1. health and fitness

2015 Wellness Toolkit
Wellness Consulting
The Wellness Consulting Team at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. consists of health
promotion professionals that help employers compress healthcare costs, effect positive
lifestyle change by encouraging healthy behaviors and build a healthy culture and sense
of community in the workplace.
Wellness Consulting Overview
Who We Are
The Wellness Consulting Team at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. consists of health promotion
professionals that helps employers compress healthcare costs, effect positive lifestyle change
by encouraging healthy behaviors and build a healthy culture and sense of in the workplace.
How We Do It
Wellness Consulting at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is an employer-driven strategy. Our focus
is on containing healthcare costs through motivating employees to lead healthy lifestyles.
We help foster a health-conscious workplace culture by building on current employer
programs and creatively developing and integrating new initiatives that are carefully
customized to unique cultures.
How We Can Help
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has provided you with best-in-class tools designed to engage
your employees in healthy behaviors. We look to you, our employer partner, to generate
participation and engage employees in participating in programs through incentives and
management support. Research shows that participation is critical in generating a return
on investment.
We hope you’ll consider making some of these healthy investments:
•Create a healthy culture to support employees’ healthy lifestyles.
•Gain visible leadership support from managers and supervisors.
•Designate “health leaders” and consider forming a wellness committee.
•Create a budget for wellness activities to create a healthy supportive environment.
•Provide an employee interest survey to learn what activities will be successful.
•Reward healthy behaviors and participants.
This toolkit is not intended to be exhaustive, nor should any discussion or opinions be construed
as legal advice. Readers should contact legal counsel for legal advice.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Why Have a Worksite Wellness Strategy?
What Is Workplace Wellness?
An employee wellness program can raise awareness so employees
with fewer risk factors remain in a lower-cost group. A program
also can encourage employees with health risk factors to make
lifestyle changes to improve their quality of life and lower costs.
The payoff in dollars as well as in quality of life can have a big
impact on your company’s bottom line.
Workplace wellness refers to the education and activities that a
worksite may do to promote healthy lifestyles to employees and
their families. Examples of wellness programming include such
things as health education classes, subsidized use of fitness facilities,
internal policies that promote healthy behavior, and any other
activities, policies or environmental changes that affect the health
of employees. Wellness programs can be simple or complex. Many
programs require a minimal investment of time and money. More
substantial programs often use more resources, but the many
benefits to supporting and encouraging employee health and safety
outweigh the costs.
Increase Productivity
Why Workplace Wellness?
Healthier employees are more productive. This has been
demonstrated in factory settings and in office environments in
which workers with workplace wellness initiatives miss less work.
Presenteeism, in which employees are physically present on the
job but are not at their most productive or effective, is reduced in
workplaces that have wellness programs.
It affects your company’s bottom line in many ways. Here are some
key factors:
Reduce Absenteeism
Healthier employees miss less work. Companies that support
wellness and healthy decisions have a greater percentage of
employees at work every day. Because health frequently carries
over into better family choices, your employees may miss less work
caring for ill family members as well. The cost savings of providing
a wellness program can be measured against reduced overtime to
cover absent employees and other aspects of absenteeism.
•Attract and retain key talent
•Decreased healthcare costs
•Increased productivity
•Better morale
Rising healthcare benefit costs are a significant concern, and poor
health habits and unnecessary medical care costs consume portions
of our corporate resources as well as the employee paycheck.
The worksite is an ideal setting for health promotion and disease
prevention programs. Employees spend many of their waking hours
at work, nearing 50 hours per week. That’s why the workplace is an
ideal setting to address health/wellness issues.
Improve Morale and Enhanced Image for the
Organization
A company that cares about its employees’ health is often seen as
a better place to work. Those companies save money by retaining
workers who appreciate the benefit of a wellness program and they
can attract new employees in a competitive market.
Why Start a Company Wellness Program?
Wellness programs help control costs. An investment in your
employees’ health may lower healthcare costs or slow the increase in
providing that important benefit. In fact, employees with more risk
factors, including being overweight, smoking and having diabetes,
cost more to insure and pay more for healthcare than people with
fewer risk factors.
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Five Essentials of Well-being
CAREER WELL-BEING – how you
occupy your time or simply liking
what you do every day
The Five Essentials of Well-being are a key strategic organizational focus for
any wellness program. When you think about your organization’s resources
for your employees, many of them fit into one of five strategies of well-being.
According to Gallup, 66% of the population is doing well in one area, 7% of
the population is thriving in all five.
•Every day, use your strengths.
•Identify someone with a shared
mission who encourages your
growth. Spend more time with this
person.
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•Opt in to more social time with
people and teams you enjoy being
around at work.
SOCIAL WELL-BEING – having strong
relationships and love in your life
•Spend six hours a day socializing
with friends, family, and colleagues
(including work, home, phone, email,
and other communication).
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•Strengthen the mutual connections in
your networks.
FINANCIAL WELL-BEING – effectively
managing your economic life
•Mix social time with physical activity.
For example, take a long walk with a
friend so you can motivate each other
to be healthy.
•Buy experiences, such as vacations and
outings with friends and loved ones.
•Spend on others instead of solely on material
possessions.
•Establish default systems (automated
payments and savings) that lessen daily
worry about money.
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PHYSICAL WELL-BEING – having good health
and enough energy to get things done on a
daily basis
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•Get at least 20 minutes of physical activity
each day—ideally in the morning to improve
your mood throughout the day.
COMMUNITY WELL-BEING – the sense of
engagement you have with the area where
you live
•Sleep enough to feel well-rested (generally
7–8 hours), but not too long (more than 9
hours)
•Identify how you can contribute to your
community based on your personal
mission.
•Set positive defaults when you shop for
groceries. Load up on natural foods that are
red, green, and blue.
•Tell people about your passions and
interests so they can connect you with
relevant groups and causes.
•Opt in to a community group or event.
Even if you start small, start now.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Best Practices: Developing a Culture of Well-being
The Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA), an organization dedicated to the promotion of worksite wellness, has identified the seven
best practices (“The Seven C’s”) for employers to follow when building a comprehensive, effective worksite culture of well-being within their
organization.1
1. Capture senior-level support. A commitment from the top is
throughout the implementation process. A written plan also
provides continuity when members of the wellness committee
change and is instrumental in holding the team accountable to
the goals, objectives, and timeline agreed upon.
critical to the success of any wellness initiative. Management
must understand the benefits of the program for both the
employees and the organization and be willing to put funds
towards its development, implementation and evaluation.
Descriptions of what competitors are doing in the way of
health promotion and linking health promotion to business
goals, values and strategic priorities will help to secure senior
management support. Managers who “walk the talk” and take
part in the program will go a long way to driving others to
participate as well.
5. Choose appropriate wellness initiatives. The Five Essentials
of Well-being are a key strategic organizational focus for any
wellness program. The wellness initiatives that you choose
should flow naturally from your data (survey, HA aggregate
report, claims) to goals and objectives. They should address
prevailing risk factors in your employee population and be in
line with what both management and employees want from the
wellness program.
2. Create a wellness team. Wellness teams should include a cross-
section of potential program participants including employees.
Your team should include individuals who will have a role in
program development, implementation and evaluation. This
ensures broad ownership of the program and more innovative
ideas. A wellness team will help to garner “buy in” from both
management and the participants, develop a program that is
responsive to the needs of all potential participants, and will be
responsible for overseeing all of the company’s wellness efforts.
6. Create a supportive environment.
A supportive environment provides employees with
encouragement, opportunity, and rewards. A culture of health
that supports worksite health promotion might have such
features as healthy food choices in their vending machines, a
no-smoking policy and flexible work schedules that allow
workers to exercise. A workplace that values health will
celebrate and reward health achievements and have a
management team that models healthy behavior. Most
importantly, a culture of health involves employees in
every aspect of the wellness program from their design and
promotion to their implementation and evaluation.
3. Collect data that will drive your wellness initiatives. Once your
team is in place and management is on board, it is time to gather
baseline data to help assess employee wellness interests and risks.
The results of your data collection will guide you in what kind of
wellness programs to offer. This process may involve a survey of
employee interest in various health initiatives, health assessments,
and claims analysis to determine current employee disease risk.
7. Consistently evaluate your outcomes. Evaluation involves
taking a close look at your goals and objectives and determining
whether you achieved your desired result. Evaluation allows you
to celebrate goals that have been achieved and to discontinue or
change ineffective initiatives.
4. Craft an annual operating plan. For your wellness program
to succeed, you must have a plan. An annual operating plan
should include a mission statement for the program along with
specific, measurable short-and long-term goals and objectives.
Your program is more likely to be successful if it is linked to
one or more of the company’s strategic initiatives, as it will have
a better chance of maintaining the support of management
For more information on the Wellness Councils of America, please see WELCOA’s Website at www.welcoa.org.
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Step 1: Capturing Senior-Level Support
Developing and executing a successful wellness initiative at your organization can be
extremely difficult, especially without the support of upper-level management. While
many companies may find that senior management is 100 percent behind their wellness
initiatives, other higher-ups may struggle to find the value of such efforts. In fact, some may
not be able to make the connection between the company’s overall business plan and the
wellness of their employees and families at all.
To get the senior management at your company on board with a new wellness initiative,
you must first determine their level of support and then act accordingly. According to the
Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA), management’s attitude towards wellness falls
into one of five categories. Once you determine where your management falls, you can then
gear your efforts towards their outlooks and avoid potential roadblocks in the process.
Category #1: Active Opposition
•Management is opposed to a wellness initiative and does not see the value in its
implementation.
•To work well with this type of management, listen to their oppositions and then
suggest minor things that you could do to improve workplace wellness. By constantly
keeping an open ear on their hesitations, the leaders may be more susceptible to your
ideas down the road because they see how open you are to them.
Category #2: Quiet Opposition
•Management feels that a wellness initiative is a waste of company time, though they do
not voice this opinion. Instead, they do not participate in wellness events unless they
are required to do so.
•To work well with this type of management, do some investigating to determine if they
find any part of your wellness plan appealing and build on that. Sell those ideas and
then petition for more additions to the program as they begin to warm up to the idea
of a wellness initiative.
Category #3: Neutral
•Management is preoccupied with other priorities and does not feel strongly about your
wellness initiatives either way.
•To work well with this type of management, present statistics and case studies
suggesting how wellness programs can benefit your organization. This should persuade
them to take a greater interest in the initiatives.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Category #4: Quiet Supporters
•Management does see the value in wellness initiatives but they are unaware of how to
contribute to its growth and success at your organization. These individuals are active
participants in wellness events but are unsure how to make the program flourish.
•To work well with this type of management, show them how they can become more
active in the program. It is wise to get wellness gurus involved to show higher-ups how
they can make a difference and support other employees in company’s wellness efforts.
Category #5: Wellness Champions
•Management is in full support of all wellness initiatives implemented by HR. They
fully comprehend the benefits, both financial and from a health perspective, of a
wellness program and want to educate others on the subject. These individuals also
typically live a healthy lifestyle and encourage others to do so as well.
•To work well with this type of management, encourage their existing behavior and let
them know how much you appreciate their support. Ask for their assistance in getting
the wellness word out and ask what they envision for the future of your wellness
initiative.
Step 2: Creating Wellness Team/Committee
There is no “I” in “TEAM” but there are results! When constructing a wellness plan within
your organization, creating a solid wellness team is critical to its success. In fact, teams are
a crucial part of the longevity of any culture of well-being, as they lead the way for other
employees to transform their lives and to make positive, healthy choices. Yet, how can a
team bring success to your program? Here’s how:
Formally Appoint Team Members
•Upper-level management should formally appoint several employees to the team. This
sets the precedent that the wellness initiative and the team’s roles are important within
the organization.
•Volunteers often brush responsibilities to the wayside, but appointed members tend to
take their duties more seriously, and do not neglect them for other issues.
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•Consider appointing members in varying degrees of health. In
other words, not everyone on the team must be a star athlete
or extremely fit. This shows the entire organization that the
wellness team and upper-level management embrace all of the
employees and want them to make health a topic priority.
Include the Wellness Initiative Roles in the Team
Members’ Job Descriptions
•Combined with being formally appointed, team members
should each have a formal responsibility to the team within
their job descriptions.
•Teams should be large enough to represent the organization,
while also being manageable in size.
•This clears up any confusion regarding what the team members’
roles are, and emphasizes that team members must allocate
some of their resources and time to the company’s wellness
initiatives.
Team Should Meet on a Regular Schedule With a
Formal Agenda
•The wellness team should meet at least monthly, if not twice
a month, to further the culture of well-being. If teams do not
meet on a regular basis, the priorities of the initiative may be
sidelined by other tasks.
Promote the Wellness Team Within the
Organization
•Promote the workplace wellness team and program within the
organization to show other employees that wellness is a high
priority.
•The team should create an agenda for their meetings to clarify
the focus of their initiatives and to drive the meetings.
•As the team’s efforts are showcased, other employees will gain
the understanding that the initiatives are designed to assist
them in staying healthy.
•All members should have a hand in creating the agendas and
should all be given a finished copy prior to the meetings. This
will give team members the opportunity to prepare for the
meetings so they are more productive.
•Highlighting the team will also make others want to join and
establish their roles as well-sought after.
•In addition to a formal agenda, someone should keep the
minutes to track their activity and progress.
Establish a Strong Team Leader
•Appointing a strong leader is the cornerstone of a good
wellness team. This person should be able to establish a solid
agenda, manage different types of people, define his or her
priorities, meet goals and deadlines, motivate other team
members and communicate effectively.
Communication Must Remain a Staple Within the
Team
•To successfully educate and inform other employees, the team
members should constantly be communicating about their
initiatives.
Include Employees From Various Hierarchies Into
the Team
Incorporate Continuing Wellness Education into the
Program
•To demonstrate that the wellness initiative is constructed for
the benefit of all employees and to gain “buy-in,” include
individuals from various areas of the company and of different
power levels. In addition to having representation from core
strategic departments that are designed to assist with wellness
(such as Human Resources, Benefits and Occupational
Safety), include individuals who work in Information Systems,
Accounting and Creative Services, for instance.
•To ensure that all team members remain up to date on health
and wellness, provide continuing education in the form of inservices, attending conferences and bringing in expert speakers.
•Provide subscriptions to wellness newsletters, magazines and
websites for team members.
An effective workplace wellness team can dramatically improve
the health initiatives within your organization. Not only will these
individuals work to rally others, their efforts will also hopefully
reduce healthcare costs while bettering the physical and emotional
state of all your employees.
•Within the team, executives and frontline employees will be
equal.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Step 3: Collecting Data
Health Culture Audits
•Instrument that determines how your company’s culture
relates to your employees’ health and productivity.
You have recognized that you must collect data to fuel your wellness
initiatives and determine exactly where your efforts must focus to
benefit the health of your employees. Now you must identify how to
collect the data. In addition to the analysis of your actual healthcare
claim information and current inventory of Resources, there are three
main sources of information that are pivotal to any effective wellness
program: employee health risk appraisals, health culture audits and
personal interest surveys. These sources will provide you with rich
sources of knowledge concerning the health and well-being of your
employees.
•Assess items such as health norms, your employees’
attitudes on health and their perceptions of well-being as it
relates to the company.
•Tools will assess how your employees will stay healthy
while working in your existing health culture.
•Learn more about the health audit process, visit
www.healthyculture.com.
Personal Interest Surveys / Focus Groups
Health Assessments (HAs)
•Survey designed to uncover the interests and health desires
of your employees. In other words, the survey seeks to
determine whether your current health and wellness
offerings are of importance to your employees.
•Electronic or hard-copy health questionnaires utilized to
collect information about your employee’s health behaviors and
potential risk factors.
•Generally consist of 10 to 25 questions and cost anywhere
from $5 to $25 per employee.
•Tool will enable you to move your wellness initiatives
forward by offering items that are of great importance to
your employees (should you listen to the requests)
•Once completed, employees will receive a report detailing
their personal health status. Depending on the HA selected,
employees can receive the results in the following ways:
report sent to their home, report sent to them at work, report
explained to them at work in a group session, report explained
to them one-on-one at work, or the report explained at the
doctor’s office.
•Surveys make employees feel as though their interests are
of importance to the company and are being taken into
account. As a result, they may be more inclined to get
involved in the wellness efforts within your organization.
•Conduct focus groups and/or develop a survey using a
Likert scale, which allows employees to rank items from
“strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” or the like.
•Employees must be assured that their personal information will
be kept confidential.
By using these data collection mechanisms, you will collect
the information appropriate for assessing your current wellness
initiatives, while also learning how to modify your efforts to
achieve health-related goals in the future.
•To encourage employees to fill out an HA, consider providing
incentives such as T-shirts, gift certificates, employer
merchandise, monetary rewards and/or the opportunity to
modify their current benefit plan.
•Several weeks prior to offering an HA, communicate messages
to your employees concerning how valuable their participation
would be in your wellness initiatives.
•To determine which HA is best for your organization, consider
your end goals and whether you want to develop the HA on
your own or hire another entity to do it for you.
•Conduct an HA annually to detect current health trends
within your organization.
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Obtaining positive results from your wellness initiatives requires diligence, patience and
lots and lots of data. In fact, there are several reasons why data collection is essential to a
successful wellness initiative, now and in years to come. Here’s why:
So get out there
and start
collecting data.
•Data provides information on the health status of your employees at the present and in
the past. Without information explaining the health status of your employees, you can
only speculate what health and productivity issues may be hindering the wellness efforts
currently in place at your organization.
•Data collection over a long period of time will allow you to determine how effective
your wellness initiatives are and how they should be changed to accommodate your
employees’ ever-changing health problems.
•Wellness data can be used to engage upper-level executives in your efforts since they
can see tangible, hard evidence concerning why you are conducting those specific
initiatives.
•Collected data should be available to all employees. With that said, it will be a valuable
asset since it is not locked away and only privy to one employee.
•Health data about your employees will make the wellness teams and leaders
accountable for their progress in developing and maintaining a successful culture of
well-being. Without this information, you will not know if your initiatives are making
a bit of difference.
•Strong data evidence concerning what ails your employees will motivate them to make
changes to benefit the health of the entire group and of themselves, as individuals.
•Health data can be used as evidence that your company cares about the wellness of
its employees for potential new hires. This may sway a candidate from going to work
for another company if he/she can see hard evidence that you are aware of what your
employees need to stay healthy and are taking proactive steps to assist them.
•Collecting data about your own employees allows you to benchmark against
competitors in your industry and local companies alike. This is a great motivating
factor when working towards wellness goals, especially if you are lurking behind the
competition or are succeeding furiously past them.
•Data on the health of your employees can also show the value in your business for
potential shareholders. Though not traditionally seen as one of the “values” of an
organization, demonstrating the positive health and productivity of your employees can
speak to how prosperous your company can truly be.
NOTE: Data collected cannot contain any personally identifying information, as outlined
by the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 (HIPAA).
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Step 4: Developing an Operating Plan
One feature that all successful worksite wellness initiatives share is an outcome-oriented
operating plan. An operating plan is important because it:
•Links wellness initiatives to company needs and strategic priorities;
•“Legitimizes” the initiative, which increases the likelihood of continued resources and
support;
•Provides continuity for the activities when personnel changes occur; and
•Serves as a means to evaluate the effectiveness of the initiatives.
Your operating plan should contain the following elements:
Vision Statement
Your efforts must start here. All successful and long-lasting wellness initiatives, and
organizations for that matter, have clear vision or mission statements. A vision statement
is the envisioned future you are trying to achieve. It should include the values that drive
the program along with the ultimate goals or accomplishments the program is trying to
achieve. It should support the company’s overall mission statement. The following is an
example of wellness vision statement:
•To improve the health and well being of ABC Co. employees’ lives through health
education and activities that will support positive lifestyle change thereby resulting in
improved employee productivity and morale and healthcare cost savings for ABC Co.
Goals
Goals are the long-term accomplishments hoped to be achieved from the wellness
initiatives. They are more likely to be accomplished when they are realistically set, reflect
the needs of both management and employees, and flow naturally from the data collected.
Goals should include clear time limits, so it is easy to determine whether or not the goal has
been accomplished. The following is an example of a wellness goal:
•ABC Co. will reduce the prevalence of employee smoking from 35 percent to 25
percent by the end of the next fiscal year.
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Objectives
Communication: Be Convinced That Brand Matters
Objectives are the tactics you will implement in order to achieve
the stated goals. They should be written like goals so that it is clear
whether or not they have been accomplished and include specific
action steps along with a timeline for completion. The following are
examples of objectives that would each be supported by particular
actions steps:
You must communicate and market your wellness initiatives to
increase employee awareness of the program and drive employee
engagement. Your operating plan should address the types of
marketing efforts that will be used to inform your employees about
your wellness plan.
“Think about brands you love, maybe a favorite coffee shop or
athletic brand. You are loyal because you identify with something
about that brand, and the product or experience. The result? You
probably buy their product and engage with it, too. Brand brings
energy, excitement, predictability and action. It is possible to
achieve the same outcomes with wellness, except your program is
the brand and your audience are employees.2”
•By x date, ABC Co. will implement a smoke-free workplace
policy.
•By x date, ABC Co. will offer employees and their spouses
smoking cessation classes to help them quit smoking.
•In November, ABC Co. will participate in the American
Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout.
Specific communication techniques will vary depending on the
size of your company and your budget. Some low-cost methods
you can use to drive employee awareness and engagement can be
equally effective:
Timeline
Develop a realistic timeline to both implement and evaluate
wellness initiatives. The timeline will incorporate key dates
contained in the objectives and goals. Health promotion calendars
are generally kicked off at the start of the new year when people
are making resolutions and supported throughout the year with
consistent, clear and engaging communications. Wellness activities
should be scheduled at times that are convenient for all potential
participants, so it may be necessary to offer multiple sessions,
including evening sessions.
•Your wellness brand should include a creative brand name,
tagline and logo.
•Involve employees in the planning and implementation
process.
•Enroll the company president to encourage participation.
•Determine the most effective communication channels for
your organization, such as team meetings, leader visits, printed
letters, email and video, and utilize these channels to share
information.
Budget
It takes resources to carry out the objectives necessary to accomplish
the wellness goals. Your program budget may include such items as
salaries, program materials, administrative needs, outside vendors,
evaluation and the costs associated with incentives used to drive
participation. A comprehensive budget is essential during the
evaluation process as program costs are compared to outcomes.
•Provide incentives.
•Keep it simple and easy by making activities easy to sign up for
and participate in.
This section of the operating plan will provide detailed information
regarding when the various wellness initiatives will be offered and
will assign the individual responsibilities associated with the offerings.
For more information on Brands Matter, please refer to Health Partners’ Brands Matter: The Business of Well-Being Branding
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Engagement: The Rule of the Three C’s
Any successful engagement strategy is based on Conversation,
Communication and Culture. Engaging employees where they are,
both in the workplace and in their lives, is key to breakthrough
engagement. Creating two-way conversations, providing
information how and when they want it and being ever-mindful
of your company culture is crucial. The chart to the right offers
a valuable perception vs. reality glimpse of truly motivational
communications. 3
Motivational Communications
Evaluation
Top 10 Most Used
The final section of the operating plan will address how you will
measure the success of your initiatives. Ideally, evaluation will
include both measuring how well initiatives are working and
whether or not it is achieving its expected results. Participation
counts along with participant evaluations and surveys will
help you to answer who is engaging, what activities are most
popular, whether the events met participants’ needs and whether
participants were satisfied with the wellness content.
Methods
You will measure your results by reviewing each program goal
and determining whether that goal has been achieved. Using the
example from above: Did the prevalence of smoking decrease by
10 percent by the end of the fiscal year? If not, why not? Was the
goal realistic? Does the timeline need to be adjusted and objectives
revised?
