Health Screening Company

Here’s more evidence that health promotion programs pay for themselves -

Over the last two years, one business in five has seen meaningful betterment in employees’ health status â.” and started to stabilize their costs â.” as reported by one study.

Among firms noting improvement, almost two-thirds (64%) feature health promotion programs offering incentives for healthier life choices.

Here are three twists on traditional incentives that’re getting good results -

1. Health coach outreach

Many firms require workers to work with an individual health coach in order to get a discount on monthly premiums or earn cash incentives.

The most common set-up –  on a regular basis, the employee must set up appointments with and report to (either over the phone or face to face) his or her wellness Coach.

But experience has shown there’s often a high dropout rate.

People  get off to a excellent begin â.” and they’re enthusiastic about the incentive â.” but once they realize there’s some effort involved, they lose interest.

The good news –  Firms have found a simple-to-arrange alternative that keeps people  on the right track. Rather than requiring workers to contact the health Coach, a growing number of corporations require participants to take calls from the health Coach.

Potential result –  Fewer folks fall off the wagon. There’s no outreach effort involved, and the wellness coach keeps individuals  accountable.

2. Nutritional education/therapy

A newer â.” and cost-effective â.” feature in the battle against staff member obesity –  offering an staff member nutrition-education program administered by a specialist nutritionist.

Just 11 percent of companies â.” 18 percent  of large businesss and 7.5 percent of small to medium ones â.” have such health promotion programs, according to SHRM’s most recent benefits survey.

Even fewer offer (via their EAPs) nutritional therapy for people  with eating disorders. But available data on these wellness programs shows they typically pay for themselves.

The stronger the firm’s emphasis on teaching healthful consuming, the faster and more dramatic the reduction in major health claims.

Common plan features –  lunch and learns featuring healthful food choices, giving out nutrition-linked gift cards and extending obesity-prevention incentives to individuals ’s family members.

3. Assertive use of tobacco cessation

A small, but rapidly growing number of employers are taking more assertive measures to avoid the costs associated with workers who smoke.

The step could be broken down into three levels of aggressiveness and potential risk/reward.

Level one –  the business installs a health promotion program in which non-use of tobacco staff and those who commit to maintaining a healthful weight receive financial incentives that lower their share of monthly premiums.

Level two –  the employer disqualifies job candidates who smoke from hiring consideration. Alternatively, some firms require health risks assessments as a condition of being hired.

Level three –  the company docks pay or fires workforce who fail to control their lifestyle-related health risks.

Example –  Clarian Health made news last fall for sending notice to staff that as of Jan. 1,  2009, individuals  who smoke or chew tobacco would begin be charged $5 per paycheck.

Are these strategies legal? at level one, the answer is a certified yes. HIPAAs non-discrimination rules permit such incentives within limits.

In a nutshell, it’s legal to reward personnel who quit smoking but illegal to punish those who attempt and fail. When an employee tries but fails to quit smoking, you’re still legally obligated to give them another shot next year.

Additionally rememberthat, by law, the size of the reward or penalty under your health promotion program can’t exceed 20 percent of the total cost of coverage.

At levels two and three, it remains to be seen when such policies would hold up in court. Proceed with caution.

Wellness programs are a long-term investment. But how long should you wait for results?

Finance and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) want hard numbers to show ROI.  And wellness ROI is tougher to calculate than, say, a 401(k).

18-month guideline

Recent studies have established some benchmark data on wellness Return On Investment (ROI) you are able to use as a guideline. It’s useful whether you already have a wellness program or are thinking about beginning one.

It usually takes at least 18 months from the launch of a wellness program to see any leads to your health care plan bottom line.

For many firms, 18 months is the point at which workers’ improving health starts to cancel the cost of sponsoring and administering the wellness program.

By and large, the long-term cost savings from a wellness program are going to be driven by how much you’re willing to spend. Typically, companies get what they pay for â.” both in time and money invested.

As a rule of thumb, the average cost to the business is about $3 to $5 per participating employee per month. Within three years of launch, you must be seeing meaningful savings.

The typical Return On Investment tends to be about $4 to $5 saved for every dollar spent. So how can you manage the costs in the short-term in order to achieve the long-term savings?  and how can you maximize the long-term payoff?

Consider making wellness programs budget-neutral

For a lot of corporations, the most effective way to manage the cost of a wellness program in the start-up phase is to make it a budget-neutral expense.

