How to Start an Employee Wellness Program

Transcription

1 Nationa Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Empoyee Weness Program Guide How to Start an Empoyee Weness Program A User-Friendy Guide

2 I care about the heath and we-being of a NPS empoyees. The NPS is committed to promoting heath and weness initiatives that can have a positive impact on your ife both at home and at work. I encourage each of you to participate in a program that works for you and be a heath and weness champion. Jonathan Jarvis NPS Director Contents The Scope of Weness 2 Six Steps to Creating a Heath and Weness Program: 1 Gain Leadership Support 4 2 Form a Weness Team 6 Learn and Assess 8 4 Pan Your Program 10 5 Take Action 16 6 Evauate 18 Additiona Resources 20 ALL PHOTOS / NPS

3 Introduction As empoyees of the Nationa Park Service (NPS), we are committed to protecting the resources of our nationa parks. In order to successfuy carry out our mission, it is important that we maintain our own heath and weness. Since most of the primary causes of iness and death in the United States are preventabe and can be controed with routine exercise, proper nutrition, and stress reduction, the NPS has estabished a Servicewide Empoyee Weness Program to encourage and provide guidance for parks (and worksites) to create oca weness programs that benefits a empoyees. The foowing pages serve as a how to guide for starting an empoyee weness program or enhancing an existing initiative at your park. This guide incudes the foowing sections: The Scope of Weness Six Steps to Creating an Empoyee Weness Program: 1 Gain Leadership Support 2 Form a Weness Team Learn and Assess 4 Pan Your Program 5 Take Action 6 Evauate Pease note, these steps are meant to be guideines. You are encouraged to adjust them to fit your needs! Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide 1

4 The Scope of Weness Weness is defined as an active, ifeong process of becoming aware of choices and making decisions toward a more baanced and fufiing ife. Eements of a Weness Program The foowing eight components refect a hoistic approach to persona weness. Physica weness is the process of engaging in heathy activities that benefit the body, such as nutritious eating and exercise. Topics and exampes of activities incude nutrition, fitness, smoking cessation, substance abuse, and weight management. Emotiona weness is the process of recognizing, expressing, and managing one s fu range of emotions, incuding coping with stress. In addition, it encompasses the process of deveoping sef-esteem and a positive outook on ife. Topics and exampes of activities incude stress management, anger management, and depression management. Spiritua weness is the process of discovering purpose and meaning in ife and iving a fufiing ife consistent with one s beiefs and vaues. Topics and exampes of activities incude accommodating reigious hoidays, respecting the views of others, using meditation rooms, practicing yoga, spending time in nature, and engaging in community service activities. Socia weness is the process of creating and maintaining heathy, meaningfu reationships with those around you. Topics and exampes of activities incude buiding heathy persona and working reationships, community invovement and vounteerism, and empoyee association support. Inteectua weness is the process of expanding knowedge and skis as we as engaging in creative and mentay stimuating activities. Topics and exampes of activities incude training and education, reading ists, cutura events, and brown bag unch taks. 2 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

5 Financia Inteectua Career weness is the process of deveoping skis in and achieving persona fufiment from our jobs whie maintaining baance in our ives. Topics and exampes of activities incude mentoring and career management, education and training, fexibe schedues, support for dua career empoyees and singe parent empoyees, and workpace poicies to hep empoyees achieve a heathy work-ife baance. Environmenta weness is the process of making choices that wi contribute to sustaining or improving the quaity of ife in the word. Topics and exampes of activities incude transit subsidies, accessibe stairwes, and waking trais (on an individua eve), and greening the workpace and promoting environmentay heathy choices in empoyees persona ives (on a goba eve). Any combination of these components may be addressed in your weness program. Additiona eements may be incuded. ree a on P Sp cia ua Int cia So e e F irit a n ina ca si hy r Em oti Ca nta me on Career vir Spiritua Physica En Emotiona ctu Environmenta Socia Financia weness is the process of earning to pan, save, and spend financia resources efficienty and within one s means. Topics and exampes of activities incude seminars on financia panning, purchasing or seing a home, and retirement panning. NPS Empoyee Weness Whee The Scope of Weness

