So you've identified the challenges, secured management buy-in, surveyed employees and created a committee of stakeholders to steer your new Employee Wellness Program. The question you may be asking now is "Uh ... What next?" Glad you asked.

Putting Your Plan into Action

You'll need a format for your program. For example, do you want to institute a company softball team or a weight-loss scheme? Should there be rewards or prizes? In most cases, your target goals (discussed last week) will help define the shape of your program.

Now you can get started. Broadly speaking, your committee activities can be described as Inform, Educate and Adapt.

Inform

Promote the heck out of your program. You'll need posters, paycheck inserts, email messages. Think hard about the content and your audience. This will be the first contact many workers have with your program, so make it appealing. Share your goals with the audience and try to persuade them to make these goals their goals. Make initial changes small and goals attainable. If a program seems too "radical" or impossible to achieve, employees may not buy in.

Educate

Assuming you've targeted a particular behavior as being less desirable, then you need to teach people how to take up the behavior you want to promote. It does no good simply to tell people: "Quit smoking." You have to offer them reasons to change their behavior, and show them where their support network is. You might have a poster that reads: "Want to live longer? Breathe easier? Be sexier? Smell better? ... The ABC Company Smoker's Anonymous group is for YOU. Everyone welcome. FREE coffee, cookies and nicotine patches provided to all ex-smokers!"

This is where you bring in the experts, and where your committee contacts can start paying off. Have an expert in to talk about your topic of choice. If your goal is healthy weight, offer a meeting room to the local Weight Watchers or similar group.

Adapt

Behavioral change in the workplace is a give-and-take game. You have to show that you mean what you say.

So make changes in your workplace. Why not fill the break-room fridge with healthy snacks and/or have the candy machine removed to encourage healthier eating? If there's no reward or perceived benefit for changing a behavior, many people will choose not to. So workplace culture will need to be molded to encourage positive health and wellness choices. Little awards for achieving small, measurable goals are useful for motivation, too.

Conclusion

The benefits of employee wellness plans are incontrovertible. If you approach your program with honesty, integrity and a clear vision of success, you're already on the right track to a healthier workplace. But keep it regular and keep at it. If early returns don't show a lot of improvement, resist the urge to "fix" things. You may just be building momentum.

NATIONAL SAFETY MONTH


Helping Workers Prepare for Emergencies

"Make a Difference"

By Catherine Jones

The NSC (National Safety Council) would like this to be the year we all "Make a Difference," the theme for National Safety Month in the US.

The annual June campaign is focused on these topics:

Week 1: June 2-6, Emergency Preparedness
Week 2: June 9-13, Distracted Driving
Week 3: June 16-20, Poisoning Prevention
Week 4: June 23-27, Falls Prevention

To help you make a difference, here's some information on emergency preparedness to share with your workers.

7 Habits of Highly Prepared People

Emergency preparedness is considering what can go wrong and what to do if it does.

This does not mean you must be in a constant state of worry. What it means is that you pay attention to your environment and continue planning how you can stay safe. It also means you develop survival skills and keep survival tools accessible.

Here are some examples of emergency-ready habits:

Wherever you are, be prepared to protect yourself if things go wrong. Emergency preparedness is planning to survive.

For more information on National Safety Month, visit its official website. And for Canadians, Emergency Preparedness Week was in early May, but, of course, the topic is not time-sensitive. For more information, visit the Get Prepared site.

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