You’ve reached the point where you want to help instill some self-responsibility for health and wellness with your staff. You have thought about health screenings and putting up flyers about good health habits. You may have even used the Wisconsin smoke-free legislation to begin some tobacco cessation efforts, but no one seems healthier or they aren’t interested in any of the ideas. You may be feeling some pressure to get your wellness options running because it’s big news in your business network. We can’t over-emphasize the need for a well thought out operational plan to guide your efforts. Developing a great plan takes time, effort and resources. It may be easily skipped in favor of “let’s just get something out there.” Although the formal planning process requires a lot of effort, experts say it is the essential part of the process. In most business settings, the annual plan is the vehicle that articulates the strategic direction. The operational wellness plan is ultimately the way progress gets measured. How many successful strategies in business do you know of that proceed without a plan?
1. A vision statement
This is the big picture of what you want to accomplish through your wellness efforts. Strive to have this be one or two sentences. This will become the “go to” when things become unclear or you need to re-group. It will also become the point of communication to the rest of the company.
For example: To encourage employees to improve their health habits and increase their level of physical activity.
2. Goals and objectives
Clearly written goals are a must for demonstrating outcomes. Be sure the goals are measurable, achievable and time specific. A goal such as “getting all employees to a healthy blood pressure” might better be stated as “In the first quarter of the year 75% of all employees will know what their blood pressure is and whether or not it is in a healthy range.” Strive to use the data you have collected to choose programming that is of benefit and of interest to your staff (See Issue 3, 2011 of this newsletter for data collection tips).
3. Roles and responsibilities
Choosing and defining who does what and when is an important ingredient to the plan. It may sound logical, but will ensure a smoother implementation and evaluation if this is laid out ahead of time. It also makes it easier to recruit staff to assist when the job function they would be responsible for is clearly noted. Rather than expecting that the “team” will get the word out, collect enrollment, coordinate with the outside person coming in, set up the space needed and collate evaluations. Specifically get Sally to do the communication, Mike to collect enrollment information, and Chris to coordinate the space needs and the person coming in for the initiative.
4. Implementation timeline
Set up and announce to the wellness committee and to employees what the expected program/events are and when they are planned for the coming year. A timeline keeps your programming accountable and helps all to know what to expect. Be aware of the tendency to put too much into the timeframes. For most programming objectives, having a maximum of four in a year is sufficient. Keep in mind that some things may be easy and quick to implement, while others may take more extensive planning and will take place over a longer period of time.
For example:
5. Marketing and communication plan
How will the information and logistics for the program/initiative be achieved? Sometimes relying on word of mouth works but it can turn into a game of “telephone” with the message getting mixed up and more questions asked than answered. This can leave a bad feeling with staff about how good the initiative itself will be. A better way is to indicate in the wellness plan whether information will be written and shared on the company intranet site, posted on bulletin boards, sent home to families, flyers posted in the breakroom, discussed in staff meetings, and etc. Also, it’s good to use a mix of several methods for each program. As part of your plan, list the dates when each type of message will be shared or posted and who is responsible for each segment.
6. Itemized budget
Thinking through and planning how much money and resources are being allocated for each initiative is important during the operational process. These things might include hiring staff to provide the screenings, printing costs, room set up and/or refreshment costs. There is also the softer side of costs such as employees who help to make the programs happen and the release time for employees to attend a program.
7. Evaluation plan and procedures
How you plan to measure the outcome for results is included in this part of the plan. This might include how many participated and/or gathering feedback on satisfaction of different aspects of the program. Make sure that you address the objective(s) that you have in item 2.
Appropriate planning is critical to any program’s success. Meeting these steps will help to ensure your efforts are heading in the right direction.
