Building a Wellness Program That Your Employees Will Actually Participate In

Employers can invest heavily in corporate wellness to bring together the best products and services available. However, employees must participate for
the program to succeed.   How do you develop a program that employees will actually want to join?  Here are a few simple guidelines that will generate
strong participation that will lead to a long term, successful wellness program.

Design a Strong Incentive Program

When developing a corporate wellness program it is important to communicate with the wellness consultant and even your employees to learn what types of
incentives would increase participation.  Often, employees who are indifferent about a corporate wellness program will decide to participate based
solely on the incentives being offered by the employer.  An incentive could include reduced health insurance costs, free gym memberships or even small
gifts and prizes related to healthy living.

Secure Executive Sponsorship

Creating a culture of wellness begins at the top of the company.  Executive participation sends the message to employees that the healthy living
initiative starts at the top, making them more likely to participate.

Develop Effective Communication

Communication is the key to a successful wellness program.  Will a banner in the break room be sufficient?  How about a mass email?  While employers
may feel that they know the best way to reach their employees, the reality is that the employees themselves should play a role in this process. 
Including employees in the communication process creates employee ownership and program buy-in.  It also ensures that the methods of communication
chosen are the ideal mix for your organization.

Align With the Corporate Culture

Matching your corporate wellness program to your corporate culture seems like an obvious statement.  That is why it is surprising to see so many
companies launch a program that completely misses the mark.  Take time to develop a program using all of the resources at your disposal.  This could
include corporate wellness experts and consultants, or even departmental and employee specific feedback. 

Engage All Employees and Make Rewards Achievable

It is important to make sure that the corporate wellness program is not a “one-size-fits-all” program.  Each employee will have different needs,
abilities and requirements; therefore incentives should be varied to match all levels of employee fitness and health.

Develop a Wellness Committee for Support

One of the best ways to engage employees and make them a part of the process is by developing a Wellness Committee.  This committee should include
employees of all levels of fitness and ability and is a means for management to obtain feedback regarding what is working and what is not working in
the corporate wellness program.

Ensure that Health Activities are Fun and Compelling

If the program is not fun and exciting, employees will not participate.  By
constantly adjusting and changing the activities, corporations will have a more successful wellness program.  In addition, offering a variety of
activities will allow for the varied level of ability and health of employees and offer access to participate at whatever point they find most
comfortable.

Putting together the right corporate wellness program will promote maximum participation among employees, reduce negative comments about the program
and ultimately have a greater impact on the health of employees leading to a greater program ROI. 

Viverae is a national leading provider of health management and wellness programs.  To learn more about Viverae check out Viverae.com

2012-11-11 02:20:32

Source: http://viverae.com/blog/201106/building-wellness-program-your-employees-will-actually-participate