If you search for corporate wellness programs online, you’ll find a ton of information and helpful tips on how to build a successful program. But where do you start and which strategies will work? Here are some winning steps to building a successful program and cultivating a culture of wellness.
- Create engaging programs – If your events and initiatives interest your audience, they will come! Identify your corporate wellness priorities and establish programs that employees will find relevant and applicable to their well-being. Employees are looking for experiences worth their time and effort. It all goes back to: What’s in it for me? Can I lose weight and improve my fitness? Reduce my stress? Is there an incentive? All important considerations as you develop a program that encourages motivation for behavior change. It’s also key to personalize your program to your culture and target health conditions specific to your employees.
- Develop your message – Brand your program and deliver employees clear and consistent communication to drive action. People like easy to consume information. Employees should not have difficulties finding information they need related to a corporate wellness program. Create engagement in your program with visual communications that are easy to digest. Your communication should get employees excited about upcoming initiatives!
Employees will attend wellness programs and events if they feel their immediate supervisor supports them.
- Get everyone involved – Leadership buy-in is critical and middle management is even more critical. Employees will attend wellness programs and events if they feel their immediate supervisor supports them. Connect with your middle managers on the why’s of wellness, keep them informed on upcoming initiatives and most of all, get them involved. There’s no better buy-in then walking the talk! Get even more employees involved…grow your program with Health Champions! Start a committee made up of employees in various departments. Champions can help disseminate information and get feedback from their co-workers about the program.
- Measure and share results. Measuring the results of your wellness efforts is key in determining the effectiveness of your program. Your program should first have established goals. Are you looking for a certain level of participation? Do you want to improve your preventive care screening completions? Next, if you have results, share them! Employees and Leadership should understand the successes and opportunities of your wellness program. Get feedback from your employees on a consistent basis to see what’s working and how to improve your programs.
- Celebrate Success! Wellness is one way to recognize your employees. Did an employee accomplish life changing results? Were they identified by a health organization for their health accomplishments? Help share their story. Recognize the employee in a department meeting, include their story in a company-wide newsletter or capture their story in a video. It will inspire others to pursue their own health improvements.
Fostering a culture of wellness is a continuous process and there is no singular path to success, or even one definition of success. Define your program goals and build the program elements around them. Be employee-centric by being open to adapting programs based on employee feedback. When employees are the center of your well-being program design, life-changing things can happen.
