According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, 40 percent of workers reported their jobs as moderately to severely stressful in a survey conducted by Northwestern National Life, and 25 percent reported often feeling burned out in a survey conducted by the Families and Work Institute. The CDC identifies heavy workloads as those without adequate breaks and long shifts; lack of ability to provide input into decision-making and poor communication within the organization; a lack of support in the organization; uncertainty on job expectations and unrealistic responsibility; lack of viable future opportunities within the organization; and unsafe or unpleasant work conditions that fuel worker stress.
Defining Wellness Programs in the Workplace
Wellness programs incorporate wellness into the organization's culture. It starts by forming a committee of employees from all levels and with varying perspectives. These employees will then develop a mission and goals for developing and implementing a plan by which to integrate wellness into the organization's already established procedures.
Health Risk Assessments
Determining what health topics are most important to your organization is the foundation for a health risk assessment and is termed "The Gold Standard" of work wellness programs, according to the Wellness Council of America, or WELCOA. Surveying the needs and interests of employees will give you a starting point for your program. WELCOA says you should, however, keep the goal of working toward conducting specific health risk assessments for the future.
Other Components of Beginning a Work Wellness Program
Get support from the decision makers at the onset of the project. Create a plan on how you will implement the activities and policies the committee has identified as useful to your organization; exercise programs are generally a good starting point. Offer tips and health-oriented information in newsletters or emails with a tone of encouragement and support for your employees' efforts. Monitor the results and adjust when necessary.
Implementing and Modifying Your Program
In that health improvements are a lifelong process, your wellness program needs to incorporate the changing needs of your employees, according to Business Knowledge Source, which says the overall goal for improving wellness is not only the individual employee, but also the company as a whole. It adds that your program should be implemented with fanfare and publicity so that even those who will not participate in the program will be aware that it is the company's goal to have healthy employees.
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