Four Steps to Successfully Communicate Your Small Biz Wellness Program – Prt. 2

We already know that offering wellness programs are important and even necessary, but it’s not enough. When it comes to motivating your small biz employees to change their behavior, you have to communicate your wellness program, and communicate it well. This is the second of 4 articles in which we’ll cover four – “must” – steps your small biz must take to make sure you’re getting your message across to your employees.

As we talked about in “Part One” of Successfully Communicating Your Small Biz Wellness Program, the first thing you need to do is take a look at all the different things you use to communicate to your employees. By assessing how you are currently doing things, you can get a good an idea of how well  your wellness program is being communicated.

Your Wellness Program Communications Checklist

Remember to check back as we have two more “steps” to go. The following best practices will help organizations develop an effective wellness communications strategy:

Step 1: Communicate frequently. Ongoing communication with employees is key to creating awareness, building understanding and influencing behavior.

Step 2: Come Up with a Communications Strategy. Next, you need to come up with a plan around the issues that were identified during the the assessment process.

• Come up with some set short and long-term goals. You need to really map out what you want to get out of the program. Set participation goals for the short-term (e.g., 75 percent of the employee population takes a health-risk assessment within the first three months). Results-oriented goals should be set for the long term (e.g., 50 percent of smokers complete a smoking-cessation program).

• Know your Small Biz’s Culture. The better the communications are tailored to your employees, the more effective the communications will be. Your goal is for your employees to take action (e.g., target smokers by placing communications in locations where they tend to congregate).

• Know your audience. The demographics of your employees should pretty much determine “what kind” of communication campaign you have. For example, a poster or flier that some may think is offensive, might “hit home” for others and cause them to take action immediately.

• Build a wellness brand. This may include a name, logo, color scheme and/or an eye-catching message. The goal is to grab the employees’ attention with something that is action oriented.

• Decide whether incentives will play a role. Once again, it is important to know your audience and what will motivate them. A health condition that is not life-threatening and involves maintenance or prevention could land low on an employee’s priority list. In such cases, incentives can help make the issue more of a priority. Incentives can include premium reductions, cash, gift cards and individual recognition (such as diplomas). Remember that incentives are not always necessary and may create an additional administrative burden.
  

• Select the media to be used to communicate the wellness program. Look at your audience and find out what will make your employees pay attention and take action. One good strategy is to see where employees spend their free time at work and place print materials accordingly. It is important to determine whether the majority of employees have computer access and will respond to electronic campaigns; if so, the focus can be online.

Implementing a small biz wellness program for your employees will end up controlling health-care costs, while improving their health. At the core of every small business wellness program is the drive to change employee behavior.

The success or failure of the wellness program comes down to the degree to which your employees respond to your program’s efforts to change their behavior towards healthier lifestyles. To help with that behavior change, you really need to review how your small biz wellness program is communicated to employees. Without effective communications the best wellness program in the world is not going to succeed.

Please be aware that any information on this site is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.