1. Team Meetings
Team Meetings (71%)
2. Email
Leader Visits (71%)
3. Newsletter
Employee Conferences (69%)
4. Intranet
Letters to staff (53%)
5. Letters to staff
Video (48%)
6. Employee conferences
Email (47%)
7. Leader visits
Newsletters (43%)
8. Posters
Intranet (39%)
9. Public Websites
Posters (N/ A)
10. Video
Implementing wellness initiatives requires careful planning. With
good planning, your company can reap the benefits of workplace
health promotion: healthier employees, reduced absenteeism,
increased productivity, a boost in morale, and reduced healthcare
costs. All of these benefits will contribute to keeping the company’s
bottom line fit and healthy.
For more information on Successful Engagement, please refer to Health Partners’ Six Secrets of Well-Being Engagement
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Motivators
Web broadcast (N/A)
Step 5: Choosing Appropriate
Health Initiatives
Developing the Wellness Content
One way to develop your program activities is to take your
workplace assessment checklist and evaluate the areas where no
policy or program exists or areas where some policy or program
exists, but can be improved. For each of these items, ask the
following questions:
Workplace Wellness: Focusing Your Efforts
Wellness issues important to you—brought to you by the insurance
specialists at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
•How important is the item?
Now that you’ve completed the analysis of the workplace
assessment and employee survey and taken a look at the array of
program strategies to be considered, it’s time to narrow your focus.
By looking at what you currently offer, you should be able to see
the gaps in areas where there are additional strategies that could be
implemented. By identifying those gaps and comparing them with
the current health habits and interests of your employees that were
gathered in the employee survey, you should be able to match highpriority gaps with high-priority employee needs or interests. Finally,
by answering questions about the importance, cost, time, effort
and potential number of employees that will be reached by your
program strategies, you will be ready to select what will be included
in your wellness program.
•How much will it cost to implement the item?
•How much time and effort would be needed to implement the
item?
•How great is the potential “reach” or how many employees may
be affected?
•How well does the item match employees’ interests? Use the
survey results to help answer this question.
You should also “package” your activities whenever possible so that
they build off each other. By providing the right mix of initiatives,
you can get a multiplier effect that is greater than the effect of
adding up individual activities. “Packaging” related strategies will
lead to greater participation and long-term success. For instance,
having a policy that encourages physical activity on break time,
coupled with using pedometers as incentives and then providing
maps or on-site trails to get staff out walking, will lead to greater
success.
Considerations
As you make plans on where to focus your wellness efforts, consider
that some efforts may have greater impact than others. Your
wellness programming can include many components, such as:
Changing the environment and changing policy is crucial to affecting
change in most health habits. Policies create the opportunity for
widespread behavioral change because they change the existing
“rules,” which can have a powerful effect on employee behavior and
habits. Environmental changes, both physical and cultural, provide
options or opportunities to adopt healthier habits and can also result
in widespread change.
•Health screening and assessment
•Education through presentations, printed materials and Web
resources
•Program activities, including “campaigns” over a specified time
period
•Environmental change
•Policy change
All of your programming should involve creation of a supportive
social and physical environment where healthy decisions are the norm.
Part of creating this environment is to clearly define the organization’s
expectations regarding healthy behaviors, and implementation of
policies that promote health and reduce risk of disease.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Step 6: Establishing A
Supportive Environment
Company policies and changes in the work environment will affect
or influence individual behavior at work, which may also lead to
changes outside of work. In many cases, policy and environmental
changes make it easier to make the better health choice. An
example would be serving whole-wheat bagels and fruit instead of
pastries at company events. Some other simple examples are:
There is significant research and information suggesting
recommendations for helping your employees get into shape, eat
right, exercise and stop smoking. Yet, how can you help those
employees who already lead healthy lifestyles remain healthy for the
long term?
Formal Written Policies
•Guidelines for ordering food for company events
In addition to assisting employees who could improve their health
and wellness habits, it is imperative that you also take steps to
ensure that your healthy employees remain that way. Here are some
ways in which to do so:
•No smoking on company property
•Company cost-sharing for health club memberships
Environmental Changes or Cues
•Establish a smoke-free environment in and around your
company’s facility.
•Outdoor bike racks
•Labeling or highlighting health food choices
»» This will inhibit your healthy employees from being exposed
to second-hand smoke and will not put those who are allergic
to smoke in harm’s way.
•Posters promoting healthy messages
Think about addressing some of the easy changes first to get
a taste of success and show that your wellness initiatives are
working. As your culture develops, you can always tackle some of
the more difficult issues.
•Create an environment that promotes physical activity
throughout the workday.
»»Consider offering discounted memberships to local health
clubs.
Unlike trying to impact change at an individual level,
environmental and policy changes have the ability to impact large
groups of people and will likely provide the most “bang for the
buck.” Interventions that target individual behavior change take
a great deal of resources and impact only one person at a time.
Policy and higher-level interventions targeting communities and
organizations have a much greater potential impact. Although your
wellness strategies should address as many levels as possible, it’s also
important to focus on areas where the greatest potential benefit
could occur.
»»Promote the use of walking or biking trails near your office
for use during lunchtime.
•Bring healthy food into the workplace for health-conscious
employees to choose from.
»»Offer healthy food options in vending machines and provide
healthy foods during conferences, meetings and worksponsored events.
»»Provide a fast-food guide for employees outlining healthy and
unhealthy options when they must grab lunch on the go.
»»Provide a reusable lunch bag to encourage employees to bring
a lunch from home, which will generally be healthier than
something they can purchase from a restaurant.
Workplace wellness initiatives that support employees and the
environment that they work in have been shown to be a good
return on investment. Workplace wellness can be extensive and
sometimes expensive. However, there are ways for small employers
to make positive changes at little or no cost.
»»Provide water coolers or reusable water bottles for your
employees to keep them hydrated throughout the day. Water
cleanses the body as well.
15
•Make modifications and upgrades to your employee’s
workstations to make them more ergonomic.
•Create a clean working environment.
»»Monitor your facility’s heating, lighting and ventilation
system to ensure that they are in proper working order. These
systems can cause perfectly healthy individuals to suffer from
ailments if there are defects, bringing pollutants into the
airflow within the facility.
