If you are working on implementing an employee wellness program, you may be overwhelmed by the number of options that you can include. There are various components that can make an employee wellness program. It is important that whatever components you choose are a reflection of the health concerns of your employees. Your employee wellness program will hardly be effective, if it does not address what your employees are most concerned about or interested in. Here are some options to consider for employee wellness-
– Health screenings-An valuable option of your employee wellness program can be offering health screenings to your employees. There are different kinds of health screening that can indicate whether the employee has had a past problem, is currently suffering from something, or it can indicate whether or not there is a potential, for a problem. These health screenings can include but are not limited to:
1. Stress evaluations
2. Screening for cholesterol
3. Measuring blood pressure
4. Testing of body fat
5. Analysis of diet
One of the major benefits of this type of screening is that they can be personalized to the needs of your work staff. Studies have shown that these type of screenings are highly effective at identifying potential problem among employees. These type of screenings often have a residual effect of motivating an employee to make the necessary changes. If an employer does decide to use this type of screening, as part of an employee wellness program, they should consider the following tips-
1. In order to effectively monitor any changes, these screenings should be done at least once every year.
2. All employees should feel totally comfortable about the level of confidentiality that is held.
3. These screenings should be totally voluntary.
4. All employees, regardless of whether or not they participate should receive any applicable information about the screenings.
5. If anyone is found to be at high risk, they should be encouraged to visit their health care professional.
– Lunchtime educational activities-This is another options that has been found to highly popular among employees, who participate in employee wellness programs. This is an activity that is meant to informational and should not last more then about an hour. This type of activity is designed to give employees the chance to find out more information about a particular health or wellness topic. This can be a very effective way to reach a large number of employees, in an informal setting, while covering a wide variety of topics. The topics of these kind of gatherings can include but are not limited to:
1. Employee health screening
2. Stress management
3. Fitness tips
4. Weight management
5. Nutritional information
6. Spine care
7. Smoking cessation
8. First Aid and CPR
9. Cancer prevention
10. Any safety issue
– Seminars on wellness-This is another highly popular component of employee wellness programs. This type of seminar will go further in-depth then the above mentioned lunchtime activity. This type of class is best done for employees who are looking for a motivation to change their behavior. Each seminar may have a different length depending on the topic. You may find that you need a couple of hours or even a couple of days to cover a particular topic. Part of the seminar should include helping the employee to design a plan for change. This will be a individualized plan that will help them to achieve their wellness goal. The most commontopics for wellness seminars include but are not limited to:
1. Smoking cessation
2. Stress management
3. Time management
4. Weight management
5. Physical fitness
6. Nutrition and diet