Important steps in building a wellness program

Virginia Business
October 2006

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia offers these suggestions for starting a company wellness program.

1. Capture senior level support
• This step is important because employees will follow what is done, not by what is said.

• It is important to commit funding, time and effort to create a successful wellness program.

2. Build a wellness team
• A wellness team establishes continuity, motivation and broad ownership of wellness programs.

• To build a functional team, select from employees interested in health promotion and be sure to reflect the diversity of your employee population (cultural, socio-economic, job type, etc.).

3. Assess the needs of your company and employees
• By combining the needs and interests of employees, companies are able to focus on at least one health issue that creates a win/win situation for both management and employees.

• Evaluate all data sources to identify the greatest opportunities for health improvement. Learn from employees what initiatives interest them most and will increase participation.

4. Develop an operation plan
• A written plan serves as a point of reference for the wellness team and senior management; helps a wellness program become strategic in nature (vs. activity only) and more likely to succeed. Failure to plan will result in confusion and frustration, and will make it tough to achieve desired outcomes.

• Once primary focus areas for health improvement have been identified, write your plan. Set goals that are supported by strong objectives. Create an action plan supported by appropriate resources.

5. Choose actions
• Use resources wisely for the greatest impact on achieving goals and objectives.

• Actions should flow from your data, goals, objectives and budget, and should be fun, creative, appealing and effective.

6. Use incentives
• Incentives can be used to motivate and reward employees to choose and maintain positive behaviors.

• Find out from employees what incentives would be meaningful to them (cash and time off work usually rank as top). Use incentives to encourage participation in wellness programs and to reward use of program features or preventive services.

7. Evaluate program efforts and modify strategies
• Evaluation helps achieve continuous quality improvement and enables program to be modified to meet changing needs and interests.

• Measure before, during and after your program.