In other words, the health promotion program neither adds to your medical costs at the outset, nor lowers them. Example –  You plan to roll out a health promotion program effective Jan. 1.  The health promotion program will cost the business $5 per employee.

You can roll the $5 per month cost directly into the employee’s monthly share of their health care premium. In this age of continuous cost-shifting, most employees are used to seeing small increases in their monthly contributions each plan year.

Just be certain you’re not hitting folks with a large hike on top of that $5. Comparably designed wellness programs pay off about the same â.” meaning staff buy in and participate at the same rate â.” whether they’re budget neutral or the business absorbs the cost.

But when workers get clobbered by large-scale contribution hikes at the outset, they often resist the health promotion program.  The long-term Return On Investment (ROI) for these health promotion programs is often disappointing.

If you’re faced with a situation where achieving a budget-neutral health promotion program would trigger push-back, your firm is better off absorbing most or all the wellness costs.

The biggest hurdle is to get over the hump for those first 18 months or so.

A few years ago, corporation wellness fairs were all the rage. Now they’re making a comeback, with a slight twist.

In the past, the fairs often better served the vendor(s) who came on-site than the needs of the hosting organization or their staff members. More recently, organizations have refined the planning of the events to serve particularly to launch or promote a wellness program.

To be successful, the events need to serve two purposes – increaseing employee education and building their enthusiasm to take part in the health promotion program.

To be certain you and your workers get the most out of a wellness fair, it helps to be cognizant of the plusses and minuses – and some little touches that can mean the difference between a so-so event and a hit.

Wellness Fairs –  Double-edged sword

On the plus side, staff members received easy-to-grasp information on key wellness topics such as illness detection, symptom control and smarter medication practices. They also receive important services like free blood-pressure screenings.

On the down side, some professionals said the more newfangled events were more like “disease fairs” than “health fairs.” In other words, the tone was little too somber and workers weren’t especially tuned in because they weren’t enjoying themselves.

Wellness program advisor Dr. Ron Goetzel believes that the savviest firms strike a balance in their health fairs. Stick with the screenings, but also feature exhibitors who offer “lighter,” more enjoyable services. Examples -

o  A booth from a local health-food store

o  A chair-massage station

o  elder-care info from the AARP, or

o  A “complimentary medicine” info booth (e.g.,a chiropractor or an acupuncturist).

Offering incentives

In many cases, staff members still need an incentive to attend the fair and get the desired screenings, and to doing the fun stuff. Some real-life wellness programs that’ve worked -

o  A contest offering prizes to staff members who visit every station

o  quizzes and prizes based on info from different vendors’ literature

o  flex-scheduling or time-off incentives for getting screened (e.g., a comp day or an extra afternoon off), and

o  cash incentives (as little as $20 and as much as $100) to individuals  who voluntarily take part in various screenings.

Medical research has long shown quitting use of tobacco at any age can improve a person’s health.

But a Duke University shows that the group you might think would be the least likely to quit – individuals  over the age of 50 – might actually have the best odds for quitting through a smoking cessation program.

Researchers tracked 573 older patients over 10 years. They found that just 16 percent of those who joined the tobacco use cessation program later returned to tobacco use.  Meanwhile, previous research has found young smokers who attempt to quit have a 35 percent to 45 percent relapse rate within two years.

Bottom line –   Given the aging worker population and the cost of retiree healthcare, you could want to keep attempting with smoking cessation education for your older workers.

The companies with the most cost-efficient heath programs are the ones that streamline the services personnel receive for both their physical and psychological health.

As a long-term goal, having your general health plan, staff member assistance program (EAP) and health promotion program communicating regularly with one another about employees’ treatments is the single best way to reduce redundant or contradictory treatments, eliminate unnecessary claims and improve the quality of the plans for which you pay.

Let’s look at the relationship between your health promotion program and your employee assistance program to illustrate the importance of attacking health care costs cross a broad front.

You can start a wellness program with a health risk appraisal and then, if appropriate, roll out a use of tobacco cessation program or a weight reduction program.

But ultimately you want to make certain that your wellness provider works combined with your employee assistance program (EAP) provider.

Here is why –  It’s very common for an employee to contact the EAP because the individuals feels depressed about his or her weight. What you want is for the EAP provider to treat the employee’s depression and behavioral issues, plus you want the EAP to refer the employee to the wellness program to deal with the root cause of the problem – obesity.

