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31 Commercial
Street, Skowhegan, ME 04976 ~ (207) 474-7473
~ info@somersethearthealth.org
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| WORKSITE WELLNESS TOOLKIT
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Welcome to the worksite wellness toolkit made
possible with funding from the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF)
in an effort to promote Worksite Wellness in micro businesses.
This site has been adapted and developed from
national best practice and evidence based models to capture the most
important principles for creating a successful health promotion program
within your micro business.
It is our hope that this tool will be useful in
guiding you through the stages necessary to implement and establish a
health promotion program for your worksite. If you would like to
download an PDF form of the toolkit please click on the link. Feedback
is welcomed and encouraged by calling Somerset Heart Health at
207-474-7473 or by emailing Bill Primmerman at bprimmerman@rfgh.net.
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| What is Worksite Wellness? |
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Wellness is being aware of and actively
working toward better health. Wellness is not only being educated
about one’s health, but also “actively working” to improve health.
Wellness includes all health aspects; physical, mental, social,
financial, emotional and spiritual health . Worksite Wellness is an
organized program that helps employees and their family members make
voluntary changes to improve their health and well-being. |
This tool is separated into five sections that correspond with the Stages of Change. Behavior
change is difficult. People and businesses tend to progress through
stages on their way to successful change at their own rate.
The Stages of Change Model (SCM) describes behavior change as a
continuum; not something that happens all at once. People can be
at different stages when it comes to behavior changes such as weight
loss, quitting smoking, or increasing physical activity. Understanding
the different Stages of Change that individuals may be in can help with
worksite wellness program development. Each person must decide
for themselves when a stage is completed and when they are ready to
make a change. Most importantly, this decision must be sincere --
stable, long term change cannot be externally imposed. A good wellness program that is targeting behavior change should address each stage.
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| Stage I - Why Change? |
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Perhaps the question is “How much do you care about the health and
well-being of yourself, your employees and those that frequent your
business?” Worksite Wellness programs are good for not only employees
but business too. Maine employers, regardless of size or industry,
should address employee health.
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Promoting a wellness program for your employees is a way of:
- keeping low
risk employees healthy
- advocating for supporting positive
lifestyle changes for those with more risk factors.
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Risk factors can decrease productivity, higher healthcare, and
workman’s compensation costs. They include but are not limited to:
- high blood pressure,
- lack of physical activity,
- tobacco use,
- high cholesterol
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A healthier workforce can:
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increase gains in individual productivity,
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improve the quality of products and services,
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reduce absenteeism and,
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increase presenteeism.
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Benefits
from increased productivity have a direct and immediate impact on
organizational performance and profits of having a healthy workforce
extend far beyond controlling healthcare costs. Improving employee
health through health promotion offers other benefits:
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Successful employee health initiatives provide leverage for negotiating with insurers and workers compensation carriers.
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Wellness
Programs can extend benefits to families and communities and reduce
absences because of sick children or other family members.
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Company
image can be improved by developing a reputation as an employer that
cares about its employees and the community in which it does business.
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Your
business can play a key role in educating your community about health
and wellness by posting flyers and resources available in the community.
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| Stage II - Thinking About it. Weighing the Pros and Cons. |
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The Benefits of a Health Promotion Initiative
- Healthier Work Force—One
of the appeals of a well-constructed workplace wellness program is the
possibility for improved health. A smoking-cessation, nutrition and
exercise program has been shown to positively impact employees.
- Improved Moral—A culture change is good and can result in a new level of energy throughout the organization.
- Reduced Employee Turnover—
Businesses use health promotion to help prevent employees from
switching jobs. This reduces employee replacement costs , saving
expenses such as running employment ads, conducting job
interviews, and training new employees.
- Recruitment—The
promotion of health in the workplace can allow small businesses a
better opportunity to recruit employees. Healthy employees will
reduce the turnover rate as well as saving costs on job interviews.
- Reduce Absenteeism—By
promoting health and educating employees about preventing
illnesses, and injury, absenteeism can be reduced. Small changes made
to an employees’ lifestyle can significantly reduce sick days.
Mis"con"ceptions…Shattered!
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Cost—While
there may be some cost to starting a worksite wellness
program the money saved more than make up for it. Partnering your
business with local health organizations (Somerset Heart Health,
Redington-Fairview General Hospital) can also make costs marginal.
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Employee Involvement—When
looking at statistics, it is common to see wellness programs that have
low participation rates that also have poorly-design programs.
Organizing company-wide walks, nutrition meetings, or supplying healthy
snacks for meetings can energize employees and assist with involvement
in the program.
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It’s none of my business—If
you are responsible for health insurance of any sort, you should be
interested in what is causing rising insurance rates. Caring for
employees’ health and implementing a program can assist in lowering
sick rates and increasing worker’s morale.