6 Step 1 Gain Leadership Support Leadership support is an essentia component to deveoping a successfu weness program or enhancing an existing effort. A eader who advocates for empoyee weness can provide greater access to resources and increase empoyee participation. To gain support from the top: Present the evidence. To obtain eadership support, share the importance and benefits of an empoyee weness program. Support Substantia Return on Investment Empoyee weness programs can reduce workers compensation caims, continuation of pay costs, and recruitment and new empoyee costs. Studies show a savings of up to six doars on medica care and reduced absenteeism for every one doar spent on weness. Low Cost Many weness activities are free or ow-cost. Reduced Absenteeism Heathier empoyees are ess ikey to ca in sick or use annua eave due to iness. 1 Increased Safety Heathier empoyees are ess ikey to sustain an on-the-job injury. Seek share Long-Term Benefits Weness programs can reduce heathcare costs over time and increase empoyee retention. Improve Job Satisfaction and Boost Morae Weness programs give empoyees opportunities to interact and deveop reationships that buid a stronger community and increase job satisfaction. Such programs aso demonstrate eadership s commitment to empoyee we-being. Increased Productivity Heathier empoyees are more productive. Productivity osses because of poor heath can cost empoyers two to three times more than what they spend on medica insurance premiums. Heathier empoyees have greater energy eves, better focus, greater resiiency, and a more positive outook on ife a of which can resut in increased productivity at work. 1 Centers for Disease Contro and Prevention 4 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

7 Use NPS poicies to support your case. There are many federa poicies addressing empoyee weness, incuding the foowing: 5 U.S.C authorizes government agencies to estabish a heath services program. Tite 5 U.S.C states that agencies must provide empoyee assistance programs to assist empoyees with drug and acoho abuse prevention, treatment, and rehabiitation. 16 U.S.C., 1a-2(a) states that the NPS may provide recreation faciities, equipment, and services for use by empoyees and their famiies ocated at isoated areas of the Nationa Park System. I beieve that the foundation of any successfu program originates with eadership support, commitment, and participation. Vida Martinez Superintendent Nationa Park Service Human Resources Buetin: 05-06, Reimbursement for Vountary Fitness Activity authorizes the use of appropriated funds for access to fitness centers under certain conditions. Share your ideas for a program and an initia pan. Based on the evidence, propose an initia pan to deveop a weness team and program to your superintendent (or management team). Discuss possibe program goas. (Step 4 offers additiona resources on how to deveop and impement your empoyee weness pan.) Ask for support from your superintendent. Once you present your case, invite your superintendent to support empoyee weness efforts. This coud incude aocating funding and authorizing work time to deveop a program. One of the most important (and cost free!) ways for your superintendent to show support is to serve as a roe mode and spokesperson by promoting, participating in, and even eading weness activities. Seek support for a charter. A good way to formaize the program is by writing a charter. A signed charter wi ink the program to a more permanent source and increase credibiity and ikey increase support for the program. Whie you can wait unti a weness team is in pace (see Step 2) before you draft a charter, first ask your superintendent to agree to sign one and make the empoyee weness program a park-sanctioned initiative. Or, seek support from your empoyee association. Either way, knowing in the eary stages who wi sign the charter and where the foundationa support ies wi hep you as you proceed. Once you have eadership support and a green ight to forge ahead, you are ready for the next step forming a weness team. Visit inside.nps.gov/weness for an expanded description of the benefits of an empoyee weness program and for more information on poicies reating to weness programming. Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 5

