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.

Okay, the current healthcare reform legislation may have slowed down, but it’s not over yet. Whether its tort reform, the ability to buy your insurance from another state, or an over-haul on medicare, one definite area that is being looked at by employers is employee -  wellness and prevention. This issue is one that will be more on everyone’s radar because it consistently draws bipartisan support.

As we covered in an earlier post, the Healthy Workforce Act, written by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would give you an annual $200 tax credit for each of the first 200 employees participating in your small biz wellness program and $100 for each additional employee.

In addition, the Partnership for Prevention found that worksite wellness produced an average savings-to-cost ratio of $5.81 to $1. The programs also reduced annual health costs by an average of 26 percent, reduced absenteeism by 27 percent, and reduced workers compensation and disability claim costs by 32 percent.

Comprehensive wellness programs usually end up being cost neutral in year one. Year two is when you start seeing return on investment, and by the time you get to three years, things really start kicking in and you really do see ROI.

We are still waiting to hear whether or not this proposed billed makes its way to the President’s desk, but in the mean while think about this:

• An estimated 142 million Americans are overweight or obese, this represents 66 percent of the adult population.
• Health care costs in the United States doubled from 1990 to 2001 and are expected to double again by 2012.
• Chronic illnesses affect more than a third of working-age Americans and the costs associated with chronic diseases account for approximately 75 percent of the nation’s annual health care costs.
• Obesity costs American companies $225.8 billion per year in health related productivity losses.  An obese employee costs the employer an additional $460-$2,500 in medical expenditures and absenteeism annually.
• The workplace environment is a significant target for obesity prevention efforts.  Over 130 million Americans are employed across the United States and spend a significant part of their day at work.  Sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950.
• The Healthy Workforce Act provides employers with the means to implement evidence-based strategies for improving the health of workers by addressing causes of chronic disease including obesity, physical inactivity and tobacco use.

Four Steps to Successfully Communicate Your Small Biz Wellness Program – Prt. 1

Whether it’s the “still smoking for more than 30 years” or “the 50 pounds since high school”, that 45-year-old employee of yours knows that it’s “bad” for him, yet he still hasn’t changed his lifestyle behaviors. Although you might have run smoking-cessation campaigns or weight-management programs over the years, it’s not so much the frequency of the message that matters as it is having it in the right place at the right time.

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 first 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.

Step 1: Conduct a Communications Assessment

The first thing you need to do is take a look at all the different communications “vehicles” you use to communicate to your employees. This “inventory” can give you an idea of how well  your wellness program is being communicated.

Is your information readily accessible for all your employees and easy to understand? Are communications consistent, recognizable and well-organized? And finally, do your communication campaigns support your overall wellness goals?

For example, if an employee wants to lose weight, does he or she have to dig through your benefits plan to determine what coverage is available? Does he or she have to search your weight-management programs to find support courses? Does he or she have to check the cafeteria bulletin board for a weight-management meeting or find out if coaching is even available for weight loss?

Once you’ve figured out what’s what with your communication process, it’s a good idea to survey your employees to learn what they think about your “wellness communications”.

It is important to find out how they get information about the programs that are available. What works and what does not. What is most valuable to them and what they want to know more about. Depending on how many employees you have, you can survey them with written or online surveys. Both are helpful but may be open to interpretation. Putting a focus group together is even better at getting vital, first-hand and targeted feedback. If you do it right, a good focus group will give you opinions and impressions that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Your Wellness Program Communications Checklist

Remember to check back as we have three other “steps” to cover. 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.

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.

Small Biz Wellness programs are an effective way to reduce major risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, says a new American Heart Association policy statement. Each year, heart disease costs the United States about $304.6 billion, the association says. Companies spend 25 to 30 percent of their annual medical costs on employees with significant health risks, mainly because of their increased likelihood of experiencing heart disease and stroke, it says.

But the financial burden also falls on workers, it says, in the form of higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles, reduction or elimination of coverage and trade-offs between insurance benefits and wage or salary increases.

