Plan resources.
• Use Corporate Health Promotion Plan resources efficiently and market your Corporate Health Promotion Plan more effectively.

Where to start collecting Corporate Health Promotion Plan data:
• MAKE A PLAN to collect the data: decide what, when, and how information will be collected.
• Find out what information is ALREADY BEING COLLECTED.
o For example: use dairy sales information in the dining center to measure the impact of a milk marketing/dairy month campaign.
• Start collecting JUST A FEW small pieces of information. Be innovative!
o For example: BMI, APFT scores (before & after), tobacco quit rates

IT’S NEVER TO LATE TO START collecting Corporate Health Promotion Plan data.

Innovative Corporate Health Promotion Plan data strategies
• Use local college/graduate students to help collect, input, and analyze Corporate Health Promotion Plan information.
• If your organization has an internship program, get to know the Internship Director. Make use of intern resources – including having the Director and/or interns begin the data collection plan for your Corporate Health Promotion Program.
• Use information to let upper management know about the Corporate Health Promotion Programs affect on the workers.

Present this information at their monthly/quarterly meetings.
• Use innovative follow-up strategies to get information. Telephone calls can be effective, but also consider email, mailed surveys with return postage provided, and going to the units in person to collect the information.
• Make data collection ‘fun’ for Corporate Health Promotion Plan members.
o For example: use a team approach – the team with the ‘best’ overall results gets some sort of award or recognition.
• ALWAYS relate the impact of your Corporate Health Promotion Plan to readiness.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Statistics tell a clear story – Corporate Health Promotion Plan Programs are effective , and they save companies money.

You should take note of these interesting Corporate Health Promotion Plan Statistics:

Some 25 percent of United States companies were running Corporate Health Promotion Programs in 1996.
Corporate Health Promotion Plan Statistics depict a savings of $2.30 to $10.10 for every $1 spent on Corporate Health Promotion Programs.
Coca-Cola’s fitness program recouped $500 per year per staff member, despite the fact that only 60% of their staff was enrolled.
A Ipsos-Reid Corporate Health Promotion Plan statisics paper in 2004 found the three major preventable causes of staff absenteeism to be mental health (anxiety and/or depression), stress and a bad relationship with a supervisor.
Corporate Health Promotion Plan Statistics from Prudential Insurance reveal a benefit expense of $312 per individual enrolled in their wellness system, but $574 per non-enrolled staff member.
At the Coors Brewing Co., Corporate Health Promotion Plan Statistics illuminate a savings of $5.50 per $1 spent on fitness, with a positive side-effect of member absenteeism dropping by 18%.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages still aren’t self-evident to some executives, even though the research, real-world evidence and cost-benefit analyses are demonstrative. With careful planning, almost every company can reap Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages.

Part of the problem is that some executives erroneously believe that the Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages are mostly on the staff member side. The truth is that Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages both the organization and staff member – and according to Corporate Health Promotion Plan statistics , the employer stands to gain $2.30 to $10.10 in savings per dollar spent. Employee fitness saves companies money.

At the same time, health care and insurance costs continue to skyrocket. Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages are one of the only ways to cut those costs while helping workers at the same time. As Karen Roberts, senior vice president with Aon Consulting, said about Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages in her address at the 2006 WorldAtWork Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition, “If you can’t afford to invest in wellness this year, you’re never going to afford it.”

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Advantages include helping to prevent cancer, obesity, heart disease and hypertension. It’s rare that companies can cut costs and assist struggling workers, support families and even arguably save lives. Isn’t that a good thing?

What is a Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposal?

You probably have seen the term many times and wondered what exactly does it mean. A Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposal is a proposal put together by a wellness consultant that makes suggestions for what type of Corporate Health Promotion Programs you should choose, what tools you will need to accomplish your corporation’s wellness goals, and costs associated with it.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposals Assist Human Resource Departments

A Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposal is a great thing to have in hand when HR Departments go to upper management to request funding for a Corporate Health Promotion Program. It will provide necessary stats and trends, background information, and costs that will enable the HR Department to fully present their case. Upper management will appreciate the preparedness and the research that has gone into your wellness request.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposals Lead to Better Corporate Health Promotion Programs

A well thought out Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposal can lead to a better Corporate Health Promotion Program, because the building blocks will already be in place. Corporate Health Promotion Plan Proposals will guarantee that your corporation gets the proper Corporate Health Promotion Plan established. Corporate Health Promotion Programs can vary greatly, but when your workers ask, you can tell them that they generally include the following:

Walking programs which provides workers with incentive rewards to take their walking breaks at their worksite.
Company teams, worksite yoga classes and massage therapists at the worksite.
Nutrition advice, weight-loss and healthy cooking classes, stress management sessions, and either a Corporate Health Promotion Plan resources column in the staff member newsletter or a wellness newsletter.
Stairwell initiatives to show how stair-walking can improve health.

Wellness Competitions Are Popping Up Everywhere

Wellness Competitions are definitely hot right now and they are encouraging more and more people to get healthy and live better. Whether it is a city or a school or a social group or even a whole state, competitive spirits are being ignited by the challenge to be the healthiest team. The Wellness Competitions are usually about a six months to a year in length and they are made up of several teams, these teams all get points for physical activity, selecting healthy foods, and just making better life and health choices overall.

The best part about Wellness Competitions is even though there really is only way “real” winner; everyone that participates in the challenge is a life winner.

Wellness Competitions provides incentive reward to Get Healthy

Establishing a Wellness Competitions in your office is a great way to get workers to participate in your established Corporate Health Promotion Program. Have workers form teams and receive points for everything from attending a corporate Wellness Fair to getting a health risk assessment to beginning an physical activity regimen. At the end of the year, the teams will win prizes based on the number of points they have accumulated.

Wellness Competitions Enhance Corporate Health

Not only will Wellness Competitions improve the health of your workers, it will improve the overall health of the corporation by providing benefits such as fewer injuries, worker’s comp claims, decreased health care costs, better staff member attendance, and better corporate morale.

Like we said earlier, everyone is a winner in a Wellness Competitions!

Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI: Fact or Fiction?

Corporate Health Promotion Programs … do they provide a strong return on investment? This is a question that we are sure goes through ever company’s mind. HR Magazine addresses the Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI topic in their June 2008 issue.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI: The Bottom Line

According to the article, titled “Finding Wellness’ Return on Investment,” determining Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI is not an easy thing to do for companies because it involves a lot of different variables and time.

However, the companies that have taken the time to determine the Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI of their Corporate Health Promotion Programs have found that it is quite significant. Not to mention, the Wellness program’s effect on the improvement of staff member health and the slowing of the rate of their staff member health care costs.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI Alliance

Corporate Health Promotion Plan ROI is such an important part of today’s corporate culture, that several large companies have come together to form the Alliance for Wellness ROI, Inc. According to the HR Magazine article, The Alliance for Wellness ROI was specifically created to address the lack of consistency in proving the value of Corporate Health Promotion Programs.

The alliance, formed by BMW of North America, Henry Ford Health System, Kraft Foods Global, Schlumberger Limited and MasterCare Worldwide, strongly believes in showing the value of Corporate Health Promotion Programs and want to develop a standard for how Corporate Health Promotion Programs are measured.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs Components

According the alliance, the following components should make up an corporate-provided staff member Corporate Health Promotion Program:

Employee assistance Program
Disease Management Programs
Fitness and physical activity Programs
Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals
Worksite health care Programs
Individual wellness profiles
Preventive Health Screening and Biometric Testings and immunizations
Tobacco-cessation Programs
Telephonic Corporate Health Promotion Programs
Weight Management and Weight Loss Programs
Self-Care Programs.

Companies are no longer able to trim extra savings out of their health insurance programs, and the majority of companies have been cost shifting, asking staff members to cover more of their health care costs. Health insurance costs continue to climb (10% or more per year) at 2-3 times the general inflation rate. With nowhere else to turn, corporations are – more than ever – looking to get staff members engaged in Corporate Health Promotion Programs as a means of slowing health care costs and improving productivity.

For example, last year 53% of large corporations offered Health Risk Assessments / Health Risk Appraisals for their staff, up from 35% just two years earlier, according to a Mercer survey. Change is being driven by cost, but Corporate Health Promotion Programs a win-win solution for both corporations and staff members.

Here are other Corporate Health Promotion Plan trends organizations are implementing:

More companies are integrating Corporate Health Promotion Programs into their benefits plans. If they want the best plans or the lowest personal costs, they need to participate in the Corporate Health Promotion Plan and meeting minimum goals.

More companies are providing worksite weight loss programs as a component of the Corporate Health Promotion Program, especially after Duke University’s new research showing the high cost of overweight staff members and raised cost for worker’s compensation for sedentary and overweight staff members.

Companies are providing more Corporate Health Promotion Programs designed to assist staff members with chronic health conditions: health coaches, nurse advice lines, telephone counseling, and self-study guides

Companies are providing more online Corporate Health Promotion Plan interventions and health information resources

More companies are providing regular worksite employee health screenings including cholesterol, glucose, A1c, blood pressure, weigh-ins, and other checks as a part of their Corporate Health Promotion Program. Some Corporate Health Promotion Programs even include bone-density checks and skin cancer screenings.

Many companies are providing fitness programs, either in the community or worksite, as a part of their Corporate Health Promotion Program.

Corporations are providing more prizes, rewards, and incentives getting engaged in Corporate Health Promotion Plan activities

Some companies are adding emphasis to health maintenance. It’s one thing to lose weight or stop tobacco; it’s another to maintain these changes. Helping staff members stay engaged and maintain their health changes is important for long-term success.

Companies are putting more emphasis on keeping healthy people healthy rather than just working primarily with high-risk individuals. Research shows this approach results in a greater Corporate Health Promotion Plan return on investment (ROI).

Wellness companies are providing great resources for companys’ staff members over the Internet – online wellness centers, monthly health and wellness newsetters, wellness challenges, online points tracking systems, virtual fitness programs, online wellness coaching or interventions, interactive health calculators, healthy recipes, even downloadable health tips for your iPod.

Companies who are becoming more proactive are making a big impact on their future health care expenses and productivity. Ohio State University announced that they expect to save $30 million dollars with their complete Corporate Health Promotion Plan over the next 5 years!

Corporate Health Promotion Programs and prevention are sound ideas whose time has come. Health Promotion is more fun and costs less than treating disease.

References: TIME in partnership with CNN, “Businesses Help Workers Lose Weight.” Website accessed July 2007.