More Tips for Creating Employee Health and Wellness Programs that Really Work for You
· Encourage employees to kickstart their own wellness programs by visiting their doctor. A complete physical should include information about blood sugar, cholesterol levels and general health.
· Target specific health-related concerns in your corporate fitness program. Information about how to fight obesity, smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse should be at the forefront of your employee wellness program, along with related conditions.
· Hire a wellness coach to instruct employees on how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
· Reward employees for participating in company wellness plans. Let employees accrue health and wellness points that they can redeem for prizes. Make the prizes healthy, too -- a free massage, private training session with your company's wellness coach or health food gift certificate encourages even more healthy lifestyle choices.
· Acknowledge employee health and wellness leaders in company newsletters, in posted bulletins and on the company intranet.
If you’re a business owner and you’re trying to increase employee participation in your company wellness program, consider Johnson & Johnson’s approach. Faced with only 26% of employees participating in their employee health and wellness program, Johnson & Johnson offered employees a $500 discount on medical insurance costs if they completed a health risk profile. The number of employees participating in the Johnson & Johnson corporate fitness program jumped after they offered the incentive -- to more than 93%.
Lisa Nichols, Workplace Wellness Programs-Corporate Fitness Plans Improve Employee Health and Wellness (Aug 31, 2007)
