I first spoke about wellness programs in my April 2009 blog - Is Now the Best Time to Offer Employees a Wellness Program? There appears to be continuing interest among employers for health and wellness programs in the workplace - from lunch-and-learns, to providing health items on lunch menus, and even larger initiatives, such as weekly fitness challenges.

Cowan's Benefits and Retirement Consulting Division has put together some key steps that will help ensure the success of such a program. I think there are many good points here, so I thought I would pass them along:

• Get support from management - One of the main factors in the success of a corporate initiative is the support and participation of management. Build a business case for a health and wellness program and ensure your corporate sponsor believes in the program as much as you do. You will need a budget and support for employee time.
• Form an employee committee - Even if you decide to ask an external company to set up a wellness program, it's important that an employee committee drives the wellness initiatives. Employee involvement in planning will ensure higher participation rates. Consider creating a committee with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, such as Human Resources, Health and Safety, Disability Management, and Internal Communications.
• Set a benchmark - Once your program is underway, you will want to be able to show how successful it is. So before you start, record benchmarks for: employee absenteeism rates, employee activity levels, stress levels, current health-care costs, retention rates etc.
• Create a plan - Flexibility is essential. You will want to create a program that will allow employees to determine how they can incorporate the initiatives into their daily lives. It is best if the program meets the physical and mental needs of workers, and should include a health education component. One of the easiest ways to ensure employee engagement is to involve them in the process. A simple employee survey for lunch-and-learn topics, or a top five list of health and wellness topics that interest employees will provide your wellness committee with a starting point.
• Communication is key - Participation rates in wellness programs are dependent on many factors, and one of them is consistent communication about the Programs available, the goals of the overall program, and management support. Regular communication to employees regarding upcoming events or initiatives with ample scheduling notice will improve employee perception of the program and will also improve employee participation.

 Let us know if you have implemented a wellness program at your workplace and what has worked really well. Perhaps we can all learn from each other.