Approximately 90 percent of all work-places with 50 or more employees and
virtually all employers with more than 750 employees offer some form of health promotion program at their workplace. Clearly,
many consider creating a healthy work environment good business.
“The majority of large employer groups
have developed wellness programs. They
understand that promoting wellness in the
workplace just makes sense on a lot of levels
for employers,” says Michael P. O’Donnell,
Ph.D., MBA, MPH, vice president and chief
wellness officer for UPMC Health Plan.
If done correctly, health promotion programs can be beneficial to a company.
Healthy employees miss fewer days of work
and are more likely to stay on the job longer.
Health promotion programs can improve
health by reducing health risks, helping manage controllable diseases and reducing the
use of avoidable substances.
Smart Business talked with O’Donnell to
identify what an employer should know to
develop effective wellness programs in the
workplace.
What are some of the pitfalls that employers
may face in starting a wellness program?
One of the biggest mistakes employers
make in the area of health promotion is to
focus exclusively on education. They believe
that all they have to do is give people the right
information and people will make the right
decisions. They focus on improving the communication by making multimedia presentations, improving the graphics, etc.
You can educate others all you want about
leading a healthy lifestyle, but if they’re not
motivated, they won’t do it. Actually, most
people know that they should exercise. Most
smokers know that smoking causes many
kinds of cancer. If knowledge were enough,
no one would smoke and everyone would
exercise. What employers may not realize is
how hard it can be for some employees to act
on what they know.
What elements are necessary for a health
promotion program to succeed?
There are four factors: awareness, motivation, skills and opportunity. Programs that do not include efforts to motivate people, build
skills and provide opportunities for health
are not likely to succeed.
Awareness is important to mobilize support. When people realized that secondhand
smoke causes more than irritation, and that it
actually makes people sick and can cause
lung cancer and heart disease, workers mobilized to force their companies to create
smoke-free workplaces. Without this knowledge, a worker might view a no-smoking policy as restricting personal liberties rather
than as a way to protect worker health.
Should employers utilize financial incentives
as motivation?
Financial incentives are great at getting
people in the door. They are good ways to get
people to take a health risk assessment or
participate in a health screening. But, they
have virtually no impact on behavior changes. You can use financial incentives to get
your employees’ attention, but to get beyond
that point, the incentive has to be more intrinsically important to an individual. Another
problem with financial incentives is that
when the financial incentive goes away the
motivation to participate often goes, as well.
Why are skills needed for someone to succeed in a wellness program?
Living a healthy lifestyle can be equated to
learning a new language. You have to
immerse yourself in a new culture. It’s not
enough to know what you need to eat. You
also need to know where to buy these foods,
how to prepare them, and what to order and
what to avoid when you eat in restaurants in
order to eat healthy. The most successful
skill-building programs will teach strategies
to overcome barriers that usually cause people trouble in making behavior changes.
How can an employer help employees succeed in a health promotion program?
It can be little things. For instance, making
the stairwells open and encouraging people
to walk up to their offices rather than ride the
elevator. Highlight areas outside where
employees can walk on their lunch hour.
Offer healthy food in the cafeteria. Establish
a smoke-free environment. An employer has
the ability to set policies that can encourage
employees to lead healthier lifestyles.
How do you determine if a health promotion
program will be beneficial to your company?
The first step is to clarify your goals. Why
do you want to develop a health promotion
program? Is it to improve health, reduce
medical costs, enhance productivity or
attract talented employees?
The next step is to think about how much
achieving those goals is worth to you as an
employer. If it is worth $10 per employee,
don’t bother. Helping people change habits
they have formed over decades of time is not
easy, and it is not cheap.
If it is worth $100 or more per employee,
the next step is to do some in-depth research
to figure out the best program to develop to
achieve your goal. You can do this research
on your own or by hiring a consultant. Some
health plans can help you with this step.
MICHAEL P. O’DONNELL, Ph.D., MBA, MPH, is a vice president and chief wellness officer for UPMC Health Plan. Reach him at
(412) 434-1200.
