Integrating health into the way the organization operates, thinks, and acts requires sustained effort on a number of fronts. It involves leaders practicing healthy behaviors; implementing health promoting policies and practices; allocating sufficient resources for programs to be sustained over long periods; and involving all employees in building and maintaining a wellness program.
Smart employers recognize that human behavior is influenced by a combination of both individual characteristics and the entire ecological system surrounding that individual, so they take steps to address both individual and environmental factors.1
Best Resources
(3 pts on CDC Scorecard)
Conduct employee health risk appraisals (HRAs) or health assessments (HAs) and provide
individual feedback plus health education resources for follow-up action.
- Health Risk Appraisals at the Worksite: make informed decisions about if, why, when, and how to use Health Risk Appraisals (HRA) for employee populations (National Business Coalition on Health)
- Quality of Worklife Questionnaire (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)
- CDC Employee Health Assessment (CDC National Healthy Worksite Program)
Use tailored health promotion communications to ensure that they are accessible and appealing to employees of different ages, genders, education levels, job categories, cultures, languages, or literacy levels.
- A Planner’s Guide: Making Health Communications Programs Work (National Cancer Institute)
Provide work-life balance programming and resources (examples: providing resources related to elder care, child
care, tuition reimbursement or financial counseling).
Better Resources
(2 pts on CDC Scorecard)
Demonstrate organizational commitment and support of worksite health promotion at all levels of management.
- Planning/Workplace Governance (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
- SafeWell Practice Guidelines: An Integrated Approach to Worker Health (Harvard School of Public Health)
Have a strategic plan that includes goals and measurable organizational objectives for the health promotion program.
- Workplace Health Improvement Plan (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
Have an annual budget or receive dedicated funding for health promotion programs.
- The ROI of Health and Well-Being (National Academy of Medicine)
Have an active and diverse health promotion committee.
Have a paid health promotion coordinator whose job (either part-time or full-time) is to manage the worksite health promotion program.
Conduct ongoing evaluations of health promotion programming that use multiple data sources to inform decision-making.
Promote and market health promotion programs to employees.
Have an employee champion or network of champions who actively publicize health promotion programs.
Use and combine incentives with other strategies to increase participation in health promotion programs.
Use individual or team competitions or challenges in combination with additional interventions to support employees making behavior changes.
Provide an employee assistance program (EAP).
- Business Case for EAPs (U.S. Office of Personal Management)
- The Value of Employee Assistance Programs (The Employee Assistance Trade Association)
Provide and support flexible work scheduling policies.
- Leveraging Workplace Flexibility for Engagement and Productivity (Society for Human Resource Management)
- When Work Works: Workflex Guides and Tools ( Society for Human Resource Management, Families and Work Institute)
Coordinate programs for occupational health and safety with programs for health promotion and wellness.
Good Resources
(1 pt on CDC Scorecard)
Include references to improving or maintaining employee health and safety in the business objectives, core values, or organizational mission statement.
Conduct an employee needs and interest survey for planning health promotion activities.
- Sample Health Survey (Maricopa County Department of Public Health)
- Health Interests Survey (Welcoa)
- Wellness Leadership Survey (Welcoa)
Promote and support employee volunteerism.
- HandsOn Greater Phoenix: We Coordinate and Execute All Aspects of Company Volunteer Projects (HandsOn Connect)
- VolunteerMatch: Search Millions of Vetted Volunteer Opportunities to Make a Difference (VolunteerMatch)
- Arizona State Parks & Trails Volunteering (AZ State Parks & Trails)
- Serve Your Community: Find a Volunteer Opportunity (National & Community Service)
Provide a working environment that features healthy building design principles.
- The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building (Harvard School of Public Health and ForHealth)
Extend access to key components of the program to all workers, including hard to reach workers.
Implement educational programming to improve health care consumerism.
Make some or all company-specific health promotion programs available to family members.
Offer all benefits-eligible employees paid time off for days or hours absent due to illness, vacation, or other personal reasons (including family illness or bereavement).
- Proposition 206: Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act FAQs (Industrial Commission of Arizona)
- Time Off and Vacation Usage and National Plan for Vacation Day (U.S. Travel Association)
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