Company Health and Wellness : Workplace Wellness Programs: Creating Supportive Environments

How does it feel to walk into your workplace? Do people look content? Is the place well lit and cheerful? Do you feel welcome, wanted and energized? Or do you feel a dark cloud descend upon you, and count the hours until you have the potential to leave?
The power of the workplace environment on the health & wellness of employees is profound. First there is the physical look, feel, smell, and sounds of the place. Then you’re affected by the policies, like whether others are allowed to light up around you. As time passes, more subtle factors start to affect you. Do your attempts to adopt a healthier lifestyle get recognized at work, or are they sabotaged? Are your managers inspiring you by being healthy role models? Do you get regular opportunities to discover healthier behaviors?
In a supportive environment, employees feel that the business they work for supports them with encouragement, opportunity, and rewards for healthy lifestyles. And the spirit that results is highly contagious. Staff Members who feel cared are naturally more loyal and productive.
The following ideas will help you transform your workplace environment into one that actually supports the wellness of your employees and business.

Corporate Wellness Program Ideas for Fostering Supportive Environments

Wellness Friendly Facilities

When you arrive at a worksite, do you feel comfortable? Could you be happy working there? Is there sufficient light and clean air? Are there pleasant work areas, places to eat decent meals, take a walk before lunch? Close your eyes. How does it smell? Sound? Do the employees have sufficient space?
• Vending machines with healthy diet choices like low-fat milk, fruits, sugar-free and caffeine-free beverages and low-calorie snacks
• Workout area, walking paths, playing fields, basketball hoop, or other exercise opportunities workplace or nearby
• Cafeteria offers healthy foods including a salad bar with low-fat dressing
• Natural light is used whenever possible; all lighting is appropriate and adequate
• Heating and ventilation is adjustable, comfortable and healthful
• No cigarette machines, ashtrays, or smoking areas onsite
• Noise levels are safe and conducive to concentration
• Work station furniture conforms to ergometric standards
• Safety risks have been eliminated
• Lockers and showers are available for employees who exercise before work or while on breaks
• Stairs are clean and well lit, convenient and pleasant to use
Familiarity can make it hard to evaluate a workplace. People get used to hectic conditions and forget that conditions ever bothered them. It may provce useful to ask people who are unfamiliar with your workplace to walk through with you. Professional consultants can also help.

Proactive Wellness Policies

One clear way to impact behavior is through policies and procedures. If nurses aren’t permitted to work more than twelve hours consecutively, there will be less medication errors. If parents are afforded flextime to manage their children’s needs, they’ll be less stressed. If staff members have the potential to apply unused sick days to planned vacation time, they’ll save them up instead of calling in sick to use them all.

Supportive corporate policies may include:

• Seatbelt use necessitated in employer vehicles
• Drug and alcohol policies are appropriate to the industry
• Emergency procedures are developed, known, and practiced
• Flexible work schedules allow workers to exercise, go to children’s school conferences, etc.
• Nonsmoking policy is enforced
• Excessive overtime is discouraged
• Membership at fitness facility is partially reimbursed
• Shift workers are scheduled to allow adequate rest
• Health Care Costs coverage rewards good health
• Rates of Absenteeism policy rewards employees who don’t use sick days
• Employee Assistance Program(EAP) available to help staff members with chemical dependencies, depression, family problems
• Meaningful consequences are carried out for unsafe, unhealthy, prohibited behavior.  Your organization may have a policy against alcohol use during work hours, but if everyone looks the other way when someone comes back from lunch smelling like beer, the culture is one that permits drinking during lunch-and one in which written policies have the potential to be safely ignored. Prohibited behaviors must be confronted promptly. Otherwise your policies become mere lip service instead of springboards to health.

Consistent Recognition And Rewards For Success

Attention, praise, and rewards are provided for wellness achievements.
You can show you value the Company Wellness Programs by celebrating your programs and those who’ve made lifestyle improvements in corporation newsletters, on bulletin boards, and at yearly banquets, meetings, and celebrations. Incentives are a direct way to demonstrate appreciation, too.
Wellness mentors are sought and applauded, too. Employees who support others’ efforts to better their health are noticed and appreciated. Peer modeling and mentoring classes are able to promote those who enjoy assisting others to step forward into a new role.

Managers Model And Support Healthier Behavior

Nothing might say “We encourage you to exercise frequently” better than a manager going on a bike ride during the lunch hour–or your supervisor sitting next to you in a weight management class. Wellness activities reward relaxed interaction between people from different departments and at different echelons in the chain of command. That promotes relaxed communication and a feeling of solidarity that is pure gold.
Managers can also provide support for staff members who are working on working on their health. It doesn’t take anything fancy-just a “good job” or “nice to see you at the gym” is able to put a glow on the cheeks of most of us.
Managers can also help by allowing employees the flexibility to attend wellness programs.

Ongoing Company Health Promotion Programs

It’s valuable to give staff members the sense that the wellness program is a permanent and valuable part of the corporation, not a corporation fad. That can start as soon as a new employee is hired.
New employees are oriented to the wellness program as one of the employee benefits. Information about the program ought to be presented by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who encourages the new employee to take part.
The workers are familiar with the ongoing wellness programs.
The wellness programs and wellness coordinator are well known in the business. Opportunities to participate are abundant and it’s easy to sign up.
A wide variety of awareness classes are provided. There are issues of interest for everyone.