“Research shows that companies can save anywhere from $3 to $15 for every $1 spent on health and wellness within 12 to 18 months of implementing a [workplace wellness] program,” the statement’s lead author, Mercedes Carnethon, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a news release from the heart association.

“Beyond cost savings and increased productivity, visionary employers are realizing the value of an employee’s total health,” she said. “An effective worksite wellness program can attract exceptional employees, enhance morale and reduce organizational conflict.”

More than 130 million Americans are employed, according to the association, which means that workplace wellness programs have the potential to reach a sizable population.

“We are making great strides in workplace wellness, but we also know that half of employees don’t have access to these programs, mainly because they work in small companies or for employers that have a small number of employees at multiple sites,” Carnethon said. “We are hoping this paper shows employers large and small the benefits these programs may provide to both their employees and their bottom line.”

Keys to a successful program, according to the policy statement, include:

• Smoking/tobacco cessation and prevention
• Regular physical activity
• Stress management/reduction
• Early detection/screening
• Nutrition education and promotion
• Weight management
• Disease management
• Cardiovascular disease education, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training
• Work environment changes that encourage healthy behaviors and promote occupational health and safety

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.

House and Senate Democrats’ ambitious plans to revamp the nation’s health-care system were torpedoed Tuesday night in the wake of a Massachusetts special election that delivered the seat long held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy to a Republican.

State Sen. Scott Brown, who won the crucial seat by more than 100,000 votes, has vowed to vote against the health-care legislation that Congress is considering. Without 60 Democrats in the Senate to hold off a Republican filibuster, health reform legislation — at least in its current form — seems much less likely to advance, pundits say.

Carol Pryor, a health policy analyst based in Boston, said Brown’s message resonated with voters in part because of the complexity of the legislation — detailed in voluminous House and Senate bills passed in 2009.

“People really had lost sight of what’s in it, or didn’t have a good sense of what was in it, and there was a lot of misinformation spread around about it,” she explained.

“I do think that the dragged-out negotiations and all of the deals that people had to make in order to get this through Congress, especially with the need for 60 votes in the Senate, after a while made it seem like there was just a lot of deal-making going on behind the scenes,” Pryor added.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) characterized the election as a “referendum” on the national health reform initiative, which he claimed Democrats were trying to work out in secret.

“They have arrogantly ignored American public opinion all the way to this point,” he said. “And they’re trying to get their members to continue to ignore public opinion one more time.”

Robert Restuccia, executive director of Community Catalyst, a national consumer health advocacy organization, disagreed. “I don’t think it was a referendum,” he said. “I think fundamentally this came down to two campaigns: one that was pretty effective and one that wasn’t, in an environment that was probably not as good as when Obama ran.”

And while the vote fundamentally changes the calculus in the Senate, it doesn’t alter the need for specific reforms, Restuccia stressed.

“I think there’s still an urgency to pass something,” he said.

In the wake of the Senate shakeup, Democratic leaders in both chambers were pondering ways to move the legislation forward. The House could pass the Senate version of the bill, avoiding another Senate vote, although that scenario seemed unlikely given the many concessions House members would have to make.

In remarks to MSNBC, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), a progressive Democrat, conceded it may be time for his party to take a new tact on health care.

“I think we’ve made some crucial mistakes along the way by making this more complicated than it needs to be,” he said. Weiner said he supports a “much simpler approach” to health care as part of a jobs bill.

Pryor said she hopes that whatever Congress decides to do will ultimately salvage some key elements of the legislation, including an expansion of Medicaid and health insurance market reforms.

While public support for “health reform” may be lagging, Restuccia said the public remains strongly in favor of specific elements of health reform.

“What the package is, how to move forward, is going to be the question now,” he said. “I still think it’s very high on the agenda, and I would be surprised if it disappears between now and the next election.”

Healthy Eating Signage

Promote healthy eating and nutrition at your small business by posting motivational signs about nutrition, and healthy eating in the cafeteria or break area. Motivational signs can act as both a reminder and decision prompt when posted in any common area like the cafeteria or break area.