8 Step 2 Form a Weness Team Recruit a team. A motivated team can accompish more work in ess time. Make an announcement at a meeting or ask your superintendent to send out an emai inviting vounteers. Enthusiastic and dedicated empoyees from any grade and any division can take part. No previous training is required! One ony needs an interest in weness and some time to get invoved. Contact Determine roes and empower team members to contribute. Whether you have a team of two or ten, tap into the unique skis and taents that each person has to offer. For exampe, some peope are visionaries who have big ideas whie others are more practica and ike to attend to the detais. Find out how each person can best contribute to the team. Empower designate Designate one individua as the ead and point of contact for the team. This person does not need to be a weness expert or have prior experience, but shoud be a good mode and motivator for heathy habits. Draft a charter for your weness program. Once you have eadership support and a group of motivated weness advocates, it is important to formaize the program by creating a charter. This charter shoud incude the program s mission and goas and outine the roes and responsibiities of your team and other key park stakehoders. This document can serve as a catayst to hep integrate weness into your park s cuture and formaize aocation of resources. You may have asked your superintendent or empoyee association representative to be the signatory; determine who wi sign the document. Drafting a charter can provide your weness team with an opportunity to think strategicay about what exacty you woud ike the program to accompish and who must be invoved to make it successfu. You may wish to incude the foowing eements in your charter: 1. Definitions and Scope. It is aways important to provide definitions for key terms you wi be using and the scope of your program. Define weness and determine the aspects of weness you wish to incorporate in your program. (See page 2 of this guide.) 6 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

9 To hep our team navigate some of these uncertainties, we deveoped a team charter that ceary expains how we conduct business. It is our foundation for team structure, operation, decision making and communication. Chery Eckhardt Environmenta Compiance Speciaist 2. Purpose Statement. This defining statement articuates the overarching and utimate goas you woud ike your weness program to accompish. Exampe: The purpose of the BIFO Weness Program is to increase workpace satisfaction and improve the overa heath and we-being of empoyees at Big Forest Nationa Park.. Goas. Goas are ong-term accompishments you hope your program achieves that are more tangibe than your purpose statement. Consider the SMART acronym to determine your goas: a. Specific b. Measurabe c. Attainabe d. Reaistic e. Time-bound Exampe: Achieve a 75 percent participation rate in the weness program in three years. 4. Objectives. Objectives are more detaied, action-oriented steps that wi hep focus your program. Exampe 1: To achieve 50 percent participation rates in an annua heath fair. Exampe 2: To conduct five informationa workshops in the current fisca year featuring topics that park empoyees indicated are top priority. 5. Roes and Responsibiities. Consider the key participants who wi be either by the nature of their position or vountariy invoved in the weness program. These individuas might incude the superintendent, park weness team, supervisors, and empoyees. You may even want to incorporate the invovement of externa partnerships. This is aso a good pace to outine the objectives and components of the weness team, such as its overa functions, term engths of members, frequency of meetings, and method of making decisions. 6. Signatures. Ask your superintendent or eader of your empoyee association to sign this document. Visit inside.nps.gov/weness for exampes and tempates of park weness charters. Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 7

10 Step Learn and Assess Determine what empoyees want and need. It is essentia to determine what your feow empoyees desire in an empoyee weness program and what topics they want to address before you deveop a weness program and organize activities. resources Space faciities Assessing eves of interest and the kinds of activities most appeaing to empoyees does not need to be compicated. Simpy hod a meeting and record ideas, ask empoyees to submit suggestions, or conduct a forma survey of a park empoyees. No matter how you assess empoyees interests, the goa is to create a weness program that matches your coworkers wants and needs. Note: Some eements of Steps 2 and may be interchanged. For exampe, you may want to recruit weness team members as you are conducting an empoyee interest assessment. Do you want to conduct an empoyee weness interest survey? No need to reinvent the whee! The NPS Empoyee Weness Program deveoped a survey which may be taiored to fit your park or worksite. Contact the Program Manager at risk_management@nps.gov to obtain assistance in conducting the survey. The empoyee weness needs assessment we conducted at the park heps us better target our heath and weness efforts, increase participation, and meet actua needs of our empoyees. Richard Umann Chief of Interpretation 8 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

