Employee health and wellbeing programs aren’t just beneficial for staff, but employers as well.

Happy and healthy employees are known to be more productive, take fewer days off due to injury and illness, and work better together as a whole.

Below we look 4 key steps to implementing a successful health and wellbeing program in your business.

#1 Establish the foundations of your program

Once you have decided who will be leading the project it is best to obtain support from senior management. After that, you should involve workers from all parts of your business in developing the policy.

Understand that there will be a wide range of needs and interests in your organisation and aim to reflect all of these in the program. Find out what health and wellbeing issues they face and the type of activities they would be willing to participate in.

To obtain support from workers, make sure you highlight the benefits of the program in clear and direct way, so they understand what they will gain from it.

#2 Design your program

Try to design a program that gives a variety of options to workers, so they can select programs that work best for them.

Ensure that the program can be easily integrated into your business. You may need dedicated staff to help implement the program in its initial stages to see that workers are actively engaged.

Think about how to best promote the program and consider how it will meet the individual needs of every worker in your organisation.

#3 Implement and manage your program

If applicable, make sure there are appropriate risk management processes in place, i.e. conducting medical checks to assess workers’ ability to participate in certain activities.

Communicate with workers about the benefits and success of the program and ensure the program is being conducted in the manner you committed to.

To maximise participation, ensure there is a consistent follow-up process with workers. Record their attendance and encourage them to continue to participate. Consider what incentives you could offer. Even if the sessions are initially poorly attended, keep encouraging workers to attend.

#4 Evaluate your program

To measure the benefits of the program and to see if any modifications may be needed, you can evaluate it using a number of methods, including:

• a workplace audit to assess how the initiatives have been operating, including:
• how many people participate in the program;
• whether all the sessions are being conducted;
• which groups of workers, if any, are not participating; and
• whether it is within budget;
• satisfaction surveys to assess worker feedback, including:
• whether workers are happy with the initiative;
• whether workers are achieving goals or noticing any improvement in their health and wellbeing;
• whether workers regularly participate in the program; and
• how the program could be improved;
• a benchmark analysis, based on a statistical comparison of before and after the program was implemented, on whether there has been any noticeable change in:
• productivity;
• sick leave;
• staff turnover;
• worker morale;
• workers’ compensation claims; and
• work quality.