10 Mistakes that Spell Doom for Your Wellness Program

By Steve Bruce (with adaptations), hrdailyadvisor.blr.com

Wellness programs are no-brainers for today’s employers who want to keep employees healthy and reduce their health insurance expenses.  But easy-to-make mistakes can doom your program before it can gain traction. To have a thriving wellness program, here are health experts' Debra Wein and Courtney Hernandez' 10 key wellness mistakes to avoid:

Mistake 1: Failing to Plan
As with any significant project, wellness initiatives must be planned. Be sure to establish goals for ROI or for participation (or whatever you choose) and then structure a program to support the goals.

Mistake #2: Not Gathering Enough Data
Find out what employees are interested in, perhaps by doing a survey, and find out what health risks you'd like to try to deal with, perhaps through health screenings or assessments. Then see if you can marry the two. That will ensure the highest level of participation while simultaneously addressing important health issues.

Mistake #3: Thinking Yoga Is Enough
Some employers think that by starting a Yoga program and maybe offering a few other programs will create a wellness program. Wrong.  It takes a lot of planning to have a comprehensive program.

Mistake #4: Targeting Only High-Risk Employees
It's tempting to focus on those with the greatest number of health risks, but it's also important to encourage the healthy people to maintain good health.

Mistake #5: One Size Fits All
Variety in programming will ensure a higher percentage of employee participation.  Go for more than exercise: consider programming in stress reduction, mental health, diet, healthy family, and so on.

Mistake #6: No Incentives
It would be nice to think that employees would all participate without an incentive beyond better health, but many employers find they need to use incentives to encourage participation. Incentives may range from discounts on health insurance, to days off, to gift cards. 

Mistake #7: No Budget
Wellness programs can be low-cost, but not no-cost. Make sure you have at least a minimal budget to get things going.

Mistake #8: Lack of C-Level Support
You need management support for a budget, but you also need management as visible participants.

Mistake #9: No Tracking
Along with your goals, develop metrics that will help you to gauge what effect your program is having. The simplest metric is participation percentage.

Mistake #10: No Future Direction
Don't think the program will run itself once you get it going.  You must continue to evaluate employee needs and program results to keep the program meaningful and attractive.  Well-structured and well-run wellness programs can generate ROIs of up to 300% - music to management's ears!  But the key words are "well-structured" and "well-run." Poorly structured programs just spin their wheels—no health benefit or positive ROI.

For ideas on how to get your company’s wellness program started – or how to enhance its effectiveness, please contact an ESG Human Resources Consultant at 888-810-8187.