11 Know what resources you aready have. Before you start panning your program, it is hepfu to take stock of the resources you have, whether monetary or other. Having a budget for an empoyee weness program can be a great asset, but it is not crucia for a successfu program. There are many ways to impement a program that wi cost the park itte or nothing in actua doars. Consider these non-monetary or free resources that may aready be avaiabe to you: Faciities. Consider meeting rooms; inside or outside spaces for workshops, yoga, meditation, and other activities; pubic recreationa spaces; a fitness faciity; and a stairwe. Equipment. Your computer, a aptop and projector, or teevision and DVD payer coud be used for educationa or exercise videos. Park space. Even if your park is not a recreationa destination, you can make it one. Use your park as a fitness center! Empoyee Assistance Program (EAP). Free financia, ega, menta heath, and other services and resources are avaiabe to a NPS empoyees through EAP Consutants. For more information, visit or ca Heath Insurance Companies. Many heath insurance companies offer no-cost weness services, such as newsetters and tips avaiabe on their website, free smoking cessation programs, heath assessments, coaching, an advice nurse, and an array of toos and resources to pan, track, and evauate your heath. Some offer rebates and gym membership discounts for engaging in heathy behaviors. Human Resources. Consider coworkers with expertise in particuar weness topics, students from a oca university, heath providers in your community, oca organizations and associations, vounteers, and interns. NPS Empoyee Weness Program. The Servicewide program offers a fu-time program manager and website to assist you in your weness program panning. Visit for exampes of activities, sampe charters, contacts, and more. Onine Resources. From information on how to manage a chronic disease to exampes of mode weness programs, take advantage of the weath of credibe resources avaiabe at your fingertips. Check out the ist of Additiona Resources on page 20 of this guide and the Resources ink on Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 9

12 Step 4 Pan Your Program timeine Focus Environment Once you know what peope want and need, you are ready to start panning a program. Preparing a pan wi increase your chances of deveoping a successfu, sustainabe program. How wi you organize your program, what wi you do, and when? Keep in mind the resuts from your empoyee assessment. You wi want to pan the type of program and specific activities that wi inspire the greatest number of empoyees and pan these activities around their schedues. Steps to pan your program: 1. Define the type of program you wi deveop. 2. Determine the kinds of activities and events you want to offer.. Create a budget (if you have funding) and a pan for acquiring the resources you need. 4. Deveop a communications pan. 5. Assign roes and deegate responsibiities for each step. 6. Create a timeine. Note: Fexibiity is the key to success. Program steps can be fuid. Determine your own order of these steps for your individua program. 10 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

13 Foowing are suggestions for guidance on each step of your pan, aong with some exampes. Define your program. Setting high eve goas and more specific objectives in your charter offers you a great start. Now determine how you want to make those goas a reaity. Define the key eements you want to incude and consider the approaches you wish to take in your program, such as the foowing: Improvements to Your Worksite Environment. This program impements a combination of changes to the physica and socia environment that aim to infuence individua heath behavior incuding creating ergonomic work spaces, adding bicyce racks and showers, making a quiet space for meditation, constructing a fitness center, and providing a space for paying physica fitness games on a video game consoe. Impementation of Weness Poicies. Consider park poicies that coud hep create or enhance a cuture of safety, heath, and weness. Exampes incude drafting and impementing heathy meeting poicies; adopting poicies to stock vending machines with heathy foods; working with concessioners to se heathy food options; and instituting reimbursement for fitness center memberships (if appicabe; see HR 05-06); and more. Theme-based Program. Consider offering seasona or rotating themes depending on empoyee needs and interests, perhaps on a quartery basis. For exampe, you coud focus on weatherappropriate fitness activities for each of the seasons throughout the year. Topic-Focused Program. Target actua heath risks and conditions empoyees wish to address, such as smoking cessation, addictions, obesity, diabetes management, and depression. (The resuts from your needs assessment wi be very important here!) Empoyee-driven Program. Empoyees create individuaized pans, estabish their own goas, and track their successes. The key is to encourage individuas to set attainabe goas. Point-based Program. This type of program rewards empoyees with points for competing a variety of activities on their own. Empoyees are recognized after they earn a certain number of points. Eigibe activities coud incude receiving fu shots, denta ceanings, cancer screenings, and attending weness workshops. Buddy System. Consider creating buddy groups or some type of support system to hep keep each other accountabe and motivated. Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 11

