Tag Archive for Corporate Wellness Program Business Plan

Why Wellness?

January 30, 2009 / Corporate Wellness / No comments

There are a number of reasons why Corporate Wellness Programs are beneficial.

  1. Improved Morale – When the organizational culture begins to change as a result of your health promotion efforts, you and your staff members may actually begin to see and feel a new level of energy within the business. Ultimately, one of the most ambitious goals of any broad-based health promotion program is to attempt to influence the attitudes and actions of the organization’s most valuable resource — its staff members.
  2. Reduced Turnover – As we all know, employee replacement costs can be quite high for any kind of business. The effort and expense associated with running employment ads, reading applications, checking references, interviewing qualified candidates, hiring and training a new employee can be a serious burden on any business. In light of the challenges that high employee turnover pose, many employers are looking to health promotion programs as an additional perk that can help to prevent staff members from jumping ship.
  3. Increased Recruitment Potential – In the midst of a very tight labor market, employers are forced to pull out the stops in order to recruit new talent. In some instances, health promotion can prove to be a very valuable tool in sealing the deal.
  4. Reduced Absenteeism – When an employee misses work in a business setting, the entire organization is forced to absorb his/her responsibilities. Even in the event of the occasional absence caused by things like colds and the flu, work can back-up and tensions can build. Even worse is a long-term absence caused by a major health event that requires hospitalization and/or rehabilitation. By preventing certain types of illness caused by poor lifestyle habits, health promotion programs can play an important role in reducing absenteeism.
  5. Health Care Cost Containment – Most employers don’t start a health promotion program with cost containment in mind. However, cost containment for certain health problems should be considered a viable goal by many employers.
  6. Improved employee Health Status – One of the greatest advantages of a well-designed health promotion initiative is the promise of improved health. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests well-designed health promotion initiatives can successfully impact such behaviors as tobacco use, high-risk alcohol use, and more.
Category: Wellness Programs / Tags: ,

Developing a Corporate Wellness Program business Plan, part 2

January 3, 2009 / Corporate Wellness / No comments

Corporate Wellness Program business plan review (from Key #19)
• A Corporate Wellness Program business plan is a roadmap for success.
• Your Corporate Wellness Program business plan should convincingly demonstrate that your Corporate Wellness Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

More smart Corporate Wellness Program business planning strategies

Planning the Corporate Wellness Program
• Determine how your organization plans so that your planning process will be in sync with what already happens in the organization.
• Involve other employees. A planning team brings their combined experience and perspective to the process. Including potential partners as you plan will make it easier to get their buy-in later.

Thinking of the big picture
• Look at the barriers and challenges that might be encountered during Corporate Wellness Program implementation. Develop strategies ahead of time to overcome these potential problems.
• Do a SWOT analysis and examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This analysis will help you identify potential problem areas or resource shortfalls and opportunities for growth or increased partnerships with other installation personnel.

The WORST business planning strategy: sitting in your office; working by yourself.

The best Corporate Wellness Program business planning strategies
• Get out of your office; get out of the business. The more employees you involve in the Corporate Wellness Program planning process, the better. Always look for ways to expand your network.
• Keep your budget employees informed. Get to know their philosophy of financial management.
• Be able to articulate the impact if your budget is not fully funded.
o Stay away from basing your impact-if-not-funded argument only on: “We have to.”
o Instead, describe the impact-if-not-funded with phrases like: injuries to workers, increased compensation costs, increased medical care costs for patients, lost work time, loss of licenses/accreditations, loss of workload to the Tricare network.
• Always have purchase requests ready to be submitted. There is often a short window of time to process these requests. Having the information gathered ahead of time will make it easy to submit the information right away.

A well thought-out Corporate Wellness Program business plan is essential in these times of shrinking budgets and resources. A good business plan will help you gain leadership support and help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Corporate Wellness Program.

Category: Wellness Programs / Tags: , ,

Developing a Corporate Wellness Program Business Plan, part 1

January 2, 2009 / Corporate Wellness / No comments

A business plan is a roadmap for success. Use the guidelines below to develop a realistic business plan and budget for your Corporate Wellness Programs.

What is a business plan?

• A plan for success
• A document that convincingly demonstrates that your Corporate Wellness Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

Questions to ask when developing a Corporate Wellness Program business plan

• Why do you need to do the Corporate Wellness Program?
• What are you going to do?
• Where are you going to do it?
• Who is the target audience?
• How are you going to do it?
• Who is going to implement the Corporate Wellness Program?
• How much will the Corporate Wellness Program cost Upper Management?
• What is Upper Management going to get out of the Corporate Wellness Program? Why should Upper Management invest in the Corporate Wellness Program?

Corporate Wellness Program business Plan Components

• Title and duration of the Corporate Wellness Program
• Points of contact
• Background information (description of need; bibliography/literature review; how the Corporate Wellness Program will help achieve the organization’s goals)
• Corporate Wellness Program description
• Goals and objectives
• Implementation site
• Target population
• Work plan
• Partnerships and collaborations
• Timelines and milestones
• Budget and resource requirements (dollars and employees)

Gaining the support of leadership

• Clearly link the Corporate Wellness Program goals and objectives to the organization’s strategic plan.
• Focus on the desired outcomes.
• Use the right language for the right audience. By way of example, Upper Management is interested in decreased clinic visits, increased provider productivity, management of the health of the population. However, Upper Management is interested in increased readiness, decreased lost duty/training time, and decreased disability and FECA claims.
A well thought-out Corporate Wellness Program business plan will help you gain leadership support, help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Corporate Wellness Program, and keep the Corporate Wellness Program on track towards meaningful outcomes.

Category: Wellness Programs / Tags: , ,