Worksite Wellness 

Adult Americans spend a significant amount of the day at the work and many struggle with a healthy lifestyle. Employers have a great opportunity to encourage healthy habits like physical activity, healthy eating, stress management and quitting tobacco. Whether you are an employer or an employee, changing behavior is never easy. But, the benefits of a worksite wellness program are significant. Investing in the health of your employees makes good business sense for the bottom line. Some of the greatest benefits of a worksite wellness program are decreased health care costs, increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and improved employee morale and retention rates. Businesses of all sizes can create a culture of wellness. It simply requires a vision and a plan. Learn how you can create a worksite wellness program in your workplace below.

 

What is worksite wellness? 

A worksite wellness program is an organized program for employees designed to enrich their physical, mental, emotional, and occupational well-being. A major goal of a worksite wellness program is to make the work environment more supportive of healthy behaviors like healthy eating, being physically active, managing stress and quitting tobacco. Worksite wellness programs can be organized through a team or committee of employees that meets to plan activities and environmental changes that promote good health.

Size matters  

Worksite wellness programs are beneficial to businesses of all sizes. Whether you own a local poboy shop or manage a large accounting firm, placing value on your employees' health inspires a happier, more productive workforce. The steps to creating a wellness program and its benefits are consistent no matter the size of your business. However, we understand that resources are not! The good news is that small businesses with limited resources can successfully support employee health just as large corporations can. 

This step-by-step worksite wellness guide will walk you through the seven basic steps to creating your own worksite wellness program. Each step has a What Size Is My Organization? section. There, you will find specific tips for implementing that step for your organization's size.   

What size is my organization? 

  • Small: businesses with 250 employees or less 
  • Medium: businesses with 251 to 999 employees
  • Large: businesses with 1000 or more employees

The seven basic steps

Follow the steps below to implement your worksite wellness program.  Each section represents a WellSpot benchmark that will be achieved once all steps in that section are complete! Becoming a WellSpot is a great way for your organization to receive recognition for and promote the efforts you're making to invest in the health and wellness of your employees. Click here to learn more about how your organization can become a WellSpot. 

Beginning implementation

Partial implementation

full implementation 

Well-Ahead Louisiana is not responsible for the legal considerations regarding implementation of an organization's worksite wellness program. The guidelines included in this section are intended to offer general education, samples and best practices in order to carry out a worksite wellness program. It is recommended that organizations consult with a benefit advisor or legal counsel to address any potential legal concerns.  

Age matters, too! 

When determining your strategies and work plan, be sure to consider the age of your workforce. Today, one in every 5 workers is over 65,  and by 2020, 20% of workers will be over 55. The best strategies keep everyone in mind and plan to keep workers healthy over the long haul! Visit our Healthy Aging webpage to learn more about healthy aging, get ideas for incorporating healthy aging into your program, and discover resources to care for the caregivers in your employee population.