14 Activities. Next, decide the specific types of activities you wi pan to hep accompish your goas and objectives. Coming up with creative ideas, especiay with a imited budget, is important. A good way to begin is by identifying the interests coworkers expressed on the assessment. Consider the areas of weness discussed in the beginning of this guide: physica, emotiona, spiritua, career, socia, financia, inteectua, and environmenta. These are some exampes of the types of activities or services you can provide: Heath and weness education Heath fairs Fitness casses Group weness activities Heath screenings and immunizations Heath risk assessments Intervention programs An expanded ist of activities is avaiabe on the NPS Empoyee Weness website at What is an HRA and shoud we conduct one?? A Heath Risk Assessment (HRA) is a survey usuay conducted by an externa party that coects biometric measurements and behavior-based information that identify heath risk factors. HRAs provide empoyees with personaized information on their heath status and are usuay suppemented with individuaized education to hep promote heath and prevent or manage disease based on the identified heath risks. The empoyer usuay receives generaized information about the heath status of a empoyees (with a persona identifiabe heath information removed), so a weness team can taior activities based on the identified heath risks. Conducting HRAs periodicay (e.g., annuay) aows empoyees to track their individua disease management and prevention efforts, and enabes empoyers to identify trends in the overa empoyee popuation. 12 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

15 Create a Budget. Creating a budget is an essentia part of the panning process because it heps you to determine how much you are abe to invest in your program and which activities you may be abe to offer. If you require additiona resources, task a team member or a group of members to strategize and seek out the resources you need. Contrary to what you might think, it is not necessary to have a arge budget to run a quaity program. There are many ways to create programs that cost nothing or make use of resources to which you aready have access. For exampe, many empoyees may be avaiabe with reevant skis fitness, nutrition, cooking who are wiing to vounteer their time to teach a cass or ead an event. Empoyee costsharing for specific activities, ike yoga casses, is aso an option. Communications Pan. To ensure the highest participation, deveop a communications pan that wi reach as many empoyees as possibe at your park. Learn what methods of communication (buetin boards, a-empoyee memos, emai, newsetters, websites, a weness event caendar, word of mouth, socia media, etc.) are most used by empoyees, and promote your weness program through as many outets as possibe. Make sure to use anguage that is warm and wecoming. No money? No probem! There are penty of free and ow-cost activities and weness projects: $ n n n n n n Spruce up a stairwe to use for exercise (visit Make heathy snacks avaiabe at your worksite (visit Designate space to be used for meditation. Use your park as a gym: create trai maps with cacuations of caories burned. Organize a pot uck or recipe exchange using heathy foods. Estabish an empoyee cost-sharing activity such as an exercise boot camp. Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 1

16 Roes and Responsibiities. After you decide which activities you woud ike to pan, determine what steps are required to make them happen and deegate responsibiities. You may have aready started this process when you determined the roes on your team. But this time, it wi be more detaied and specific to the actua activities you are panning. Make sure every task has someone responsibe for its competion. Our commitment to improving pubic heath wi be mirrored in interna programs for our workforce. Heathy Parks Heathy Peope US Strategic Action Pan Nationa Park Service Timeine. Once you know which activities you wish to pan, determine the steps to take and set target dates for accompishing them. Make your timeine reaistic; timeines are easy to create, but often harder to keep! You can aways add more activities ater. Foowing is an exampe of panning the steps and timeine for a unchtime weness series program: Timeine for Lunchtime Weness Series Step Timeine Staff Recruit interested empoyees to ead weness-reated casses during unch. Determine a budget. Jan Feb Jan Feb * Beth, Keith Anna, Jose Seek additiona resources. Contact EAP, community heath providers, and oca university for experts to ead informationa workshops and free and ow-cost services. Estabish a monthy schedue; incude a aunch date and specify activities (e.g., wak, bike ride, educationa workshop), and meet-up ocation or room ocation. Deveop marketing materias for the activity such as fyers and emai from the superintendent. Recruit empoyees to participate. Deveop a feedback sheet for a program aunch event. Launch the program.* Evauate the program.** Ongoing Jan Feb Feb Mar Mar 15 Apr 15 Apr 15 Apr 0 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 1 Dec Anna, Jose Sonja, Anna Sonja, Anna Keith Weness Team Keith Weness Team Beth, Jose * A program aunch coud be the first activity in your unchtime workout program or a big kickoff event. See Step 5 for information about the kickoff event. ** See Step 6 for information about evauating your weness program. 14 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