Encouraging healthful eating near the point-of-purchase of foods can influence decisions. Signage posted in various locations presents reminders for on and off -site eating habits.

Small Biz Action Steps

• Motivational signs can be posted in a variety of places.  Unconventional locations usually have more impact.  Examples are trash cans, walls, ceilings, vending machines, and restroom doors.
• Don‘t limit your signage to the cafeteria. Post signs in other places such as break rooms, hallways, elevators, restrooms, etc.
• Posters are not the only possibility. Try making table tents, window signs, flyers, or hanging displays. Laminating the information helps to keep it in good shape longer. Depending on the size/type, framing or mounting on foam core also lengthens the life of the sign and adds to the professionalism of the message.

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.

Healthy Eating Options

Promote healthy eating options at your small business by offering appealing, low-cost, healthful food options, such as fruits and vegetables, juices, and low-fat dairy products in vending machines, snack bars, break rooms, and/or cafeterias. Offering appealing, low-cost, healthful food options at the worksite is one way to promote healthful eating to employees. Vending machines are a quick and convenient way for employees to purchase these types of food. If cafeterias or snack bars are not available, vending machines may be the only option for employees to purchase foods and beverages.

Small Biz Action Steps

• Step 1: Identify employee representative (s) to assess the need and interest in changing vending machine offerings.

• Step 2: Conduct a vending machine inventory asking employees to determine their interest in having healthful foods available in machines.  Identify preferences for vending machine items such as fruits, vegetables, milk, water, energy bars, pretzels, etc.

• Step 3: Identify worksite staff that deal with vending companies. Identify the date of the vending machine contract renewal and schedule your plans toinitiate changes with vending machine companies several months in advance of this renewal date.

• Step 4: Meet with a vendor representative to:
  - Explain the 5 A Day campaign (i.e. focus on environmental changes work to facilitate dietary change); share the program guidelines.
  - Share the results of the survey that support employees. desire for healthful food options with the vendor.
  - Provide the vending company with suggestions for healthful food choices and determine which are appropriate to include.
  - Seek permission from the vendor to label fruit and vegetable products with nutrition information on the vending machine.
  - Explore opportunities for reducing the cost of healthful food options.

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.

Bicycle Friendly Workplace

Promote a healthy small business environment and/or policy to encourage health and wellness providing bicycle racks in safe, convenient, and accessible
locations.

The benefits of providing a bicycle-friendly workplace includes:

• Bicycling can be a safe, healthy behavior.
• Placing bicycle racks in prominent locations may encourage people to ride to your location.
• Bicycle parking is inexpensive to provide compared to automobile parking.
• Studies have proven that people who exercise in the morning are more alert when they get to work.

Your Small Biz Action Steps

• Contact your facilities manager and/or city government to find out if a specific type of bicycle rackis required or if there are specific locations that bicycle racks must be installed on your property.
• If there is no standard rack, look for the inverted-U rack. This type of rack offers the best of short-term cycle parking and is widely regarded as the recommended standard.
• Determine a location that is convenient to access on a bicycle. Ideal locations are visible, well lit, and close to the building entrance. Make sure that curb ramps are in place so the bicyclist can ride directly to the rack. Keep in mind that bicyclists will park as close as they can to their destination. If your building has multiple entrances, make sure you install bike racks in multiple locations.
• To encourage bicycling, ask your local police department about bicycle registration. Many cities offer to engrave a number on bicycles so that if they are ever stolen, they can be traced back to the owner. You could host a bicycling event at your worksite and have the police come to register bicycles.
• To encourage bicycle commuting, your worksite should have showers, locker room, and storage  for bicycles.
• Advertise the location of all bike racks to employees.
• Offer bicycle safety training on-site. Talk to departments of transportation, local bicycle vendors or police officers about making a presentation about rules of the road and bicycle safety tips.
• Give free or low-cost helmets and/or retro reflective gear to bicycle commuters.

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.

Exercise and Fitness Classes

Promote physical activity at your small business by offering on-site fitness programs, such as group classes or personal training.

