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Strategic Planning
of Workplace Wellness
by Sandra Larkin
Corporate leaders know the value of
planning for wellness. It decreases employee absenteeism and health
cost while raising productivity, organizational retention and
revenue. Looks good! Sounds good! We’ve been hearing the wellness
buzz for years. How do we get started and flush out
potential problems. How do we plan for and answer these
questions?
How does our company
-
gain support from our senior and middle management?
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address employee morale issues?
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work with unions, multiple locations and stay in HIPAA and ADA
compliance?
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change the health attitudes and health beliefs of our people?
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integrate a holistic approach within the program?
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setup a productive wellness committee?
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survey the employee base for imitative participation?
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change organizational culture to move it toward being
wellness-oriented?
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reduce sick leave and absenteeism?
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incorporate our current vendors and complimentary programs into
our initiatives?
Yikes .. Stay tuned. More questions
to come as your program begins to take form and move forward.
Sandra, more questions? Yes, this is great news! It means others
are listening and thinking. Being confused about the answers is
where wellness initiatives turn gray.
To be effective, workplace wellness
should answer all of above questions plus more. It should
fall under the umbrella of a Workplace Wellness Operating Plan
which
·
is a
strategic planned event
·
define a comprehensive mission aligned with company goals
·
is
results focused not activity focused
·
is
budget conscious
·
is
organized and maintained to maximize dollars and time
On the front line, a friend of mine
is a health benefits advisor who is currently seeing a 20-35%+
increase in insurance renewals for the first quarter of 2008. If
this trend continues throughout the year, a company’s health
benefits can add hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost for the
renewed period. Ouch! Are we at the point of “pay me now or pay me
later”? On the one hand developing and implementing a strategic,
effective wellness program verses paying for increased health
benefits costs at renewal.
Wellness should be treated like an
asset to the company’s balance sheet not a liability. It
deserves a separate operating plan to make it successful. Its
overall success lies in the physical, emotional, intellectual,
occupational and social wellness of its BIGGEST asset ….. the
dedicated company employees who help the organization meet and
exceed goals and expectations. The organization enjoys the bottom
line benefits a strategic plan can bring. |
