Workplace wellness is evolving.

Early efforts to create healthy workplaces focused on safety at the worksite and injury prevention for workers.

More recently, programs are designed to assist employees to choose healthier behaviours like being more physically active or quitting smoking. Campaigns to raise awareness, educational sessions to increase knowledge, opportunities to learn new skills, and changes to policies to make it easier for employees to make healthy choices are often included. This approach is taken because the workplace is a good way to reach people, since most adults spend a large part of their day at work.

While safety and lifestyle programs are two aspects that contribute to the health of employees, workplace wellness is more effective when a third factor is brought into the equation—the environment at work.

How the workplace affects health.

Increasingly, it is recognized that the workplace itself has a powerful affect on people’s health. When people are satisfied with their job, they are more productive and tend to be healthier. When employees feel that the environment at work is negative, they feel stressed. Stress has a large impact on employee mental and physical health, and in turn, on productivity.

Consultant Graham Lowe has identified five components of workplace culture that directly affect employees’ health and the health of the organization overall—credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. The underlying idea is that companies must genuinely care about the well-being of their employees.

Companies today who want to attract and keep good workers have leaders who understand the connection between employee satisfaction and employee health and believe that workplace wellness is a business strategy. Their management practices include making reasonable demands on time and energy, involving employees in decision making, rewarding work well done, openly communicating, and providing support to balance work and home life.

Employers know that workers are looking for jobs that pay well, have good benefits, are interesting, and include excellent health and safety programs. So in today’s competitive hiring market, it’s become more important than ever for companies to enhance job satisfaction and ensure that workers enjoy being on the job. Workplace wellness benefits both employers and employees.

How does workplace wellness benefit the employer?

A workplace wellness initiative can help a company to:

• attract and keep employees;
• reduce the costs of disability, drugs, and absenteeism;
• reduce the effects of a stressful workplace;
• reduce health costs or keep them contained; and
• improve morale by creating a happy, supportive environment.

How does workplace wellness benefit employees?

Employees of companies that have a workplace wellness program are likely to have:

• increased awareness and knowledge of ways to improve their health;
• a better (less stressful) workplace;
• increased protection from injury;
• improved health and well-being;
• higher morale and greater job satisfaction;
• increased productivity and effectiveness at work;
• reduced personal health care costs; and
• a more relaxed/flexible approach to health issues.

Both employers and employees have a responsibility for creating a healthy workplace. Employees are expected to arrive at work in good health, and the employer is expected to provide an environment that allows employees to maintain good health, enjoy their work, and contribute to the company’s success.

Workplace wellness is more than a “lunch and learn” program. It’s about developing a “people first” approach to doing business. It’s about taking care of employees, establishing a positive work environment, and paying attention to the factors that keep employees healthy and happy at work. A good workplace wellness program has an impact on employees’ mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.

Many organizations recognize the need for a comprehensive strategy to help their employees be the best they can be. They also know that successful and sustainable wellness programs are much more than a few “lunch and learn” programs.

Your wellness program should include a wide range of key elements, including:

* A clear agenda or statement of goals.
* A plan characterized by passion.
* An effective leader who is creative and organized.
* A focus on short-term outcomes combined with an overall vision.
* A measurable strategy (what’s important gets measured!).
* A policy of celebrating and communicating success.

Planning Your Wellness Program
Plan carefully to ensure that your wellness program is seen as part of a broad commitment to maintaining the health and safety of all employees. Yes, creating a good plan takes a lot of effort and time (and sometimes resources). But planning is essential and well worth the investment required. As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.”

You might start by conducting a survey of employee needs and interests. If you take this route, pay attention to the results and plan accordingly. If you don’t, the employees will not support the program.

Collecting information about what you’re already offering is also a good idea. For example, you may be surprised by your company or organization’s current wellness and health policies.

Another important step is to establish an agenda and/or measurable goals to help you determine priorities, timelines and the resources required to launch the program. Be bold and creative in your planning, but also realistic.

Leadership
The leader of your wellness program must be able to wear many hats. The leader’s duties include:

* Developing a vision of the wellness program after receiving input from all interested employees.
* Communicating ideas and a rationale throughout the organization (to senior managers and fellow employees alike).
* Keeping others enthusiastic about and committed to a wellness program.
* Serving as a role model and wellness coach.
* Developing and maintaining leadership skills such as giving effective presentations and being well-organized.

Good leaders avoid becoming overwhelmed by overly ambitious and complex plans. You may want to stick to short-term goals at the beginning so that you get immediate and visible results. These first steps are the basis for a successful wellness program.

Good leaders involve as many people as possible in the program. For example, you’ll want to form a committee made up of a diverse group of employees to provide advice during the planning phase. This approach will:

* Help you to obtain valuable information from all parts of the company.
* Develop ambassadors who will help you implement the wellness program.

Keeping Score and Celebrating
Always keep in mind how you will monitor progress and evaluate the success of your wellness program. Evaluation allows you to:

* Identify areas of excellence.
* Identify factors that affect participation in your programs.
* Gain management’s support for your efforts (and maintain that support).
* Better understand issues that need attention.
* Learn from mistakes and change the program to keep it on the right track.

When you evaluate your program, you can measure such things as:

* Employee absences.
* Employee turnover rates.
* The cost of your employee assistance program.
* The cost of benefits, including short-term and long-term disability payments.
* The cost of your drug plan.
* WCB costs.
* Accident rates and safety records.
* Employees’ participation in wellness programs (and whether they’re staying in the programs).
* Changes in employees’ health habits.
* Level of employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle issues.
* Results of your environmental wellness audit.
* Other noticeable changes in areas such as morale and job satisfaction.

A good communications plan provides ongoing information to employees (including senior managers) and fosters excitement about the wellness program. Positive reinforcement is part of an effective communications plan. For example, you might recognize people who have helped set up the program or offer tangible rewards for achieving goals.

Everyone needs to know whether employees are getting involved, enjoying the activities and getting some benefit from them. Showing that a wellness program has financial benefits is often an important factor in maintaining strong support from the top.

If you pay attention to the key elements of your wellness program and communicate openly and continuously while planning and delivering it, you will lay a solid foundation and leave a legacy that lasts.

Source: HealthyAlberta.com