The same thing goes with the relationship your wellness program and your workers’ comp vendor, STD and LTD vendors, rehab individuals , and/or disease managers. You want all them talking to – and sharing data with – each other. When they’re not, it’s costing you money.

In general, the employers who achieve the greatest cost savings through their health promotion programs are the ones who overlap wellness with behavioral and occupational health issues.

Attempting to do more with less money? Here are three proven ways to align the dollars and cents of a health promotion program in your budget.

Common thread –  the way you prepare â.” and control â.” your budget for a health promotion program is critical to its success.

1. Top-down health promotion budget

Depending on the size of your business and wellness program, you may have full budget responsibility or might need to work with a C-level who has budgeting expertise.

Regardless of the arrangement, you’re likely to face one of two distinct challenges –  a top-down budget or a zero-based budget.

A top-down budget is when you’re given a finite dollar amount and told to run the health promotion program within the limit. If that’s the case, here are three critical questions to ask -

o  Does this limit include money set aside for worker incentives and future initiatives?

o  Should we keep long-tenured health promotion programs that keep going up in price, and

o  Does Benefits/HR have to deliver all education about the health promotion program, or is there extra funding to hire staff?

2.  Zero-based health promotion budgeting

In zero-based funding, you submit to upper management an itemized list of the wellness programs/features you want and the cost of each. Best practices -

o  Rank health promotion programs by priority (health-risk assessments must be at or near the top)

o  Indicate which costs are fixed and which are variable, and

o  List ways to incorporate existing resources (like an employee assistance program program) for a better return on investment.

3. Estimating health promotion Return On Investment (ROI)

On average, wellness programs usually take at least 18 months to break even. After three years, you ought to see savings.

When not, it’s time to take a fresh look at the wellness program design.

Given the immense growth of wellness programs over the last two years, it was inevitable resistance would creep up among watchdog groups.

In Washington, lobbyists have spearheaded a push for Congress, the DOL and IRS to crack down on “punitive” wellness programs.

Namely, the groups seek to limit health promotion programs in which employees’ share of their health care costs are directly tied to their willingness to take part in a health promotion program.

HIPAA’s non-discrimination rules prohibit businesss from building negative financial incentives for staff with health risks.

For  instance, you can’t raise someone’s premium share because he or she smokes. What you are able to do is offer a discount if someone completes a use of tobacco cessation program.

Reason –  the law does allow for financial incentives to employees who willingly participate in health promotion programs.

The watchdog groups seek greater regulation to be sure incentives and discounts are used only as rewards for healthful behavior, not as a thinly veiled form of discrimination against high-risk staff.

A recent survey finds almost 42 percent of companys with 200 or fewer staff have some sort of disease management (DM) program.

That’s a enormous increase from four years ago, when just 28 percent of smaller employers offered such health promotion programs.

There’s more to come, too. Fifteen percent of respondents that didn’t currently have a disease management component to their health plan hope to add one by 2011.

The highest-demand disease management programs are for diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Source –  Small Corporation Benefits Survey, PDR Consulting Group, 9/1/2008.

Thinking about an obesity-related disease management program for your company? Here is what you need to know.

In order to be effective, the wellness program must meet participants’ individual medical and psychological needs, not to mention your own organization’s need to control long-term healthcare costs.

How wide-reaching should the program be? After all, it does not make sense to pay for services your personnel don’t want or can’t use.

Mary Beth Chalk of Resources for Living suggests that obesity programs can be broken down into four tiers of worker need, from which your organization’s ROI can also be measured.

Tier 1 –  Education

Tier I employees struggle with weight control problems but don’t need a wellness Coach.  Instead, they might benefit from a self-directed program that provides weight-management related materials online, targeted mailing, and/or access to nurse call line.

Just how to measure ROI –  utilization. Do workers click on the Web site? Do they return to the site regularly? Do people  use the nurse line? Your wellness program vendor ought to provide you detailed use stats.

Tier 2 –  Clinical supervision

When the employee has been diagnosed as obese – a BMI  score over 30 is obese, over 35 is clinically obese – he or she would do better working with a wellness coach in a clinically supervised health promotion program.

Three keys to getting maximum results -

1. Periodically have participants rate their relationship with their health Coaches. Not everyone clicks, so a change may  be in order.

2. Coordinate your disease management care with your staff member assistance program (EAP)services. Reason –  Inability to control weight is often closely tied with mental health issues – and one can adversely affect the other.

