Finding a Corporate Wellness Program Coordinator
Finding an individual to lead your company in beginning a Corporate Wellness Program
Without a qualified Corporate Wellness Program coordinator to lead and manage your company’s creation of a culture of wellness, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s essential that the creation of a culture of wellness be someone’s priority, not all companys need a full-time coordinator. There are a number of ways to secure the time of a qualified coordinator.
Be careful not to confuse Corporate Wellness Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Corporate Wellness Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Corporate Wellness Program coordinator:
• knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Corporate Wellness Programs
• competent working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Corporate Wellness Program data
• competent managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• competent in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Corporate Wellness Program Procedures.
What will a Corporate Wellness Program coordinator do?
The Corporate Wellness Program coordinator is responsible for guiding a process that creates worksite facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Corporate Wellness Program:
• act as a liaison between upper management and the Corporate Wellness Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Corporate Wellness Program
• create and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Corporate Wellness Program Procedures
• facilitate Corporate Wellness Program Committee meetings
• lead your company in establishing measurable objectives for the Corporate Wellness Program
• recommend effective Corporate Wellness Program Procedures, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Corporate Wellness Program Procedures and objectives.
Where can we find a qualified Corporate Wellness Program coordinator?
Explore the following when looking for a Corporate Wellness Program coordinator:
• Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to support as a Corporate Wellness Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your company’s Corporate Wellness Program Procedures? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Corporate Wellness Program position.
• New staff – Can you hire an individual to be your company’s Corporate Wellness Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Corporate Wellness Program Consultation – Various companys (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Corporate Wellness Program consultation on building a culture of wellness within a worksite.
An outside Corporate Wellness Program consultant can advise an internal Corporate Wellness Program coordinator and your Corporate Wellness Program Committee on establishing priorities and deciding on Procedures. Or, you can contract with a Corporate Wellness Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.