17 Points to remember: There is no set mode. You are free to create, change, and adapt whatever pan you woud ike, providing it stays within your budget and adheres to Department of the Interior and NPS reguations. A successfu program does not need to offer an extensive array of activities. Instead, focus on targeting your coworkers needs and interests. Be incusive! Use your coworkers as a resource for generating innovative ideas. Make sure that the program and activities you pan aign with your park s cuture, empoyee needs and interests, and communication styes. The research you competed in Step finding out what aready exists shoud give you a good idea of where to start. In addition to taking care of others, make sure you take care of yoursef so that you have the capacity to carry out the program. What do you need to hep you run this program? More human power? More time? Don t be afraid to ask. Avoid burnout by taking into consideration how many active members there are and panning accordingy. Remember, you do not need to ro everything out at once. It is better to pan a few high-quaity, we-panned activities than try to accompish too many activities in the beginning of your program. Sometimes, ess is more! Keep it fun, and keep it simpe. Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 15

18 Step 5 Take Action Encouragement participation Recognition Once you have a pan, it is time to take action! Set a positive and encouraging tone from the very beginning. Addressing weness is easier for some and more difficut for others, so it is essentia to make the program fun and doabe. Your chaenge is to transform the program from a shoud-do to a want-to-do and can-do. The steps beow wi hep you accompish that. Spread the word. Get the word out about the program and upcoming activities make announcements, send emais, create a weness event caendar, post fyers. Word of mouth is an exceent way to pass information aong but shoud not be the ony method of communication. It is aso important to advertise the program to empoyees repeatedy and in a variety of ways. Kick it off. Get your weness program off to a great start by hoding a kickoff event or meeting that brings awareness to the program and sets the tone for making it fun. It can be a simpe potuck in the break room or outside, a more eaborate heath fair, or another event of your choice. Encourage participation. Make it fun! Generate excitement and interest among coworkers this invoves the art of motivating. The first step to motivating others is being motivated yoursef and eading by exampe. If you are passionate, others wi foow. Make the activities entertaining. Incorporate group games and friendy competitions into your weness program or impement a buddy system or accountabiity groups to encourage each other to reach goas. Make it easy to participate make activities easy to understand and simpe to sign up for. Ideay, they shoud require a minima amount of time and be enjoyabe. Stay positive and take chaenges as they come. Be sensitive to the barriers that can hinder empoyee participation, such as ack of time and energy, famiy commitments, existing heath probems, or addictions. 16 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

19 Encourage widespread participation by panning quaity events based on what empoyees said they want and need, advertising appropriatey and extensivey, and posting pictures afterwards to encourage more participation during the next event. Be prepared to answer questions. As with any new program, sometimes it is hepfu to make a ist of common questions and answers and post it in a Frequenty Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet. Recognize empoyees for participating. Ceebrating empoyee participation in the weness program with non-monetary gifts is a great way to keep energy and momentum high. Recognition shows empoyees that the NPS vaues their we-being and ets them know they are a priority. It is aso a great opportunity to share ideas and encourage others to participate in simiar activities. Be creative and do what works best for your park within the imits and guideines of federa and NPS reguations. Recognize empoyees who meet persona heath and weness goas by sharing their success stories (through buetin boards, newsetters, websites, etc.). Give heath-reated gifts such as pedometers, jump ropes, exercise stretch bands, resistance tubes, and stress bas. Send thank you notes, issue certificates of competion, and offer verba recognition. Host group ceebrations such as potucks, picnics, award dinners, ceebratory hikes, and camping trips. Nationa parks are mode settings to promote physica activity, heathy eating, and menta heath, whie aso demonstrating how human heath is interdependent on the heath of a species and our environment. Heath and Weness Initiative Launch Cuyahoga Vaey Nationa Park Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 17

