Drug Education and Intervention in the Workplace

As corporations today continue to compete in the worldwide economy, cost containment strategies will be increasingly valuable. Controlling the rising cost of employee ill health is becoming a priority for corporate leaders. The emerging corporate culture in America is one which has an employee population centered in health, safety and wellness.

Establishing a corporate plan for Worksite Health Promotion Programs and disability management makes good business sense. The following eight-step process ensures a strategic, integrated, needs-driven and results-oriented approach.

The following process works best in corporations with strong leadership and a long-term responsibility to employee health.

1. Identify Your Employee Wellness Program Champion

This person ought to be a leader in your organization and a strong advocate of health. Most frequently this is an individual who actively pursues his or her own personal quest for ideal health.

The program champion must have the resources and authority to propel the program forward. The program champion’s key role is to be sure the strategic plan for health is in line with with the business’s objectives, strategic focus and business values. By way of example if the organization promotes that “our strength is our people” the wellness program must show how pushes will nurture and protect that valuable resource.

2. Form Your Employee Wellness Program Strategy Team

The Workplace Wellness Program Strategy Team ought to include decision makers and stakeholders from parts of the corporation that have the potential to influence health and the company’s bottom line. These areas may include; finance, human resources(HR), training and development, health services, compensation and benefits, employee assistance services (EAP), marketing, facilities, health and safety, rehabilitation, cafeteria or meal services and the union. A team of six to eight representatives is recommended.

The role of the Strategy Team is to cultivate and enable the strategic plan, look for opportunities to reward health, be sure the program is integrated into key areas of the organization, streamline efforts, maximize business resources and program assessment.

3. Complete an Employer Health Audit

The purpose of an Corporation Health Audit is to evaluate your existing programs and services, physical environment and policies & procedures that support health. It is also important to look at your company culture or “how things are done” around the company.

Participants of the Strategy Team complete the Audit independently and then meet to discuss their assessment. During the assessment process, health problems and opportunities are discussed in preparation for the development of the strategic plan.

4. Analyze Your Organization’s Cost Pressures

Cost pressures are identified by analyzing a number of areas including; benefit costs, Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) claims, prescription usage, type of paramedic claims, absenteeism data and EAP utilization. This process helps to target areas that have the potential to be positively impacted by a Company Wellness Program and to support a baseline for evaluating change.

5. Conduct a Health Risk Appraisal or Employee Needs & Interest Survey

The next step is to determine your employee’s health risks, interests and readiness to change. A confidential health risk appraisal can accomplish a myriad of goals/objectives. It provides a baseline from which to measure personal lifestyle changes, provides employees with relevant health information, motivates employees to take charge of their health and assists in program planning. Most health risk appraisals support individual reports and a corporate report identifying elevated-risk areas in the business.

Many businesses opt to administer customized needs and interest survey to evaluate employee needs. The benefit of this approach is that the company is able to gather information on the employees’ perceived wellness needs and program interests. This information can be incorporated into the strategic plan. Administering a survey also has the added benefit of fostering a sense of employee ownership to the program.

6. Develop Your Strategic Plan for Wellness

The strategic plan must incorporate information gathered from the Business Health Audit, your organization’s cost pressures, and health risk appraisal data or employee survey results. The strategic plan must include your program mission, three or four objectives and several pushes under each objective. The strategic plan supports a framework to encourage, backing and evaluate “best health practices.”

It is also valuable that the plan align itself with the vision, goals/objectives of the organization.

The sample strategic plan that follows was developed for blue jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. (Canada) Inc. Levi Strauss & Co.’s mission statement and aspirations (how workers interact with each other in a organization environment) guided the development of the plan.

Levi Strauss & Co.’s aspirations include the following statement: More than anything, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to enjoy our endeavors. The wellness program plan included a number of components to see that it embraced this statement including the following:

1. A vision statement, which tied in with the company’s aspirations.
2. An incentive system to encourage and reward the accomplishment of healthy milestones.
3. A recognition system to applaud performance.
4. Friendly competitions between Levi Strauss & Co. locations to ensure a fun environment.
5. Opportunities to take part in small group educational programs to cultivate group reinforcement.
6. Initiation of support groups for workers completing wellness programs (i.e. smoking control support group).
7. Programs concerning work and family balance.