»»Conduct workstation assessments to learn more about each
employees’ working environment (including placement of
the computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, lighting in the
space and chair mechanics). Then, provide recommendations
for how to improve their workstation to reduce the risk of
musculoskeletal disorders.
»»Sanitize your facility often to cut down on allergic reactions
and illness outbreaks. This will reduce the dust and allergen
particle buildups in the workplace.
»»Recommend that employees take three minutes out of every
hour to stand up and stretch. This will give them a time to
relax their minds for a moment and move their body.
Step 7: Evaluation
•Create an environment that reduces your employees’ stress.
Workplace Wellness: Evaluation
»»Establish clear expectations for your employees regarding
what their roles are within the company.
More than likely, your organization has implemented a worksite
wellness initiatives to reduce healthcare costs, increase productivity,
decrease absenteeism and to improve employee health, morale,
recruitment, and retention. Evaluating your initiatives will provide
information applicable to measure whether your employees’
attitudes, behaviors and health indicators have changed as a result
of your efforts. This information will then allow you to make any
appropriate modifications if necessary.
»»Provide employees with the necessary tools to get their jobs
done easily and effectively.
»»Offer mentoring, coaching and peer support groups to
minimize stress. In addition, offer confidential counseling
services to provide your employees with an outlet for releasing
any anxiety they may have about their work and/or family
lives.
•Stress seatbelt safety while on company business (to combat
one of the leading causes of death among workers: trafficrelated accidents).
Types of Evaluation
It is important to measure both the process and the outcome.
Process indicators will provide more immediate feedback. Some
examples of process measures include:
»»Implement a policy requiring your employees to wear their
seatbelts, especially when driving on company time and/or in
a company-owned vehicle.
• Participation levels. The number of staff enrolled and
participating will demonstrate employee interest in the wellness
initiatives and how well it is supported and promoted.
•Enforce emergency procedures within your facility.
»»Devise emergency procedures for employees to follow for
fires, bomb threats, natural disasters, information system
failures, violent situations, disease outbreaks and terrorism
incidents.
• Registration sheets. Similar to analyzing participation levels,
these logs capture program information that can be compared
from year to year.
»»Provide detailed information about these procedures to your
employees so they will be well-informed in the event of an
emergency.
• Participant satisfaction. Via survey, focus groups, interviews,
etc. Surveys that show how management and employees
perceive the wellness initiatives. Track policy (e.g., no smoking,
flex time, etc.) and environmental (e.g., ending choices,
exercise opportunities, safety hazards) changes and seek out
employee feedback relative to these changes.
»»Offer a well-balanced benefit plan.
»»Provide your employees a wide range of benefits to assist
in all aspects of their lives such as health, dental and vision
coverage, maternal/paternal family leave, paid time off,
retirement planning, etc. If employees feel secure and taken
care of, they will be under less stress.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
• HA data and biometric testing.
• Productivity questionnaires.
• Medical claims comparisons. This information will determine how your organization’s
expenditures changed over time.
Outcome evaluation is more difficult and takes longer to show up in your data. Identify
the markers you are measuring and have a benchmark to compare against. Examples of
outcome measures include:
• Pre/Post test surveys. Can measure changes in attitude, knowledge and current
eating and physical activity habits from initial assessment to completion of a specified
campaign. In addition to administered surveys distributed to employees, you can also
ask employees to fill out self-reported behavior-change surveys in which they indicate
how they moved from a noncompliant employee to a motivated participant.
• Quiz employee knowledge and skill pre/post participation.
• Measure the popularity of healthier vending machine options.
• Measure health indicators. (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, weight) and risk
factors pre/post program.
• Measure turnover and recruitment since implementing your wellness initiatives. Employees
generally view companies with well-being cultures as more desirable places to work.
• Corporate costs and return on investment. What a program costs to implement and
run should be easy to quantify. Compare these costs to your savings from such things as
reduced healthcare claims, lost work days, and absenteeism to measure your ROI.
17
Measure health
indicators.
WELLNESS CHALLENGE KITS
If your organization is motivated by competition, group health challenges are a great way to get
everyone involved. To receive a full copy of a wellness challenge, please contact a member of
your account team.
Hydrate in the Heat Challenge
This 4-week challenge is designed to educate participants on the importance of staying hydrated.
Participants are challenged to drink 8 cups of water (64 ounces) everyday.
The following materials are included in this wellness tool kit:
•Challenge Advertisement Poster
•Participant Sign Up and Tracking Sheet
•Marketing Email Communication Pieces
•Power Point Presentation
•Challenge Educational Material
•Challenge Tracking Sheet
Maintain Don’t Gain
This 6-week challenge is designed to help participants maintain a healthy weight. The goal is to
stay within two pounds of your starting weight for six weeks.
What can I do to stay on track?
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
Start Smart: Eat a healthy breakfast
Get Active
Strive for 5: Eat 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables
Sleep Better
Swap Snacks
Tackle Stress
Maintain Don’t Gain: Passport to Wellness
This 6-week challenge is designed to help participants maintain a healthy weight while learning
interesting facts from countries around the world. The goal is to stay within two pounds of your
starting weight for six weeks.
What can I do to stay on track?
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
Maintain Your Flexibility
Maintain Your Waist
Maintain Your Healthy Habits
Maintain Your Fitness
Maintain Your Mind
Maintain Your Sleep
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Olympic Challenge
This 12-week challenge is designed to help participants improve their overall health and
wellbeing by bringing out their competitive spirit. Participants are challenged to take on the
four dimensions of wellness: Mind, Body, Heart, and Spirit.
Participants can earn one Olympic medal for successfully completing each of the four challenges
listed below.
•Eating 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
•Engaging in stress management activities for 15 minutes daily
•Exercising for 150 minutes each week
•Getting involved in their community
The goal is to work towards earning a medal (bronze, silver, gold) for each challenge.
Trek to the Summit
This 4-week challenge is designed to help participants establish or maintain a walking routine by
challenging participants to climb to the top of some of the world’s highest mountains.
The program is designed to challenge you to increase your steps more and more each week. Begin
logging your steps on (insert date) and track your progress for each of the 4 weeks. At the end of
the program, turn in your tracking card to (insert contact name) to be eligible for a prize drawing!