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Time—A
common misconception is that health promotion takes too much
time. This can be offset by prepacked programs that take little
time to distribute amongst employees. Self-study materials, home-based
work, and computers have also made it easier to develop a proper
program without taking away from valuable work time.
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Need for Onsite Healthcare Professional—A
common misconception is that in order for a wellness program to get off
the ground, there needs to be a health promotion professional. Most
programs are run by current employees. Resources such as books,
pamphlets, and training manuals are readily available for anyone in
need of assistance about a topic.
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Lack of Evidence—There
are growing amounts of studies that show that carefully-designed
programs and interventions can and do work. It is easier to promote
wellness within small businesses – most troubles with programs come
from larger company settings.
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Stage III -
I'm Going to Do It! |
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The Small Business Advantage
There are often fewer “hoops” to jump through as a small business owner
or employee. As the owner, you can often make a change without seeking
approval from higher levels of management. As the employee, the same
is true; there are less levels of management to go through to make
policy changes.
Success depends on effective and direct communication, essentials in
starting and maintaining any procedural or policy change. The personal
relationships built in a small business are generally more personal
between the employee and business owner.
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Collecting and evaluating data is easier with fewer employees. In some cases, collecting data may be as easy as asking a question.
Higher rates of employee participation can
be seen in small businesses where owners are often working side-by-side
with their employees. That time allows for the opportunity to
have mini interventions and advocate healthy lifestyle changes and
participation in programs.
How Do I Get Started?
The first way to start an effective worksite
wellness program is to gather information on from employees about their
interests and willingness to participate in programming. It is also
crucial to reflect on what you, as business owner are willing to do.
There is technical assistance available from Somerset Heart to help
collect and compile key information and a letter (please click on here
to view letter) that can be sent to your employees to announce the
start of a wellness program.
Company Assessment / Employer Survey
As the owner and employer, it is important to identify what the
business is capable of doing. You will be asked questions about
policies at the worksite, any insurance that is offered, and the sorts
of activities that are made available by the employer. This will
provide insight on practical ways to support healthy lifestyles. Click
here for the Company Assessment / Employer Survey.
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Employee Assessment
The purpose of the employee assessment is to gain information on common
themes of interest among the workforce. A wellness program is
more likely to succeed if the health needs and interests of the
employees are addressed. Click here for the Employee Assessment.
Somerset Heart Health has developed a very basic interest survey that
can be given to each employee (including the owner), that can be filled
out in hard copy or online. In addition, there is a short letter
that can be sent to employees briefly describing the purpose of the
survey and intention of starting a wellness program. Once the surveys
have been completed, Somerset Heart Health staff will pool the
information and provide you with a summary of the results to help with
planning of new initiatives.
Give employees a chance to voice what they think, as they are the experts in this matter.
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| Stage IV - Taking Action. I'm Doing It! |
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Drafting a Work Plan
Develop a plan. Armed with the summary of the interest surveys,
develop a comprehensive plan for change taking into account employees
needs and employers desires and abilities. Find common areas of
interest among the employees (i.e. weight management, stress
management), determine what you might be able to do to encourage
behavior changes overcome barriers and offer solutions.
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Identify a goal. This
goal should be attainable and measurable. Model your goals around
what they are telling you they want. They are more likely to be
involved when there is interest. If your employees have said they
aren’t getting enough exercise, consider introducing a pedometer
program. Set a goal to increase the number of sets people walk by
5-10% over a 6 week period. Perhaps there isn’t an existing
tobacco policy at the worksite, or there is but employees are not aware
of it or the policy is not being enforced. An achievable goal
would be to develop, educate and enforce a tobacco policy.
Success could then be measured by whether or not a policy was
implemented and if employees were aware of their existence.
Find a champion. Find
out if there is someone in the workforce that has an interest and could
be a champion in moving things forward. Develop timelines for
setting and attaining achievable goals and share responsibilities.
Secure resources to implement your workplan.
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| Stage V - Keeping the Change. |
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Re-evaluate
Go back to your employees and find out if they have made lifestyle
changes. Revisit policy awareness and determine where change has
occurred.
Revise Work Plan
The outcomes of follow-up evaluations will determine your next action
steps. Perhaps there has been a shift in needs and interests of the
workforce. Follow the same methodology described above for the initial
work plan.
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Celebrate Your Success
Celebrate and affirm the successes and the efforts made. Find ways to
acknowledge achievements of individuals and the business. For
example, have a DUDOS Bulletin Board to give employees an opportunity
to compliment each other. Remember that changes do not occur
overnight. Perhaps someone who showed no interest in improving
their health has started talking about small changes they would like to
make in their life—this is a success. Why Change? No matter
how small the change, it is important to recognize efforts. To read a
more indepth review of the Stages of Change model, click here.
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