Other information that was analyzed and used to foster the plan included:

1. Business demographics
2. Focus groups
3. Cultural audit
4. Top prescription report
5. EAP utilization
6. Employee benefit services report
7. Health and dental claims
8. Operational effectiveness summaries
9. Health risk appraisals
7. Prepare a Employer Case to Support Your Plan

Your company case for wellness supports the necessary details for approval at the upper management level. The company case includes:

1. The Strategic Plan for Health
2. A proposed program budget
3. Marketing strategies
4. Program leadership options
5. An implementation plan
6. Evaluation methodology.

In presenting the strategic plan it is significant to highlight how the plan aligns itself with the strategic direction of the organization.

The program budget ought to include educational resources, marketing expenditures, rewards and incentives, leadership expenditures and supplies.

Marketing strategies must address how the program will be promoted and rolled out to various groups within the organization i.e. decentralized locations, high risk staff members, older staff members.

Program leadership ought to address how volunteers will be used, internal resources  and whether consultants have been proposed. All play an equally significant role in the implementation of your wellness program.

The program implementation plan should incorporate the following types of programs that help foster awareness of beneficial health practices, help  workers in making lifestyle changes and pushes, which support long-term change.

Awareness programs create an awareness of the significance of healthy lifestyle practices and excite employees to take the next step. Examples of awareness programs include posting educational posters, newsletter articles and lunch and learn courses.

Lifestyle change programs are more all-inclusive and longer in duration. They are designed to support  employees in changing behavior. Examples of lifestyle change programs are diet education programs, stress management programs, back care classes and smoking control programs.

A supportive corporate environment encompasses everything from corporate policies & procedures, the physical environment and creating a corporate culture that supports good health practices. Follow-up sessions and support groups for staff members who have completed 6-10 week wellness programs also offer a supportive environment for long-term change.

Analyzing the effectiveness of a Employee Health Promotion Program is ongoing. A formal assessment ought to be conducted annually and may include; re-administering steps three to five, program participation statistics and a year end survey to revisit “soft” concerns such as morale, program satisfaction and future program direction.

8. Solicit Input and Communicate Your Plan

Employee input is vital to the long-term performance of your program. An Employee Advisory Committee should be formed to roll out the plan. Another key responsibility of this team is to solicit feedback from all echelons of the organization to ensure buy-in. Front line Manager’s Information Sessions and focus groups are also important. This group needs to buy-in to the notion that they play a key role in supporting beneficial health practices. Regular gatherings are advised with front line managers to receive ongoing input, address concerns and orient new managers.

Conclusions

The World Health Organization’s definition of health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellness and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” In order for us to set up healthy workplaces, wellness pushes must have a program champion, have employee ownership, be management supported, results driven and strategically aligned with the central company objectives of the organization.

Wellness plan that embrace these qualities will have a beneficial influence on an organization’s bottom line. Canadian research points to numerous case studies where workplace programs have resulted in diminished absenteeism, reduce claims and increased productiveness.

Organizations who have embraced wellness as part of “how they do business” have one thing in common. They prove a responsibility to their most important resource – their people. They understand the increased pressures associated with downsized organizations, a rapidly changing workplace, an aging work force and the challenge of balancing work and family obligations. And they share a common belief that healthy staff members are happier, absent less and more advantageous.

References:
Design of Worksite Wellness Programs by Michael P. O’Donnell. 1995. Published by the American Journal of Health Promotion.
Pro Fit-ability by Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. May 1997.
Meeting Expectations by Laura Mensch. Employee Health and Productivity. August 1999
7 Steps to Health Promotion by Daphne Woolf and Veronica Marsden. Group Healthcare Management. February 1996.
Published in The Journal of Health Promotion for Northern Ireland, Issue 9, March 2000