Wellness BINGO
Wellness BINGO is a program designed to help participants engage in healthy activities
everyday. This program is to encourage healthy habits by having different activities or exercises
to do each day.
The goal is to achieve a BINGO every week. Track your progress by crossing out each square as
you complete the activity or exercise.
How does it work?
•Identify the dates for the BINGO challenge.
•Promote the BINGO challenge.
•Use a different BINGO Card for each week (Monday through Sunday).
•Traditional BINGO Wins…horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
•Cross out each square as an activity or exercise is completed.
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Identify Incentives & Rewards
Advantages and Disadvantages to Incentives
Incentives are widely used in wellness strategies because they can produce significant
changes in behavior, are easy to understand and administer, and can be combined to
increase their motivational impact. As powerful as incentives can be, they can also reward
unhealthy behavior (e.g., fast, dramatic weight loss) or create a dependency on the incentive
if not used properly. The key when designing your incentives is maintaining the desirable
behaviors while minimizing challenges to the strategy.
Types of Incentives
Most wellness initiatives provide something positive to their employees to encourage
healthy behavior rather than taking something away. This helps to keep a positive and
upbeat culture. Incentive rewards can be tangible, such as cash, prizes, vacation days, and
reduced premiums; or intangible, such as management recognition, camaraderie, and
personal fulfillment. Whether you use tangible or intangible rewards, incentives have the
most effectiveness when they are closely tied to the healthy behaviors that they are intended
to reinforce. Some sample incentives are:
• Wellness dollars. Award wellness dollars for participating in various wellness activities
that employees can apply towards fitness-related equipment such as bikes, treadmills,
workout clothing, or gift certificates for health-related stores.
• Monetary rewards. Contribute cash to HSAs, FSAs, and HAs that are offered as part
of your benefits program or waive deductibles for preventive healthcare services like
mammograms or well-baby visits. Offer term life insurance to those employees that
complete a health assessment.
• Contests. Use to motivate change in physical fitness, weight loss, and smoking. In
addition to tangible rewards given to winners, participants will receive the intangibles
of recognition and teamwork. Create competitions such as a walking challenge
where those that complete the challenge are entered into a drawing for health club
memberships.
• 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.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
• Public recognition. Announce recognition by management at campaign midpoint or
wrap-up.
• Food. Include healthy foods to kick off, revitalize or wrap up a wellness campaign.
• Time off. Offer additional days off. This may be the next best incentive to cash.
This type of incentive makes good business sense if the number of absences drops
significantly and attendance is used as an evaluation criterion.
To maximize its perceived value, an incentive should be designed with a high perceived
value relative to its cost. Of course, the perception of value will vary from company to
company and individual to individual. An incentive should be significant enough in “value”
to give participants a reason to change now rather than waiting for a better reason later.
Behaviors to Reward
Who to reward is as important as what to reward. Employees often account for less than
half of an employer’s total health plan. Improving the health behaviors of employees’
spouses and children can also result in significant healthcare cost savings for the employer.
Family members will provide each other with encouragement, motivation and support
while participating in wellness activities. To reach all members of your health plan, develop
educational materials, campaigns, and incentive rewards directed toward the entire family,
and invite family members into the workplace to participate in wellness activities.
Funding Incentives
While intangible incentives have a relatively low cost to employers, tangible incentives
will require a source of funds. For employers to experience a return on investment, the
cost of incentives must be less than the expected savings the wellness initiatives will
produce. Employers are likely to see real savings in the form of reduced health claims,
absenteeism, disability and workers compensation claims along with improved productivity
and employee morale, but most programs take several years to develop a positive ROI.
To achieve this positive ROI, it is essential that your wellness initiatives contain effective
incentives that motivate lifestyle changes and improve the health of your employees and
their families.
You will have a range of employee participants. Some will already be very engaged in being
active and eating well and your program will only reinforce and enhance their health.
On the other end of the spectrum will be people who may not engage no matter what
you do. The remaining group is probably the largest group in most organizations: people
who are at various stages of readiness to improve their health given the right type of
programming and motivation. Summarized below are some tips you may want to employ
once your program is up and running.
21
Include healthy
foods in your
wellness campaign.
Key Factors
Key Time Periods
In today’s society there are many key factors that influence people’s
health behaviors. Consider the following list in maintaining
participation:
Good habits are often difficult to develop. There tends to be
some critical times when people drop out or fall off of a physical
activity or diet program. The first key time zone seems to be
around 6 weeks. If people can start and stay consistent with a
program through the first 6 weeks, they have made a fairly serious
commitment to incorporate the habits into their lifestyle. The
second key time is at about 6 months. Those who made it past
6 weeks may get bored and/or distracted from their program
after several months. If people can get past 6 months and sustain
behavior through a full set of weather seasons, they have a very
good chance of making the changes permanent.
1. Time. People are busy, so the more you can work activity and
healthy eating into their existing schedules, the better your
chances for success. Example: A walk at lunch doesn’t take away
from existing time, it just uses it differently. Also look at the
time of the day and length of any activity you might be promoting, since both time components may be factors.
2. Access. How accessible is your programming. Is it on-site or at
a nearby site? Do you offer access at breaks or outside of normal
work hours?
Consider these time periods and think about how you can “boost”
your employees to get them past these critical time markers.
Promoting individual or group “challenges,” using incentives, or
increased publicity/marketing are a few of the things you can do to
help get your employees through these key time periods.
3. Knowledge. People need to know “Why” they are participating
(the benefits) and also will need information about the “How
to” in areas that are not commonly known.
4. Cost. Being able to provide no cost or reduced cost activities
Goal Setting
will help participation rates. Coupled with incentives for
participation, rates of participation will likely increase
dramatically.
Setting goals has been shown to lead to better participation and
more people making a strong commitment. Whether it be a team
goal of walking the equivalent of once around your state or an
individual goal of so many miles or minutes of activity, the fact that
there is something concrete to shoot for increases the likelihood
people will stick with the behavior change.
5. Incentives. Some people need incentives to get motivated.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Wellness Strategies
Tier ONE Program
Assessments
• HA (Health Assessment) – A health assessment (HA) is a health questionnaire, used to provide individuals with an evaluation of their
health risks and quality of life. Commonly an HA incorporates three key elements: an extended questionnaire, a risk calculation or
score, and some form of feedback (i.e., face-to-face with a health advisor or an automatic online report
• Biometric Screening – A biometric screening is a short health examination that determines the risk level of a person for certain diseases
and medical conditions. A biometric screening is a general health check that can identify any significant health risk factors.
Risk Stratification
• Program Website – An online website designated towards the wellness program.
• Integrated Data – Integrating a population’s eligibility, medical claims, pharmacy claims, health risk assessment, and case management
data, to then apply a wide range of medical rules in order to predict individual and aggregate risk in that population.
• Carrier Programs – Utilizing all carrier programs and providing an integrated “Total Reward” benefit package.
Health Promotion
• Promote Benefits – Promotion of employee “Total Reward” benefit package.
• Create Awareness – Promotion of health awareness information (i.e., monthly newsletters, webinars, etc.).
• Communication Strategy – Standard communication strategy in place to promote health and wellness information to employees (i.e.,
email, online web portal, flyers, etc.).
Optimizing Culture
Create Fun
Value
Respect
Reinforce
MAXIMIZE
YOUR
HUMAN
RESOURCES
Managers
as
Gardeners
Hire
Smart
Train &
Mentor
23
Tier TWO Program
Assessments
• HA (Health Assessment) – A health assessment (HA) is a health questionnaire, used
to provide individuals with an evaluation of their health risks and quality of life.
Commonly an HA incorporates three key elements: an extended questionnaire, a risk
calculation or score, and some form of feedback (i.e., face-to-face with a health advisor
or an automatic online report
• Biometric Screening – A biometric screening is a short health examination that
determines the risk level of a person for certain diseases and medical conditions. A
biometric screening is a general health check that can identify any significant health
risk factors.
Risk Stratification
• Program Website – An online website designated towards the wellness program.
• Integrated Data – Integrating a population’s eligibility, medical claims, pharmacy
claims, health risk assessment, and case management data, to then apply a wide range
of medical rules in order to predict individual and aggregate risk in that population.
• Carrier Programs – Utilizing all carrier programs and providing an integrated “Total
Reward” benefit package.
Health Promotion
• Promote Benefits – Promotion of employee “Total Reward” benefit package.
• Create Awareness – Promotion of health awareness information (i.e., monthly
newsletters, webinars, etc.).
• Communication Strategy – Standard communication strategy in place to promote health
and wellness information to employees (i.e., email, online web portal, flyers, etc.).
Lifestyle Programs
• Education Tools – Health Education Resources (i.e., pamphlets, booklets, newsletters,
email, etc.).
• Vendor Programs – Health Promotion Programs (i.e., fitness classes, lunch in learns,
weight loss campaigns, etc.).
• Lifestyle Health Coaching – Lifestyle Health coaching facilitates behavior change in a
structured, supportive partnership between the participant and coach on a one-on-one
basis to engage in a healthy lifestyle.
• Integrated Accountability – Employees receive incentives based off of total health status
and health status improvements.
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Tier THREE Program
Lifestyle Programs
• Education Tools – Health Education Resources (i.e., pamphlets,
booklets, newsletters, email, etc.).
Assessments
• HA (Health Assessment) – A health assessment (HA) is a health
questionnaire, used to provide individuals with an evaluation
of their health risks and quality of life. Commonly an HA
incorporates three key elements: an extended questionnaire, a
risk calculation or score, and some form of feedback (i.e., faceto-face with a health advisor or an automatic online report
• Vendor Programs – Health Promotion Programs (i.e., fitness
classes, lunch in learns, weight loss campaigns, etc.).
• Lifestyle Health Coaching – Lifestyle Health coaching
facilitates behavior change in a structured, supportive
partnership between the participant and coach on a one-onone basis to engage in a healthy lifestyle.
• Biometric Screening – A biometric screening is a short health
examination that determines the risk level of a person for
certain diseases and medical conditions. A biometric screening
is a general health check that can identify any significant health
risk factors.
• Integrated Accountability – Employees receive incentives based
off of total health status and health status improvements.
Clinical Programs/Access to Care
• Disease Management – A system of coordinated healthcare
interventions and communications for populations with
conditions in which patient self-care efforts are significant.
Risk Stratification
• Program Website – An online website designated towards the
wellness program.
• Return-to-Work Programs – A return-to-work program is
designed to facilitate the earliest possible return of injured
workers to the workplace, to perform meaningful, productive
work within their physical capabilities.
• Integrated Data – Integrating a population’s eligibility, medical
claims, pharmacy claims, health risk assessment, and case
management data, to then apply a wide range of medical
rules in order to predict individual and aggregate risk in that
population.
• On-site Clinic – On-site nurse, physical therapist, physician,
etc.
• Carrier Programs – Utilizing all carrier programs and providing
an integrated “Total Reward” benefit package.
• Health Concierge Programs – With just one call, you’ll get
in touch with a concierge who can help you find a network
provider, get answers to benefit questions and explain how your
“Total Rewards” benefit package works, resolve questions, and
schedule a doctor’s appointment.
Health Promotion
• Promote Benefits – Promotion of employee “Total Reward”
benefit package.
• Physician Integration – Integration of the wellness program
and an employee’s primary care physician visits. • Create Awareness – Promotion of health awareness information
(i.e., monthly newsletters, webinars, etc.).
• Communication Strategy – Standard communication strategy
in place to promote health and wellness information to
employees (i.e., email, online web portal, flyers, etc.).
25
Notes
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2015 Wellness Toolkit
Notes
27
Consulting and insurance brokerage services to be provided by Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. and/or its
affiliate Gallagher Benefit Services (Canada) Group Inc. Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. is a licensed insurance
agency that does business in California as “Gallagher Benefit Services of California Insurance Services” and in
Massachusetts as “Gallagher Benefit Insurance Services.” Neither Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. nor its affiliates
provide accounting, legal or tax advice.
© 2015 Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc.
15GBS23994A