SHIP Worksite Wellness Success Stories

Check out these articles in the Alliance for a Healthier MN. Look out what other counties are doing to improve employee health!

SHIP Worksite Wellness Success Stories

Free Health and Wellness Newsletters

Do you want to start a health and wellness newsletter for your organization? It can be a great idea, but also very time consuming. and labor intensive. So it it really worth it to take the time to create a newsletter on your own when there are a variety of FREE newsletters online? I'll let you make that call, but you can always check out these sites for free newsletters to distribute to your employees:

American Cancer Society

American Institute for Preventative Medical 

Hope Health
Mayo Clinic 

WebMD

Wellness Proposals 

Wellvation 

If you do decide to create your own company's health and wellness newsletter, make sure your sources are credible, and  there isn't too much information on it. Remember to keep it simple, and attractive to read.

10 Ways To Increase Participation

STRATEGY 1: GET IN TOUCH!

To stimulate participation, you need to find out what employees really want. What interests them? Distribute surveys, have focus groups, etc.

STRATEGY 2: WALK THE TALK

·          Modeling a healthy lifestyle does more for building and maintaining support for the programs than all other actions combined. People see and feel the added energy and enthusiasm you have gained and want to know how you got it.

STRATEGY 3: BECOME PART OF THE FOOD CHAIN

·          There is currently a very strong health and productivity movement that has good data to show that healthy employees are more productive. Integrate your program by showing how it solves important problems throughout the company.

FIRST STEP: Identify the food chain issues and look for those that might have a health or wellness connection.

SECOND STEP: After you have identified these issues, meet with the individuals responsible for their coordination and find out what has been done.

THIRD STEP: Put together a proposal that addresses how the wellness programs can be an important contributing solution partner and present it to the appropriate person or committee.

STRATEGY 4: STRIVE FOR PERFECTION

       People love programs which offer awesome customer support and cater to their individual needs. 

STRATEGY 5: BRING DOWN THE WALL

·         What are the barriers that stop people from participating in your programs? The only way to find out is to ask those who aren’t coming.

STRATEGY 6: SHOWCASE SUCCESS

·          Everyone likes a winner! Identify individuals who have successfully made lifestyle changes and are willing to share their stories with others. 

STRATEGY 7: CAPITALIZE ON TEACHABLE MOMENTS

·          Teachable moments are those special situations that allow you to draw attention to your wellness efforts. Not only do teachable moments provide you with free and abundant marketing people opportunities, they are also particularly useful in helping you to address the hard-to-reach people within your company.

STRATEGY 8: DON’T FORGET TO FOLLOW-UP

·         A good follow-up process will insure that all these individuals have an opportunity to talk to a staff person or participant mentor before they make a decision to quit. 

STRATEGY 9: EXPAND YOUR MENU

·          What’s does your health promotion plan look like? What kind of strategies do you plan on doing? When was the last time you tried something new? One of the problems in a wellness program that’s working is that we tend to not want to rock the boat. Before long, the program is no longer working. 

STRATEGY 10: POSITION, POSITION, POSITION

·          This familiar principle in the retail sales market is “location, location, location.” It’s true for wellness programs as well. How has your program been positioned in the company? Is it purely a perk or is it being done because it seems like the right thing to do? Has your wellness program truly been integrated into the company as a partner in health and productivity issues? 

     Source: WELCOA

Why a Health Team?

A Health team is an important component to a successful wellness program. They not only serve as health promoters, but provide a means that employees can truly own the program.Think about how difficult it would be to launch new activities and changes around the worksite ALONE. The Health Team can act as a support system for each other, when there is resistance and negativity going on from other employees. 

Remember: when creating a health team it is important you have individuals from all departments and fitness levels. It's hard to get participation and buy-in from others when the health team consists of all management and health nuts! 

Other things to look for in health team members:

·         -Highly motivated about wellness

·         -Are good wellness role models
          -Are comfortable expressing opinions                

          -Are in positions of authority within the company

·         -Can represents a major group of employees in the company

No matter if your health team consists of 3 employees or 12 employees, always remembers that... 
 

 Together Everyone Accomplishes More!

Every Little Bit Counts!

Is it difficult getting physical activity in at work? With your day consuming of e-mails, phone calls and meetings who has time to take a chunk out of their day for exercise? 

Well I want you to think outside the box. You don't have to have an hour of free time to get on your workout clothes and go to the gym to get exercise. Think about all the different things you can do to get activity into your day that you won't even need to go to the gym for!

Instead of looking for the closest parking spot by the office, look for the farthest one. That way you can sneak some walking in. Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs (a 150 pound person can burn up to 10 calories a minute climbing stairs according to the Calorie Control Council (CCC). Get some dumbbells for your desk, and lift some weights when you're on the phone or watching webinars. Create a stand up desk so you can stand and move around instead of sitting in an office chair all day. 

Now those are only a couple of ideas, but my point is to have you open your eyes and realize that becoming more physically active doesn't mean getting a gym membership. There's plenty of free to low cost ways to get exercise throughout your day. Consider trying some of those suggestions, I bet your body will thank you!

Remember: Every little bit does really add up and make a difference! 

Proof that Worksite Wellness Really Does Work!

Check out this article about how the county government in Pontiac, Michigan implemented some health promotion at their worksite. It dramatically decreased their health care costs!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2010-12-31-wellness-plan_N.htm

No Money? No Problem!

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, for every $1.00 a company invests in worksite wellness, they can receive approximately $3-6.00 in return. Sounds great if you the extra money to invest in health promotion right? Well if you don’t have that extra budget, don’t worry! There are still a lot of great changes you can make at your worksite that are FREE!

When you are tight on a budget, it’s important to focus on environmental changes to your worksite vs. programming.  Do your vending machines consist of all fatty, processed foods? Are your employees sitting in their desks all day? Do you provide nothing but donuts and pizza at your company meetings? Are your employees eating at their desks and not taking time for breaks?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have an opportunity to make some great environmental changes to your worksite.  

You really don’t need to invest a lot of money into worksite wellness. Just focus on eliminating the barriers and temptations (like those candy dishes!) and focus on creating an environment that supports and encourages healthy behaviors.

 

My challenge for you is to look at your worksite, and I mean REALLY look at it. What are some barriers or obstacles that are not allowing your employees to become healthier? What temptations are you providing?  Make a list of these barriers, and focus on changing one at a time. Even those small and simple changes can make a BIG difference!