Written by: Jill Yeiter, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Would you like to offer a workplace wellness program but are unsure how to start? If you follow the seven steps I’ve outlined in this article, you will be off to a successful start. If you still need more help, I provide strategy sessions.
A Bit of Background
If you haven’t read my first article, A Simple Guide to Workplace Wellness, it provides a solid foundation of understanding before implementing a workplace wellness program. The following can summarize it…
Workplace wellness varies greatly in different employment settings
Workplace wellness can make or break an employee's decision to stay or resign
Workplace wellness is more than just following health & safety protocols
Workplace wellness is important because it values collaboration over control
Workplace wellness can be unique to every setting
Workplace wellness is created by spiritually aware leadership and initiatives that impact the culture
Workplace wellness benefits are both subjective and objective
Workplace wellness begins with leadership support and a needs assessment
Let’s Get Started
To ensure you create a program that reflects the needs of your organization and lays a solid foundation rooted in clear values, healthy relationships, effective systems, and sustainable practices for growing a culture of wellness, I recommend following these seven steps:
Form a Coalition
Conduct a Needs Assessment
Identify Resources
Create a Strategic Plan
Designate Program Management
Implement Offerings
Evaluate Program
Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps. 1. Form a Coalition
The size of your business will determine the size and necessary representation of your coalition. However, leadership representation is essential in any setting. It’s crucial your coalition is diverse and represents different areas of your business but is not too large. I find a group of about five is a nice size. You can keep it simple and send a company-wide email asking for volunteers, clearly stating the intended purpose, time commitment, and any potential compensation. The number of enthusiastic responses you receive can be insightful. If it’s challenging to recruit participants, it could be an indicator that some gentle, well-word education is first necessary. If employees have been working in a setting that is less than culturally healthy, the invitation may be interpreted as yet another demand on their time and energy that is not valued. Once a successful coalition is formed, setting a regularly occurring meeting time is helpful. Keep in mind the time and energy investment is more intensive up-front and will settle as the program is implemented.
2. Conduct a Needs Assessment
Your wellness coalition can create a simple questionnaire using Google Forms to ask employees what they feel they need, want, or value, how likely they would be to participate in offerings, and if they are comfortable with their employer playing a role in their health. The Wheel of Health model could be used to ask questions in different areas to gain insight. Employees answer anonymously. Keep in mind this is subjective data collection, which is voluntary, free, and simple to collect. If you are looking for more objective data on the physical health status of your employee population, it will require gathering actual measured data such as blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. in a legally sound and ethical manner by qualified professionals contracted to carry out this kind of human subject research within the context workplace wellness. If you have the resources, desire, and rapport with employees to undertake this research, it can be helpful, but it’s not totally necessary and the subjective needs assessment is most appropriate for most businesses.
3. Identify Resources
While your needs assessment is underway, your coalition can begin brainstorming a list of resources, including money, infrastructure, administration, existing benefits, etc. It will be helpful to know this as you begin creating a strategic plan in the next step. Even with limited resources, you may be surprised with what you can provide if you are creative. For example, my website, Heal With Jill, offers a number of free, professional wellness resources. Remember, it’s about the care and energy invested in creating something that is uniquely meaningful. This is what employees will be attuned to, even if they can’t articulate it.
4. Create a Strategic Plan
This step is where you will, as a coalition, use the information from your needs assessment along with your identified resources to create a strategic plan, including not only what you’d like to offer but what you’d like to accomplish by doing so. It is important during this step to clarify the core values and mission statement of your business and include appropriate wording related to well-being and share these updates with employees. Once your core values and mission statement are inclusive of well-being, you can get to work on identifying key initiatives and offerings. Again, The Wheel of Health can be helpful in guiding your thoughts as you create a diverse range of offerings. The strategic planning step is where it can be most helpful to recruit the help of a workplace wellness strategist & consultant such as myself.
5. Designate Program Management
Who will administer your program and how will they be compensated? Does a new position need to be created for a full or part-time wellness coordinator or will the coalition manage the day-to-day tasks of the program? Based on your offerings, how essential is it that the program is managed by a wellness professional?
6. Implement Offerings
Now it’s time to implement your offerings. Start with general education, including why your business has decided to support well-being, the process you’ve been through so far, highlights from the needs assessment, your updated core values and mission statement, and that participation is 100% voluntary. After you’ve shared some general information, you can introduce your buffet of offerings. Remember, it takes time to change the culture so don’t be discouraged if the initial reception is not as you hoped. Patience and persistence are key to any behavior change.
7. Evaluate the Program
Are you going to look at subjective or objective data or a combination? Are you going to consider employee feedback and suggestions? Remember, subjective data can include individual success stories and employee feedback, whereas objective data may include looking at group health insurance claims data or Health Risk Appraisal data if you have chosen to offer this benefit. If you are looking at objective data, be careful not to draw conclusions too early; when we are trying to impact health, we are dealing with behavior change, for which there is no quick fix.
All You Need to Know
Whether it’s a grassroots effort or a leadership-driven approach, any willing organization can implement a workplace wellness program by following the seven key steps in this article. Clear values, healthy relationships, effective systems, and sustainable practices provide the backdrop for these seven steps to take hold and impact the culture of an organization. “Remember it’s about the care and energy invested in creating something that is uniquely meaningful. This is what employees will be attuned to, even if they can’t articulate it.”
Call To Action
If you’d like help strategizing a plan to implement workplace wellness initiatives in your organization or would like to offer a wellness workshop or participate in leadership coaching, I am here to help and can be reached at healwithjill.com
Jill Yeiter, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jill Yeiter is a Wellness Coach with a Bachelor's in Lifestyle management and two decades of experience helping others improve their health. She has expertise in Workplace Wellness, Pilates, Intuitive Eating, and more. She currently runs an online business, Heal With Jill, and offers a variety of free resources in addition to her paid coaching services.
