Getting feedback from Corporate Health and Wellness Program participants serves two purposes: to obtain information that quantifies a Wellness Program’s impact, and to find ways to improve a Corporate Health and Wellness Program.

Building follow up into your Corporate Health and Wellness Program

Make it Simple

• Keep follow up to information you absolutely require. A three-question survey is more likely to get a response than one with 20 questions.
• Use email or phone for follow-up. Use personal, AKO, and installation email addresses; use cell phone and unit phone numbers.
• Go to the Employees: go to the unit or somewhere else they will all be gathered (like the APFT test location), and get follow up information there.
• Give participants a stamped envelope addressed to you, with a printed form listing the information you will need.

Keep it structured

• Tell participants right from the beginning that you will be doing follow up after the Corporate Health and Wellness Program is finished. Be specific about the information you will collect.
• If you need to do hands-on measurements, find out if participants will be coming back to your location for another reason (like another clinic appointment). Ask them to stop by while they are in the building – or, better yet, go to where they will be.
• Ask participants where they will be the next time you will be collecting information. They may already know their next duty station if they will be PCSing soon.
• Plan ahead for follow up and put it on the schedule. Planning to do follow up “when you have time” usually means follow up will never get done.

Keep it catchy

• Give participants something to go along with the request for information. For example, if you send an email to ask for information, send along a yummy recipe or a timely fitness tip.
• Schedule a ‘reunion’ day to collect follow up information. Invite participants to come back and share successes and challenges. Have some (healthy) munchies available.
• Have a silly contest – the team with the most follow up information wins something, like having their photos posted on a prominently-placed bulletin board or an eggplant trophy, or some other fun thing.

Part of the problem is that some executives erroneously believe that the Corporate Health and Wellness Program Advantages are mostly on the worker side. The truth is that Corporate Health and Wellness Program Advantages both the business and worker – and according to Corporate Health and Wellness Program statistics , the employer stands to gain $2.30 to $10.10 in savings per dollar spent. Employee physical fitness saves organizations money.

At the same time, medical care and insurance costs continue to skyrocket. Corporate Health and Wellness Program Advantages are one of the only ways to cut those costs while helping workers at the same time. As Karen Roberts, senior vice president with Aon Consulting, said about Corporate Health and Wellness Program Advantages in her address at the 2006 WorldAtWork Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition, “If you can’t afford to invest in wellness this year, you’re never going to afford it.”

Corporate Health and Wellness Program Advantages include helping to prevent cancer, obesity, heart disease and hypertension. It’s rare that corporations can cut costs and assist struggling workers, support families and even arguably save lives. Isn’t that a good thing?