What is a Health and Wellness Program?

What is a Health and Wellness Program?
A Health and Wellness Program is an organized program to help workers in establishing healthier lifestyles.  This can include enhancing employee awareness on health topics, providing behavior change initiatives, and/or establishing business policies that support health-related goals.  Programs and policies that promote increased physical activity, tobacco use prevention and [...]

Wellness Program Activities

Health Testing:

Blood pressure
Breast cancer Testing
Skin cancer Testing
Diabetes Testing
Cholesterol Testing
Eye exams
Body-fat Testing
Flu shots
Posture screening, spinal analysis
On-site child immunizations
Prostate cancer screenings
Fitness Testing
Depression Testing

Physical Fitness Activities:

On-site fitness center or exercise room
Walking and/or running club (during lunch hour or breaks)
Bike rack on premises [...]

Health Education Initiatives

Employee Health Services

access to an EAP
on-site medical services
worksite medical examinations
health risk testing and counseling:
blood pressure,
blood cholesterol ,
blood glucose clinics,
thyroid.
bone density testing,
prostrate
promote self-exams – breasts, testicles
medical surveillance Initiatives
immunizations and flu shots
disability case management
active rehabilitation
return to work Initiatives
self-care education (see [...]

Healthy Work Environment

clearly communicated vision and mission
clear and accurate job descriptions
supportive appraisal system
employee empowerment through decision-making, pace of work and connection to corporate goals, (on-line tools that connect to goals such as Baxter Healthcare)
two-way communication training
‘no lunch hour’ meeting rules unless it is a lunch ‘n’ learn
rates of absence and [...]

Mental Health and Wellness

childcare Initiatives and information
family planning information
parenting classes
elder care Initiatives and information
retirement planning
personal responsibility leave
alternative work arrangements such as telecommuting, job sharing
work-family-life transition support
anger management and family violence
family counseling programs
budgeting and financial counseling
understanding credit reports
money safety tips – ATMS, credit cards
advertising [...]

Environmental Wellness Initiatives

violence in the worksite
equity in the worksite programs
harassment policy and training
literacy/numeracy Initiatives
professional development and skill enhancing training
air quality and sick building testing
smoke-free worksite
fire safety programs
hazard control and WHIMS Training
injury prevention, CPR/First Aid, emergency response Initiatives
improved signage
installing guard rails
work station design, ergonomic [...]

Living Healthy

Add Stress Management Programs and mental health Initiatives
Add substance use and abuse Initiatives
Add smoking cessation and control
Add nutrition counseling
Add weight control Initiatives and counseling
Add promote use of food logs
Add posting BMI charts
Add juice dispensing machines
Add water coolers
Add vending machines with low-calorie snack choices
Add [...]

Corporate Health and Wellness Program Environment Assessment

Why Complete a Corporate Health and Wellness Program Environment Assessment?
The purpose of completing the assessment is to identify your worksite’s strengths and areas in need of improvement. The assessment will lead your workgroup to recommend actions for changes to make the worksite more supportive of healthy behaviors (i.e. healthy food choices in vending machines, [...]

Corporate Health and Wellness Program: Maintaining Motivation and Interest

Once you start a program you will have a range of employee participants.  Some will already be very engaged in being active and eating well and your program will only reinforce and enhance their health.  On the other end of the spectrum will be workers who may not engage no matter what you do.  [...]

Why Wellness?

There are a number of reasons why Corporate Health and Wellness Programs are beneficial.

Improved Morale – When the organizational culture begins to change as a result of your health promotion efforts, you and your staff members may actually start to see and feel a new level of energy within the business. Ultimately, one [...]