Worksite Wellness 

A worksite wellness program is an employee centered approach to improve health outcomes, health behaviors, productivity and morale in the workplace. Wellness programs include a coordinated and comprehensive set of strategies, which promote and support health, safety, physical activity, healthy aging and overall well-being for all employees. Strategies may include company policies, preventive screenings, access to healthy foods, fitness programs, tobacco-cessation, educational seminars and links to community resources.   

Worksite wellness programs can be implemented at little to no cost while creating an environment that supports health. Offering wellness activities can provide employees the opportunity to improve their health, reduce their risk of chronic disease and reduce their healthcare costs. 

Beginning Implementation 

The first steps in beginning a worksite wellness program are gaining support from management, determining who will lead and coordinate the program, and completing an employee assessment to determine current health habits and interests. For additional information and examples refer to our Well-Ahead Worksite Wellness Resource Guide or the Louisiana Business Group on Health Worksite Wellness Toolkit.    

Partial Implementation 

Once you have assessed your employees, you will then develop a work plan of activities or programs to encourage healthy behaviors. Most wellness programs include strategic plans focused around four major topic areas: nutrition, physical activity, tobacco cessation and mental health. Below you will find several activities and resources that can aid in the development of a work plan to incorporate your organization's specific interest and needs. When deciding your work plan of activities, programs and resources, consider adding components for healthy aging. For more information, visit our healthy aging webpage to get ideas on how to incorporate healthy aging into your worksite wellness program and resources for caregivers in your employee population.

 

Activities and Resources

Nutrition

 Below you will find wellness activities directly focused on nutrition. 

Activity Resource

Send messages to employees on nutrition, behavioral changes and motivation that target healthy eating habits via multiple channels (i.e. newsletter, email, flyers, payroll stuffers, etc.) 

AddMoreVegetables Flyer 
FocusOnFruits Flyer

Promote a healthy eating/weight maintenance challenge or other nutrition campaign. 

EatSmartMoveMoreWeighLess Holiday Challenge 

Promote and encourage employees to complete free online health assessments in order to track their numbers and health progress. 

Heart360 
My Life Check 
Diabetes Risk Test 

Encourage employees to complete their annual wellness check-up with their primary care physician. 

 

Schedule an onsite health screening to provide employees with immediate biometric results. These results can include cholesterol, blood sugar, body composition, etc. 

 

Adopt a policy that implements nutrition guidelines within cafeterias, snack bars, conferences, meetings and/or vending machines.  

Healthy Meeting Policy 
Healthy Vending Policy

Promote and/or offer local fruit and vegetables in the workplace.

FarmToWork 
BREADA 
Covington Farmers Market 

Offer healthy food alternatives at meetings, events and celebrations. 

Healthy Meeting Toolkit 
Healthy Meeting Pledge 
ACS Workplace Solutions 

Offer healthy snacks in break rooms and/or vending machines.

FitPick Healthy Snack Options  

Advertise an awareness campaign.

Go Red for Women 

Promote healthy eating through motivational signs, poster, etc. 

Enjoy Your Foods
5-2-1-0 Poster 

Inform employees about the benefits of healthy eating through a nutrition webinar or onsite seminar. 

Planning Onsite Events  
Tips to Eat Less

Offer healthy cooking demonstrations onsite or via web video. 

EatRight Videos 

Encourage employees to increase water intake by providing water bottles or refillable water containers in employee refrigerators.

 

Tobacco Cessation

 

Below you will find wellness activities directly focused on tobacco cessation.
Activity Resource

Promote and display Quit With Us, LA resources, posters and helpful links to employees in newsletters, break rooms, lobbies and meetings.            

Quit Now
Quit With Us LA Poster

Organize a Great American Smokeout event for those who wish to quit, while encouraging all employees to be supportive of the event.

ACS Great American Smokeout 

Plan an activity around Kick Butts Day or get involved in a local event.

Kick Butts Day

Share testimonials from employees to encourage and help others quit.

How To Guide       

Promote Smoking Cessation Trust to employees.

Get Help Quit Smoking

Offer a free cessation program onsite. For example, with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center's Geaux Free Cessation Program, you can host a nine week cessation program onsite at no cost. You can also encourage those who want to quit to attend these sessions at a nearby location. 

OLOLCancer Center

Mental Health

 Below you will find wellness activities directly focused on mental health.  

Activity Resource

Organize employee seminars with local speakers on topics related to managing stress and work-life balance.          

Planning Onsite Events

Provide employees with educational information on symptoms of stress and relaxation strategies. 

Stress Management Tips 

Source and make available resources to inform employees about social and emotional wellness and achieving work-life balance. 

Worklife/Balance Infographic 

Provide an educational video on office ergonomics. 

Office Ergonomics 

Organize and schedule a day of onsite chair massages and/or offer an onsite yoga class.  

Planning Onsite Events 
Workplace Yoga/Meditation

Create an email blast or employee newsletter centered around mental health/stress management. 

Fight Stress with Healthy Habits 

Seek management support to develop and implement flexible work hours for employees to achieve a healthy, productive work-life balance. 

Sample Flex Time Policy

Increase employee awareness regarding covered services within the health plans, such as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or nurse helpline.   

Work-Life EAP

Full Implementation 

Now that you have a work plan, continue to encourage and motivate your employees as you implement the plan. We encourage you to evaluate your program throughout the year as you complete activities so you can learn from your experiences. We also encourage you to complete a more formal evaluation on an annual basis. Below you will find examples regarding ongoing and annual evaluations.  

For example annual assessment questions, visit our Well-Ahead Worksite Wellness Resource Guide. 

    • Ongoing Evaluation: This can be things like a checklist on the number of employees enrolled and/or participating in an activity or event; participant satisfaction survey results after activities; tracking the number of employees utilizing a service or website; or observing environmental changes and policy change.                                                                                                                                    
    • Annual Evaluation: This evaluation compares the assessment from Beginning Implementation to a similar set of questions asked at the end of the program year. After the first year, we recommend you continue to complete ongoing evaluations throughout the year regarding activities and then repeat an end of the program year evaluation annually. Examples include: comparison of yearly assessment survey results; comparison of screening measures such as blood pressure, cholesterol, body weight, body mass index, etc., before and after a specific program or campaign within the organization; or tracking healthy vending or snack items being purchased.