Worksite Wellness Programs begin and end with individual health. Individuals, after all, are able to make decisions about maintaining and / or improving their health and wellbeing. Employee Worksite Wellness Programs must therefore provide the tools and resources required to assist and motivate individuals to actively participate in the program.
Individual health is only one part of beginning worker Worksite Wellness Programs. Below you’ll find some things to assist you in your efforts to establish a healthy atmosphere for you and your coworkers.
Encouraging Your Employer to Begin an Worksite Wellness Program
This is the first step in beginning a Worksite Wellness Program. In recent times more and more employers are beginning to see the value of promoting and supporting the health of their workers. Partnership for Prevention, a nonprofit organization, has released a sourcebook called “Healthy Workforce 2010″ (http://www.wellnessproposals.com/pdfs/tool_kits/healthy_workforce_2010.pdf). This sourcebook is an excellent resource containing information on:
• Benefits of Worksite Wellness Programs
• Suggestions on where to begin
• Tools like surveys and assessment forms
These resources are for both employers and workers to lead the development and determine the effectiveness of their new Worksite Wellness Program. Offer it to your employer as a place to begin or read it yourself and present your ideas.
Participating in Worksite Wellness Programs
Once you have an worker Worksite Wellness Program established, taking part fully in all aspects of the program is important. Many of us know that we need to more actively engage in Worksite Wellness Programs to improve our health, yet have difficulty finding and taking the time to do so. These simple steps can jumpstart your participation in an worker Worksite Wellness Program:
• Examine the offerings that interest you and that you need for health improvement.
• Schedule time to go to the seminar or service.
• Actively following through with recommendations from the program.
• Make a decision now to improve your health. You will feel better today and tomorrow and the next day for actively moving towards wellness.
Here is a list of potential Worksite Wellness Programs that might be available to you at work:
• ergonomic evaluations and training classes
• lactation rooms and classes
• prenatal education
• nap rooms for relaxation
• stress management programs
• fitness facilities
• chair massage
• nutrition education
• onsite primary healthcare services
• child care facility or resources and referral service
• tobacco cessation programs parenting classes
• elder care resources and referral service
• cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose screening programs
• flu vaccination
• weight management programs
• healthcare consumerism programs
• employee assistance program
• health coaching
• onsite mobile mammography
More information to follow in my next posting about Employee Worksite Wellness Programs
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