Corporate Wellness Program - Essay Example

? Running Head: CORPORATE WELLNESS PROGRAM Corporate Wellness Program Inserts His/her The paper aims to look into the employee wellness program and its benefits in a holistic sense. It discusses the concept of the wellness programs, their effectiveness and advantages for the employees, their families and the organization. It also gives an elaboration upon the development and execution of the plan and highlights all the steps of its implementation. At the end of the paper, the advantages of an effective wellness programs are listed in order to highlight the sufficiency of the plan for the organization and its workforce. The age of technology and innovation has imposed upon the employees and organizations extreme competition and hard work to keep with their sustenance. In such a competitive and rigid environment, it is the utmost responsibility of the organizations to keep their employees motivated and maintained through providing them the basic necessities, comfort and satisfaction on the job. This is done through different wellness programs which many companies introduce in order to keep w well-fed and motivated human resource base. Corporate Wellness Programs The corporate wellness programs, commonly known as workplace wellness programs, are sort of motivational programs which are the blend of various environmental, educational and organizational activities. These activities are normally formulated to assist the behavior and attitude which is favorable and encouraging towards the health of the organization’s employees. They are involved in these programs which comprise of health coaching, fitness programs, health education through holding fairs, medical screenings and the various educational programs which are designed with sophistication in order to bring a change in the behaviors and attitudes of the employees. This change is most likely to contribute towards the achievement of better employee health, and a drastic reduction in the possible risks linked to the health of employees. Thus, the basic goal accomplished through the designing and implementation of the wellness programs is the attainment of better health of the employees. According to a recent study presented by the US Department of Health and Human Services, it was indicated that the workplaces which offer the on-site exercise programs to their employees as a component of their wellness programs, experienced a decline from 75 % to 55% in their healthcare costs and the employees’ short-term leaves were also lowered from 38% to 32% , ultimately leading to a rise in the productivity of an average employee from 50% to 52% (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Thus, such wellness programs contribute big time to the health of the employees as well as the organization. Development of an Effective Wellness Program The wellness programs have become the need of time and the basic necessity which should be provided by the organization to all its employees. Here, the Fortune 55 firm is working with an estimated number of 500 employees, who are all busy working hard in order to steer the organization towards achieving its goals. Though, the old wellness program at the company was effective too, however, with the changing needs of the age and the shifting demands of employees, a newer and more effective wellness program should be developed which is capable of delivering further benefits to the employees. Since, the corporate wellness programs are a blend of the healthcare, medical and educational activities, the new plan of the Fortune 500 will follow a more sophisticated mixture in the program. The elements of the brand new effective wellness program, to be developed and introduced, will include the following elements: Lifestyle Improvement Stress Management Online health coaching Appraisals and assessments of health associated risks Health content programs Employees’ mental health and well being These were the elements which already existed in the company’s old wellness program. To make it more sufficient and effective, the additions are made as mentioned below: Telephonic nurse online assistance Alternative therapies Disease management Nutrition counseling Early detection of content such as blood pressure and cholesterol tests On-site screening prevention Strategic consultation Smoking cessation programs In addition to the previously designed program, the new corporate wellness plan is more effective for the reason that it offers additional benefits which will make the lives of the employees more pleasant and improved. The elements of the program such as strategic consultation and alternative therapies including online nursing assistance are capable of providing the maximum benefits and comfort to the employees and their families. The Process for the Establishment of the Wellness Program Just like other programs and strategies, the employee wellness programs are also designed in a sophisticated manner and are to be implemented in a well-planned manner. There are certain steps which need to be considered carefully while undertaking to establish the program. The first step for execution is to gain the management support for the employee participation in the program during working days as well as holidays. It will require gathering the data through employee surveys, and having ideas about the risks which are more dominant amongst them (Pelletier, 1992). Then, the evaluation will have to be conducted on a continuous basis in order to see the operability of the plan. An open communication environment will also have to be made functional. Next, a wellness committee will have to be set up which can consider the concerns of the workers as well as raise the determination in establishing the program. Mission statement will be formulated and goals and objectives need to be designed in order to determine the direction and boost the credibility of the program. The effectiveness of the previous program will have to be measured by conducting employee surveys and collecting previous statistics. The work environment will have to be reviewed and other organizations will also have to be seen as to how effective contents their programs are having. After collecting the information, the events and activities need to be planned and budgets will be prepared. Incentives will have to be designed in order to encourage employees to participate in the program. Afterwards, the wellness policies and procedures will be developed and built into the organizational culture (Greenwell, 2008). This will support in eliminating the inconsistencies and confusions that might arise in the minds of employees. Once the program is designed and planned, it will be implemented in the organizations so that the employees can benefit from it. It will also be evaluated for its effectiveness and usage at different intervals. The employee participation will be measured and further need for improvement will be looked for and done. Contribution of the New Wellness Program The new wellness program to be introduced in the company is predicted to be more effective and caters to almost all the requirements and needs of the employee. In this regard, a new study from the OptumHealth Culture of Health Institute reported that the employees see the wellness programs as a significant part of the benefit mix and they consider it as a source to maximizing the productivity, health, employee morale and reduction of claims at work (Grates Smith, 2006). For this reason a big number of companies view wellness program as very effective tool. There are few human errors, lesser injuries, and the overall well-being of the organization is improved. Employee absenteeism is reduced since bad elements like stress, depression and conflicts lower to the maximum extent. It also helps the organization reduce its costs on insurance and other mishaps since the continuous employee program doesn’t result in sudden fatalities. Thus, the employee wellness program is an important and satisfying resource for the people of any organization, whether it is large or small. This resource can vitalize the productivity of the employees and the profitability of the organization to a great extent. Moreover, it can enhance the employee potential by giving attention to their well being and living styles. References Gannon J. (2008). Companies offer programs to cut insurance costs. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com Accessed at May 20, 2011. Grates G., Smith S., (2006). Finding wealth through wellness: how engaging employees in preventive care can reduce healthcare costs. Edelman. Greenwell M. (2008). Disease prevention calls a better bet: wellness programs yield greater returns, report finds. Washington Post. National summit urges actions to improve workforce health and productivity. (2008). Accessed on May 20, 2011. Pelletier, K. (1992). A review and analysis of health and cost-effective outcome studies of comprehensive health promotion and disease program. American Journal of Health Program. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000). Healthy People 2010. Accessed on May 20, 2011. Read More