According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, “Health promotion is the science and art of helping people modify their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health. Optimal health is defined as a balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health. Lifestyle modification can be facilitated through a combination of efforts to enhance awareness, modify behavior, and set up environments that support good health practices. Of the three, supportive environments will probably have the greatest impact in producing lasting change.”
Employee Health Promotion Program: Action Steps
The process of assembling a Corporate Wellness Program involves:
• Identifying the current health status of your employees
• Determining the appropriate programs and interventions to offer
• Promoting and launching the programs
• Building in motivational incentives and rewards
• Measuring the impact
• Revising programs based on assessment outcomes
It may even include planning policies and procedures that support employee participation in wellness activities at your worksite (such as flextime).
Steps to Starting a Worksite Wellness Program
• Conduct an company assessment
• Get upper management reinforcement
• Establish a Employee Health Promotion Program Committee
• Obtain employee input
• Develop objectives and goals
• Design and enable program activities
• Identify incentives
• Assess outcomes
One of the ways the government plans to better the nation’s health is through comprehensive Workplace Health Promotion Programs. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, these programs may help staff members live healthier lifestyles by creating supportive work environments and offering awareness, education and behavior change programs. In fact, one of the objectives and goals of Healthy People 2010, a set of health objectives for the nation to achieve by the year 2010, is to stimulate the proportion of staff members that participate in a comprehensive Workplace Health Promotion Program at their worksite to 75 percent.
