Create a plan
There is a saying that a goal without a plan is just a wish. Taking time to plan your wellness program will ensure long-term success.
Take time to build out goals and objectives, budget, themes and work plans with your wellness committee. Review your survey data to help guide your plans.
Use a comprehensive approach:
Educate, act, support
Numerous experts agree that multi-faceted strategies are required to effectively enable behaviour change. A strategic mix of approaches must be implemented over time. Therefore, the materials you will find on this website use 3 approaches: educate, act, support.
The material on this website is built upon the principle that workplaces can inform employees about health and wellness issues, provide opportunities for employees to change or improve their health behaviours, and provide supportive environments that enable action. Therefore, for each topic, the program encourages workplaces to use these three strategies:
Educate
Use existing communication channels to get the word out. Put information in places where workers spend most of their time. Recruit role models to boost participation.
Act
Look for opportunities to make changes to the work environment or establish policies that support employees in making healthier choices.
Support
Support resources offer ideas on how to implement policies and support your employees in making healthy choices.
Consider the annual cycle of your workplace
When you are planning wellness topics or themes, consider the annual cycle of your workplace. Some themes might work better than others at certain times of the year. A healthy eating theme might work well in the New Year when everyone is looking towards New Year’s resolutions. Meanwhile, you might want to avoid a physical activity challenge in the middle of winter. Also consider the annual budget and look to include suggestions for a potential wellness budget.
