The process
After you’ve determined a health awareness focus for your employee population, you can create a plan of action.
“You have to create a culture of wellness and practice what you preach,” Akahoshi says. “When employees see you smoking or eating Twinkies, your plan will lose credit. Make better health fun. Initiate no-fry Fridays and provide healthy food in place of doughnuts at meetings.”
You also need to make an assessment of your workplace wellness environment. Identify strengths and areas that need improvement. Enforce no smoking on the campus; provide healthy choices in vending machines and the cafeteria.
“Consider how your employees spend their days,” Benjamin says. “If your staff eats a Hostess breakfast from your vending machines and sits at a desk for eight or more hours a day, you are fueling the fire. Perform a worksite assessment and make sure water and fruit is an option and not just pop and sugary snacks.”
Provide health tips, programs, discounts to gyms and other information through multiple delivery sources. Some employees are more receptive to e-mails or newsletters — or they just need to hear the
s
ame message multiple times to get motivated into action.
“Your insurance provider will be able to give you specifics to test for, follow-up surveys and arrange additional health screenings,” Akahoshi says. “Arrange your plan accordingly, but concentrate on promoting wellness.”