The benefits of an on-site fitness program includes:

• Increased employee satisfaction and health
• Informal building of company networks
• Increased employee engagement and energy
• Building of positive company culture
• Potential reduction in overall healthcare costs
• Potential reduction in employee absences

On-site fitness programs can include:

• Having a group fitness classes led by an instructor
• Having group fitness classes following a fitness video
• Providing a dedicated room with fitness basics such as stretching mats, exercise balls, small hand weights, exercise videos, a TV, VCR or DVD player, etc.
• Walking club

Your Small Biz Action Steps

• Survey employees and find out what type of classes they want.
• Find an appropriate existing space such as a conference or meeting room.
• Partner with a local health club for fitness class ideas and for qualified instructors.  See Appendix C for more detailed information on instructor credentials.
• Purchase TV, VCR or DVD player, and fitness videos.
• Makes sure you know the potential liability issues might be. Contact your employer‘s legal department regarding participant waivers, necessary insurance, and any other liability concerns.
• If available, provide shower facilities for employees who want to bicycle/run to work or exercise over the  lunch hour.
• Provide bike racks or other bike storage facilities.

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.

Healthy Eating Incentives

Promote healthy eating and nutrition at your small business by providing incentives for participation in nutrition or weight management programs.

Most wellness programs are designed to change a health behavior such as increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables or losing weight.  Health behavior is difficult to change, and therefore, wellness program coordinators must recognize that people often need external motivators and reasons to change.  Incentives generate interest in the wellness program, offer rewards for changed behavior, and promote the company‘s belief in and commitment to wellness.

Incentives are useful and effective because of their direct impact on the universal human need for personal recognition and reward. An incentive may be defined as an anticipated positive or desirable reward that influences individual or group performance.

By reinforcing behaviors and rewarding results, successful program outcomes can be achieved. Among other things, incentives can be expected to: 1) increase program participation and completion rates, 2) provide a purpose for participants to make health behavior changes,
and 3) improve long-term adherence to a behavior.

Small Biz Action Steps

In order for an incentive to be effective, the participant needs to find it desirable and worth the effort.  Finding out what incentives motivate your participants can be accomplished in many ways including preference surveys, focus groups, structured interviews, pilot testing different incentives with small groups, or just randomly asking key people what they think.

Experts recommend that the incentives be kept small while achieving program goals.   Small but effective incentives are always more cost-effective.  Smaller external incentives are more likely to help individuals internalize their new behaviors and maintain them over the long term without ongoing external rewards. The bottom line is that participation rates will increase if an incentive is offered.

Types of Incentives can be Categorized as Follows:

• Achievement awards. Verbal praise and a pat on the back are motivational to some, but a token of recognition of achievement may offer more.  A colorful certificate to congratulate an employee for achieving a health-related goal is one example.
• Public recognition. Most people love to see their names in print.  Publish the names of wellness program participants in your employee newsletter. This will honor the employees who have attempted to make positive lifestyle changes and can motivate others to do the same.
• Merchandise.  Award a t-shirt, canvas bag, gift certificate/gift card, or an AM/FM radio to participants who sign up and/or complete a program. Your company logo may be imprinted on these items as well.
• Monetary rewards.  Offer an employee $10 for completing a wellness program.  Discount health insurance premiums for participants. Reimburse employees for attending a health-related educational training seminar.  Food. Offer beverages and healthy snacks to employees who participate in on-site wellness programs. Use gift certificates to a local restaurant or grocery stores as door prizes.  Entertainment. Hold a drawing for movie tickets, sporting events tickets, or health food store gift certificates for participants of wellness programs.
• Time off. Allow employees to take an extended lunch break or a half-day of leave for completing a long-term, company-sponsored wellness program.

Get Started Today!

You CAN control healthcare costs for you and your employees with practical and affordable wellness tools and strategies that will ultimately help them create a lifetime of healthy habits. For more information on any our small business wellness programs or services, Contact Us today and find out we can help.