20 Step 6 Evauate Evauate your program. To strengthen your program, identify gaps, and ensure you are reaching your targets, incorporate an evauation component to your program. Brainstorm revitaize Expore Two approaches can hep you evauate your program. Try to incude eements of both approaches in your evauation methods. 1. Quantitative Deveop specific metrics. These can incude how many empoyees attended each weness workshop or event and the number of peope who stopped smoking. Track activity costs, incuding fees for services, staff time, and any equipment or materias purchased for each event. 2. Quaitative Coect feedback from participants after each activity. Distribute evauation forms to hep you to obtain the information you need to make the activity even better next time. Some questions you might incude are: What went we? What coud have been better? What woud you change? Draft a short summary of each event and incude performance metrics, costs, and key responses from the evauations. Summaries drafted throughout the year wi come in handy when conducting a periodic review of your overa program. Conduct a periodic review of your weness program. At the end of every year (or whatever timeframe works best), take some time to refect on what went we, what coud have been better, and what you woud ike to change in the future. This assessment can be in the form of a short survey, short interview with participants, or review of the participant evauation forms from each event. This assessment can hep you earn what worked, what did not, and how you can make the program even better. Share your findings with a empoyees at the park so they know the impact of the program. Aso, sharing this information with other parks wi hep you and the agency as a whoe impement a stronger overa empoyee weness program. 18 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

21 Sustain your program. If your program is going we: Think about sustaining your success. Vary your activities to keep empoyees engaged. Consider adding new activities if you can. Growth is good, but maintaining the program at a sustainabe pace is equay, if not more, important. Offer more specific activities or casses on targeted heath issues. Conduct a more in-depth empoyee needs assessment to determine which areas are of greatest interest at your park. Bring in new team members so that you can pan additiona activities and programs when you are ready. Identify creative ways of finding new funding to expand the quaity or quantity of programs. If the program coud use some revitaizing: Assess what has been working and what has not; what programs shoud be eiminated or repeated? Think about what you can do to improve participation eves and how you can reach out to those who do not participate. Brainstorm new strategies or program focus. Address components of the weness whee you have not focused on before. Examine your communication strategies are they reaching your intended audience? Obtain testimonias from staff who enjoy participating in the program, and share the good news! Seek feedback from past participants. Recruit new team members. Expore new ways to make participation easy and fun. Soicit ideas from coworkers on how to make the program better, either informay or through a survey. Tak to empoyees at other parks about their weness programs and find out what works we for them. Mix it up; offer different programs at different times and paces. Get a fresh set of eyes to ook at the program; an outside consutant, vounteer, or student intern might be a great hep. Six Steps to Creating a Weness Program 19

22 Thank You and Enjoy! Be sure to thank everyone who has been invoved in creating the program for their time, effort, and hard work! Have fun with the process, ask questions when you need hep, and fee confident that you are making a difference in your parks. Share with other parks the creative programs and activities you deveop, the essons you earn, and your ideas for how to improve in the future. To your heath and success! Additiona Resources CDC Nationa Heathy Worksite Program CDC Heathier Worksite Initiative: Introduction: Tookits: CDC: How much physica activity do aduts need? ChooseMyPate.gov: EAP Consutants: Weness Counci of America (WELCOA): NPS Empoyee Weness Program: 20 Nationa Park Service Empoyee Weness Program Guide

23 For neary 100 years, the NPS has contributed to the heath and we-being of Americans by providing paces that enabe physica activity, promote menta heath and weness, and foster community through the preservation of ecosystems and interpretation of a shared heritage. Heathy Parks Heathy Peope US Science Pan Nationa Park Service For more information go to

24 Nationa Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior