Think ahead: what unexpected challenges might come up as you begin your Corporate Health Promotion Program? How could you adapt and change the Corporate Health Promotion Plan to meet those challenges?

• Look at the “what if’s?”
• What if your classroom space is suddenly no longer available?
• What if you can’t hold the Health and Wellness in the usual place?
• Have a ‘Plan B’ (or even Plan C or Plan D) in mind for when the “what if’s” happen.

• Build a team that can help with the Corporate Health Promotion Plan
• Who else could teach the health education class if the regular instructor cancels at the last minute?
• Know what areas of expertise your staff has besides their ‘main’ job. For example, find out who has fitness instructor credentials besides just the physical therapist.
• Don’t wait for a crisis before you build a network of employees that you can call on.

• Be ready to roll your sleeves up
• Jump in to fill a gap if you need to.
• YOU may have to help restock the milk case in the dining center when the Dairy Month ‘Milk Mustache’ contest results in raised sales during lunch.

• Be willing (and ready) to respond to feedback about the Corporate Health Promotion Plan
• Get member feedback while the Corporate Health Promotion Plan is ongoing. Then be ready to adapt to those suggestions.
• For example, if kids in a pediatric obesity Corporate Health Promotion Plan fight the idea of completing exercise logs, then get a verbal summary of their activity for the week instead.

• Simplify Corporate Health Promotion Plan
• If part of your Corporate Health Promotion Plan is not working, try making that part less complicated.
• For example, if getting follow-up information is not going the way you planned, then make the process to get information easier OR decrease the number of pieces of information that you collect.

• Use lemons to make lemonade
• What do you do when the Corporate Health Promotion Plan doesn’t turn out exactly as you planned? Look for what did turn out. Often, the ‘unexpected outcomes’ produce positive results.
• For example, one company’s database to collect sick call data was made obsolete by a regional system. However, the company database was able to be used in a different way to track vaccination information that enhanced delivery of care to Employees.

Why use small steps toward behavior change?

Small steps give members immediate feedback on the changes they make towards better health. Measuring these small steps is also an excellent way to collect interim Corporate Health Promotion Plan effectiveness information.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan small steps make a big difference

Small steps for Corporate Health Promotion Plan members
• Walk to work.
• Use fat free milk instead of whole milk.
• Each day think of two things you are grateful for.
• Do sit-ups while you watch TV.
• Drink water before a meal.
• Take 10 deep breaths to relieve tension.
• Eat half your dessert.
• Skip second helpings and buffets.

Measuring small Corporate Health Promotion Plan steps
• Use short pre- and mid-point surveys to ask:
• How many glasses of water do you drink a day?
• How frequently you do eat fast food?
• How frequently do you skip a meal?
• How frequently do you engage in physical activity?
• How many servings of fruits and vegetables do you eat each day?

Use the results to show members how their health behaviors are changing for the better.

• Ask members to rate their health status and/or stress levels before and after an intervention.
• Add up individual (or team) steps and mark the progress on a map towards a far away destination.
• Be innovative! Do not rely only on weight loss, BMI, or cholesterol tests as health status progress indicators or behavior change feedback.

Wise words for taking small Corporate Health Promotion Plan steps

• The first wealth is health. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• We are what we repeatedly do. (Aristotle)
• The victory is not always to the swift, but to those who keep moving. (CDC)
• There are 1440 minutes in every day…schedule 30 of them for physical activity. (CDC)

As the field of Corporate Health Promotion Programs continues to evolve, so will the need to define the dimensions of a broad-based model of Corporate Health Promotion Programs. A representative model includes the following Corporate Health Promotion Program components; health education initiatives, worker health services and benefits, physical fitness and nutrition initiatives, Corporate Health Promotion Plan policies and procedures, counseling and employee assistance programs, a safe and healthy work environment, and the integration of company and community resources.

A broad-based approach to Corporate Health Promotion Programs will maximize the impact of all interventions by increasing communication between administrators, workers, and worker families, while encouraging the adoption of a healthy worksite climate and culture. Philosophically, this model supports the ideals of worker wellness and optimal health by encouraging worksites to go beyond initiatives designed to only reduce health care costs, prevent disease, or maintain health.

A primary factor in the utility of this model is the integration and overlap of responsibilities for Corporate Health Promotion Programs by various departments and individuals outside and inside the company. As the structure of the worksite continues to change, in the future this dynamic model can be used to evaluate and plan for Corporate Health Promotion Programs that are truly broad-based in nature.

A Comprehensive Model For Corporate Health Promotion Programs

According to the National Survey of Worksite Health Promotion Activities (1992) 81% of corporations in the United States with 50 or more workers have some form of Corporate Health Promotion Programs activity. This result puts us in proximity of the Healthy People 2000 (1990) objective of 85% by the year 2000. Why are corporations getting into the organization of Corporate Health Promotion Programs? The three most common reasons cited for employer interest in Corporate Health Promotion Programs are the desire to control spiraling health care costs, to encourage a healthy productive work force, and as a method of boosting the morale of workers and the image of the company (O’Donnell, 1994).

As the motivations behind Corporate Health Promotion Programs differ, so do the extent of a Corporate Health Promotion Programs efforts. A program may consist of distributing the occasional health pamphlet on the warning signs of cancer to workers, or it may comprise an elaborate and strategically planned Corporate Health Promotion Plan targeted to the specific needs of a company and its workers. Research indicates (O’Donnel & Harris, 1994) that some Corporate Health Promotion Programs have been more effective than others in improving health status, but what would a truly broad-based model of Corporate Health Promotion Programs consist of?

Close your eyes and imagine yourself working for the healthiest organization possible. What characteristics or Corporate Health Promotion Plan strategies would make that organization so healthy? Examine it from a holistic perspective. What does that organization do to enhance the spiritual, emotional, social, physical and intellectual aspects of worker health? How does that organization develop effective health policies and relevant programs that impact all workers? Finally, how does that organization demonstrate its belief that workers are the organization’s most valued asset?

It is unlikely that any one component of a Corporate Health Promotion Plan will be accountable for the positive health outcomes of all workers. Corporate Health Promotion Plan have evolved from the occasional fitness center for the exclusive use of organization executives, or the sporadic worker safety program, to a wide range of health enhancing services and initiatives. Corporate Health Promotion Plan experts frequently speak of the importance of cultural change and the need to institutionalize Corporate Health Promotion Programs in today’s worksite. This goal can only occur through a broad-based and integrated approach that impacts on workers through numerous channels.

Corporate Health Promotion Plan Study Shows Millions Lost Due to Illness

Corporate Health Promotion Plan was shown to be a huge economic boon for companies in a recently-released joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Nearly three million productive workers in labor markets worldwide add up to a lot of money. The Corporate Health Promotion Plan research study estimates that China will lose $558 billion, India $237 billion, and Russia $303 billion in national income from 2005 to 2015 due to only three chronic diseases: heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Lack of Corporate Health Promotion Plan A “Huge Expense”

The United States Center for Disease Control also reports that chronic disease accounts for approximately 75 percent of yearly staff member health care costs in the United States, which constitutes a huge expense for companies. And the Public Health Foundation of India estimates that its country will lose 18 million potentially productive years of life by 2030, a statistic no nation can afford, let alone a developing one.

Corporate Health Promotion Programs the Answer

A sustainable solution to these challenges cannot be solved by medical benefits alone. Workplace commitments to Corporate Health Promotion Plan are also crucial. Companies are advised to begin onsite Health Screening and Biometric Testings for their workers, as well as look into a comprehensive health management program. These and other precautions are good secret weapons against the economic pitfall of unhealthy workers.