Creating a Corporate Culture of Wellness- How to Develop a Wellness Program

Getting buy in for a wellness program is crucial. This needs to occur from the top down as well as from the bottom up. Leaders in the organization must be role models for the new behaviors that are promoted. This means they need to “walk the talk.” Buy in is achieved from the bottom up by surveying employees to capture their opinions about the health of the workplace, identify behaviors they would be motivated to change, determine what incentives are meaningful to them and outline the supports they believe would be most helpful.

These actions provide a base for creating a culture of wellness. The Wellness Council of West Virginia has developed a Health Culture Audit which is available at http://www.wcwv.org. Their audit instrument is a good descriptor of the areas included in a culture of wellness. This tool is also a potential resource for assessing the current level of wellness in your organization. It may also be used annually to assess the progress made toward developing a culture of wellness.

Culture change requires involvement throughout all levels of the organization. This is typically accomplished by developing a wellness committee. Participation should be voluntary. However, it is also important to identify “wellness champions” within the organization and invite these employees to volunteer for the wellness committee. Wellness champions are employees who “walk the talk.” They are role models for others due to their enthusiasm for an active, healthy lifestyle. Employees who have lost significant amounts of weight or given up a sedentary lifestyle often have a commitment to assist others. The wellness committee will also have ideas for making participation in your program fun by including team challenges and contests. Committee members may also contribute ideas for incentives to include at various levels of the wellness program.

Incentives are important. When employees are expected to change behavior, they are tuned into WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Even though we would like for everyone to view their healthcare benefit as a privilege and not as an entitlement, this is typically not the case. Therefore, employees may not be committed to saving money for their employer. They also may not be motivated to change behavior to avoid future medical conditions. Denial is a common human trait and long held habits are difficult to change, but change is more likely to occur in a supportive environment. Employers can provide a supportive environment that encourages positive lifestyle changes.

Some incentives that produce results include the following:
• Time off work—even if it is just getting to leave early one day.
• Monetary reward—this works well for survey, HRA or bio-metric screening completion.
• Athletic equipment—a gift certificate to put toward walking shoes, pedometer, etc.
• Personal training session gift certificate
• Massage gift certificate
• Healthcare discount for those who complete various levels of the wellness programs.

It is important to be clear about incentives that are being offered. Focus on the behaviors do you want to reward. If cost is an issue, consider entering participants in a lottery for an incentive. The following levels should have incentives attached to them:
• Health Risk Assessment
• Bio-metric screening
• Weight loss contest
• Program completion
• Team challenges
• Unused sick days

Low cost wellness activities can also reinforce a culture of wellness. These include healthy potlucks or healthy recipe contests, walking programs, biggest loser contests and newsletters/wellness tips. Once you start focusing on creating a culture of wellness, you will be surprised at the ideas that are generated by your wellness committee.

Employees want to feel valued and wellness programs send a clear message in that regard. An investment in wellness pays dividends in all aspects of your business!


Our guest blogger this week is Patsy Deerhake, M.ED, Wellness Educator/Coach. She owns Wellness Within Reach. You can reach her at patsy@wwrcoach.com or 614-880-2639.