The more closely your employee assistance program (EAP) and obesity program managers work together, the higher the chance for success.

3. Beware of the fade-out effect. A lot of staff members in weight-loss programs get off to a great start and then fall back into old habits. Individuals  should re-commit to the program after three sessions, four months and nine months.

To measure ROI, look at utlization, goal achievement and reduced presenteeism. of course, presenteeism is notoriously challenging to measure with reliable dollar figures. So how can you overcome that problem?

o  Begin with employees’ salaries. Let’s suppose one participant earns $40,000 annually.

o  Ask personnel to self-report how energetic and productive they feel on the job, on a percentage scale. Then have supervisors estimate the employee’s productivity and split the difference. for this example, let’s assume it averaged to 50 percent.

o  Collect scores again six months and one year into the program and then multiply the difference by salary.  The result is your estimated productivity Return On Investment.

In the example above, when the staff member earning $40,000 improves from 50 percent to 75 percent after one year, the productivity related ROI is $10,000.

Tier 3 –  Medical management

At this level, the obese employee needs a higher level of care than a wellness coach can offer.  The employee has chronic health conditions related to obesity – such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and/or sleep apnea – and needs a physician case manager.

In particular, the worker needs to set up regular visits with the doctor and develop a treatment plan.

To measure ROI, begin with the lower-tier criteria, then track quarterly and year differences in FMLA or compensated absences, and prescription drug costs. Then compare it to the per-participant cost of the obesity program.

Tier 4 –  Morbid obesity

At this level, the staff member has been diagnosed as morbidly obese – BMI over 40 – and is considered a potential candidate for gastric bypass surgery.

ROI is measured through ongoing health claims as well as the previous criteria.

Develop a culture of wellness within your corporation

Create Exemplary Management Support

In the most successful Health Promotion Programs, upper managers lead their organizations by example.  And they work to ensure that the upper management structure not only allows, but actively encourages their staff to participate.

Organize a Health Promotion Advisory Team

Wellness committees serve as the eyes, ears, arms and legs of the wellness program, representing peers ideas and concerns, and assisting reshape the organizational culture toward health.

Conduct an Assessment of Financial and Human Assets and Liabilities

Successful Wellness Programs are built upon a foundation of information, including claims review, demographic analysis of the workforce, senior management and staff member surveys, health risk data, history of organizational wellness, and health benefit plan design.

Create Clearly Stated Vision, Mission and Outcomes

Establish a clear vision of health promotion program direction, expectations and measures to answer the questions, “Where are we going and how will we know when we get there?”

Create a Robust and Strategic Wellness Program

A multi-component plan ought to consist of strategically developed and implemented awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment programs, in addition to policies and activities that target appropriate health risk behaviors and needs of the workers.

Identify an Incentive and Reward Strategy

Incentives show the organizational commitment to the wellness program and motivate individuals to participate. Incentives vary widely from program to program, but can include such things as time off, reduction in medical insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to health clubs, free pedometers, etc.

Communicate to Employees

Your wellness program must be simple and concise, use an identifiable brand, and rely on a selection of media to communicate with staff members and managers.

Evaluate Outcomes

Evaluate wellness program participation, satisfaction levels and behavioral change. You may want to track the number of workers’ compensation claims, productivity, turnover morale and absenteeism.

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Health Promotion Program – Management Support.

Create Exemplary Management Support

Goal –  A Wellness Program established into the organization’s culture.

Focus – Develop support and excitement for the wellness program from all levels of the corporation –  upper-level management, mid-level management, and grass-roots personnel.

Obtaining upper-level management’s buy-in is essential to launching an effective wellness program.  The workers must understand that upper-level management is supportive of the wellness program.

Actions -

Create an Senior Level Management Executive Team to determine high-level decisions â.” positions that should be included are the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Communications Officer, and other appropriate division-level managers and wellness program experts, as necessary.

The Senior Management Executive Team will -

o  Communicate to all levels of upper management about the health promotion program and drive the integration of the Health Promotion Program as a part of the corporation culture.

o  Ensure that organizational resources are available for wellness program planning and implementation.

o  Make sure to encourage employees to participate and to assist in “recruiting” other employees, get the momentum going, and keep it growing.

o  Share success stories within the organization, and continue to elevate the perceived value of participation.

Organize a Wellness Advisory Team

Goal – Develop a working committee that consists of staff and essential functional parts of the corporation.

Focus –  to assist in reshaping the organizational culture to support employee-wellness activities by serving as heralds and supporters for the wellness program.

Wellness Advisory Committees serve as an essential part of the infrastructure of your Wellness Program.  The team members are the eyes, ears, arms, and legs of the health promotion program.

They represent their peers by sharing ideas and concerns about the health promotion program.

Actions -

The Wellness Advisory Committee will -

o  Make sure to work with senior management and the Wellness Program coordinator in the design, implementation, and investigation of the wellness program.

o  Create methods to enhance the acceptance and success of the activities of your Wellness Program by stimulating staff member ownership of the health promotion program.

o  Hold periodic meetings to keep the committee informed of upcoming plans and events and to provide feedback to the wellness program coordinator about their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, and those of their peers.

o  Recommend policy and environmental changes that are aimed at improving the safety and health of employees.

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Wellness Program – Vision and Mission.

Goal – Develop a baseline of information and identify human and organizational needs.

Focus –  Review a variety of information to better understand past and current conditions regarding healthcare utilization, organizational culture, demographic overview, and wellness programs.

Data collection plays an important role in planning, monitoring, and investigating  a health promotion program. It will also set the baseline for continued and future evaluations of health promotion program efficiency, effectiveness, and feasibility.

Actions -

o  Claims review (health care, pharmaceutical) -

o  What have been the 10 most expensive major disease categories in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?

o  What have been the 10 most expensive therapeutic courses of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars paid for each?

o  What have been the 10 most frequently prescribed and filled therapeutic courses of drugs in each of the past five years? What are the number of claims and dollars compensated for each?

o  Demographic analysis of staff member population (may include dependents) -

o  List your number of staff, by gender, for each of the past five years and the percentages of males and females by age groups.

o  Think about any other factors that might have affected the health of your workers and their use of the health care system.

This might include mergers, acquisitions, worksite trauma, employee strikes, layoffs, early retirement offers, etc.

Management survey -

o  Conduct surveys of mid-level management to understand their concerns and measure their level of interest and buy-in.

o  Employee-interest survey –  Gather information to find out what the staff want and to measure the level of participation, satisfaction, and “success” of any previous activities.

Risk data (health-risk assessments) -

o  Is there any data from health-risk appraisals over the past five years?

Participation in similar activities -

o  List and describe all health promotion programs that have been implemented over the past five years, including participation rates.

Design of the health plan, and anticipated changes -

o  Have there been any meaningful changes in the health plan’s design in each of the past five years, like a change from an HMO to a PPO, increased co-payments or deductibles, or increased employee contributions?

Develop Clearly Stated Vision, Mission and Outcomes

Goal –  Establish a clear vision of wellness program direction, expectations, and measures.

Focus – Establishing a vision, mission, goals and goals to keep your Health Promotion Program focused toward its desired outcomes. It’ll answer the questions, “Where are we going?” and “Just how will we know when we get there?”

Actions -

o  Identify two to five obviously stated objectives. Be sure that your wellness program is capable of having an impact in the area desired, and be sure that you’re capable of measuring that impact.

Example Goal – Workers having access to healthier food options

o  Launch two to five measurable goals that particularly state what your health promotion program is going to accomplish, by when, how, and how it’ll be measured.

Example Objective –  Modify all vending machines to include 50 percent healthful food options.

o  Identify several activities that’ll help you achieveyour objective. Activities are very specific.

Example Activity – Make certain to work with vending machine owners to identify healthy food options and restock with 50% of items that are healthier food options.

o  Identify who’s going to do what, by when, and what resources are needed.

Example Detail –  the Program coordinator will contact XXX Vending Company by September 30.

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Health Promotion Program Incentives.

Develop a Comprehensive and Strategic Health Promotion Program

Goal –  A robust Wellness Program plan.

Focus –  Development of a plan that consists of a selection of awareness, lifestyle change, and supportive environment program, policies, and activities that’ll target risk behaviors, needs, and interests of staff.

Your Wellness Program should provide an integrated, strategic approach specific to the needs, goals, and culture of your organization, designed throughout an annual cycle.

It’ll be important to review and revise existing policies governing such areas as tobacco use, vending machines, and the staff cafeteria. Also, it is useful to examine what company wellness or health-promotion activities are offered under your existing health-benefit plan.

Actions -

o  Create activities based on your health promotion program objectives and the specific needs of your workforce. Focus on those topics that are of greatest interest to your workforce and the greatest needs of your corporation, in that order. Prevent topics with narrow appeal.

o  Keep it simple. Design the health promotion program so it’s easy for the participants to understand and track. Let workforce focus their learning efforts on their own behavior, not on the rules and regulations of the health promotion program.

Moreover, simplify the wellness program administration. Let individuals  record their own activities when possible; develop a mixture of self-reported activities along with verified activities.

o  Integrate a combination of activities to include awareness, educational, and behavior elements. Link the activities throughout the year to allow for desired behavior repetition.

o  Select activities that every staff member can participate in.

Examples -

o  Challenges –  Activities that focus on practicing a desired behavior and continue for 4-8 weeks and focus on specific topics (like exercise, nutrition, or stress management).

o  Learning experiences (seminars, videos, classes) –  One-time activities that last for a relatively short time and focus on a specific topic; these can precede “challenge activities” to prepare participants for behavior change.

o  Behavior changes (such as tobacco use cessation) –  Interventions may or may not be offered at the workplace; individuals should be encouraged to make lifestyle changes that they wanted to make even without the incentive.

o  Illness management (support and education groups for diabetes and hypertension) –  These could  be provided or supported by the corporation through disease-management vendors, or by community, health, or religious corporations.

o  New skills (first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation) –  These may  be provided or supported by the organization, or by community, health, or religious organizations.

o  Screenings, wellness assessments, physical exams –  A wellness assessment provides the business with aggregate data that can be used in wellness program planning and investigation; preventive screenings and physical exams can be encouraged by awarding credits to employees.

o  Program support (membership or leadership in wellness committee or challenge team) –  Reward those who work with you to help make your Wellness Program a success.

o  Community events –  Reward participation in events like the Heart Walk or March of Dimes Walk; limit the number of these events that may be counted toward the annual total, and be selective about which events you allow to be counted.

Create an Incentive Strategy

Goal –  to motivate and reward employee participation and completion.

Focus – Develop a sense of interest in participation and completion of wellness activities.

Providing incentives and rewards will send an important message to the employees that the corporation is committed to bettering their health and will share the rewards that these changes will bring. It also plays a significant role in exciting person to participate.

Actions -

o  Identify through staff what incentives they value most.

o  Identify what incentives the organization can provide.

o  Integrate your incentives into your benefits strategy.

o  Ensure that every participant who achieves a goal receives some recognition.

o  Make available participation incentives.

o  Prevent offering incentives for the “best” or the “most.”

o  Prevent rewards for biometric changes.

o  Use incentives to promote your Wellness Program, through logos and branding.

Examples -

Compensated time off, reduction in medical insurance premiums or co-pays, cash incentives, discounts to gyms, free pedometers, etc.

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Wellness Program Communication.

Goal –  Increase awareness of and participation in the Health Promotion Program.

Focus –  Promote the Health Promotion Program to workers to encourage participation in activities and benefits.

A well-designed communications strategy is paramount to successful wellness program awareness and participation. Even a “world class” wellness program design won’t succeed when nobody knows that it’s available or how to get involved.

Employees who don’t get involved in the wellness program must be doing so because they pick not to participate, not because they did not know about how, when, or where to participate.

Actions -

o  Conduct a Resources and Communications Audit to identify internal and external resources available to support your Health Promotion Program, as well as knowing how information are going to be disseminated.

o  Keep the health promotion program simple and concise –  easy to peruse about, understand, and act upon.

o  Build the brand; be certain it’s something that staff members can identify with. Add the brand to T-shirts, water bottles, mouse pads, stress balls, etc.

Use a selection of media -

o  Print â.” flyers, fliers, posters, banners, paycheck inserts, newsletter articles, bulletin boards, literature racks, post cards.

o  Electronic â.” Web, intranet, e-mail, closed-circuit televisions, sign lines, audiovideo productions.

o  Staff meetings and organization events; word of mouth.

o  Use existing channels of communication â.” what works best in your company â.” and be sure to know about all points of contact and systems of distribution.

Timing for communications -

o  Prior to activity to create awareness and to educate.

o  During activity to stimulate participation.

o  After an activity to report results.

o  Between activities to maintain momentum and interest.

Consistency of communications -

o  Use branding; maintain a consistent look, feel, and tone of messages.

o  Maintain this consistency throughout the wellness program.

Surveys and forms -

o  Collect information.

o  Disseminate information.