LONG LIVE TEXANS WORKPLACE ACTION GUIDE GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTING WELLNESS POLICIES AND PROGRAMS IN THE WORKPLACE Developed for Texas Employers by the Texas Department of State Health Services, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Section with funding from the Community Transformation Grant/Transforming Texas Initiative and the Coordinated Chronic Disease Grant.
The Benefits of Workplace Health Promotion Due to the spiraling costs of health care, workforce health promotion is a topic receiving a lot of attention today. Well-constructed and well-run programs that create policies and an environment to support healthy lifestyles can reduce costs to employers, improve employee health and morale, and help reduce the overall risk for chronic disease in your organization. You don t have to make big changes all at once to institute workplace wellness activities but you can take small steps that will add up to big results for you and your employees. Whatever you do to support physical activity, healthy eating, and being smoke-free in the workplace, you will be doing your part to achieve a healthier workforce. This guide is not intended to be the definitive resource for establishing workplace wellness policies and programs. Neither is it meant to reinvent the wheel. Many tools and publications on worksite wellness promotion already exist, and this guide provides references to numerous examples. Workforce health promotion depends on many factors: the type and size of your organization, your employee profile, aspects of your facility or offices, and the resources available. Once you get to know the options that are available you ll be able to determine what will work best for your organization. Helping to educate your employees about the importance of health promotion activities is key to making them successful. Send them to the Long Live Texans website at LongLiveTexans.com for a Texas-sized dose of helpful information, tips, and resources to reduce their risk for chronic disease through healthy lifestyle practices. You can also post or distribute the five individual action fact sheets included in the Workplace Action Toolkit. FIT AT WORK CHAIR TRICEP DIPS. Secure a chair against the wall and place hands at the end of the chair. Bend your knees so your thighs and lower legs form slightly more than a 90-degree angle. Bend your elbows and slowly lower your body. Straighten the elbows to raise the body. Repeat 12-20 times. This fitness tip is deceptively easy, because it will help build your muscle strength. 2
Getting Started These four activities are critical to designing and implementing a successful workplace wellness program. Planning: Set objectives and goals that fit your organization s purpose, people, and practices. Find planning resources on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Healthier Worksite Initiative Planning web page at: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/programdesign/planning.htm. Needs Assessment: Assess employee needs and interests, the workplace environment, and available resources. There are many tools that can help you with a needs assessment, from employee surveys to cost calculators. Access some of these tools on the CDC Healthier Worksite Initiative Needs Assessment web page at: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/ programdesign//index.htm#assessment. Implementation: Set priorities, design program practices, assign resources, and develop an implementation plan. Check out the implementation resources on the CDC Healthier Worksite Initiative Implementation web page at: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/ programdesign/implementation.html. Evaluation: Analyze the results of your program to determine whether they meet your goals and objectives and to identify what works best and what needs improvement. Take advantage of the resources on the CDC Healthier Worksite Initiative Evaluation web page at: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/ dnpao/hwi/programdesign/evaluation.htm. The worksite wellness program we put in place more than pays for itself. In fact, I d say everything we ve expended has come back to us tenfold. Mike Epps, executive vice president and chief financial officer, American State Bank, Lubbock 3
Tips for Providing a Healthy Workplace Start with an awareness program to educate employees about healthy behaviors and to spark interest. Keep healthy, affordable snacks in vending machines, break rooms, and the cafeteria. Put positive incentive stickers on the low-fat and sugar-free foods. Have a kitchen area available to all employees for personal food preparation. Implement departmental policies that support and encourage healthy lifestyles (i.e. additional time for exercise at lunch). Work toward creating a tobacco-free workplace. Post flyers by elevators suggesting employees take the stairs instead. Find places around the building conducive to physical activity. Have a free fruit day and give away seasonal fruit. Have a homegrown fruit and vegetable exchange. Host onsite group health screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure checks. FIT AT WORK EVERY HALF HOUR WALK AROUND A BIT. This will ensure continuous blood circulation in your arms and legs, and will keep them from getting too strained. Take walks to the water station to refill your glass. If you can afford to take longer breaks, take a short walk outside your building, and use the stairs instead of the elevator. Aside from giving your legs and heart a good workout, you would be able to take in fresh air as well. Have a Goal of the Month for employees, for example, exercising 20 minutes a day. Encourage walking meetings for small groups. Develop walking maps around the building with distance markers. Encourage distance parking or walking or biking to work. Start an exercise club for running, walking, biking, or dancing. Encourage participation in local fitness events. Host support groups for different health issues. Sponsor company weight-loss programs. Negotiate corporate discounts for health club memberships. Encourage fitness breaks instead of breaks for coffee or soda. Complete the Well Workplace Checklist at www.welcoa.org/wwpchecklist/menu.php to see how your organization s health-promotion program rates. Track employee participation in health-promotion activities. 4
The Value of Competition, Recognition... and Fun Competition, recognition, and fun can help motivate your employees to participate in wellness activities and adopt healthier behaviors. Adding a competitive element to health promotion practices, such as individual or team challenges or contests, can o spur incentive and success. It can also aid in measuring results. Recognizing individual and team success through awards or other types of acknowledgement for a job well done can be a lure for employee participation. Having fun makes getting healthier easier and more engaging. It can also enhance employee relationships. Injecting a little fun into your wellness program can be as simple as giving amusing names to your competition and awards. Five years into a worksite wellness program at Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, the employees at risk for physical inactivity had been reduced from 83 percent to 30 percent and those with five or more risk factors, such as high blood pressure, smoking, and obesity, had decreased from 62 percent to 22 percent. The number of smokers was almost cut in half, and worker s comp claims and insurance costs were down. 5
Wellness Program Guidebooks & Planning Models The Texas Department of State Health Services has developed these guidebooks and planning models for companies of all sizes. Use them to design and implement a program that best suits your and your employees needs. BUILDING HEALTHY TEXANS WORKSITE WELLNESS TOOLKIT Designed to help Texas employers develop and improve programs for employee wellness. FIVE A DAY - FIVE A WEEK A four-week program to encourage eating five servings of fruits and vegetables each day and being physically active at least five days a week. LIGHTEN UP TEXAS An eight-week team competition program to encourage safe weight loss through good nutrition and physical activity. MAINTAIN NO GAIN An eight-week program to promote weight maintenance during the holiday season. WORKSITE WELLNESS INDEX A self-assessment and planning guide that will help identify the strengths and weaknesses of a worksite s wellness and health promotion policies and programs as well as help develop an action plan to implement a worksite wellness program or improve an existing one. SAMPLE OUTLINE FOR DEVELOPING AN ORGANIZATION S EMPLOYEE WELLNESS PLAN A booklet that provides a model employee assistance and wellness plan and samples of essential materials necessary for organizations to develop an effective wellness program. DEVELOPING A WORKSITE EMPLOYEE WELLNESS PLAN A template that can serve as a basic start for developing an employee wellness plan. SKYSCRAPER CLIMB A self-paced program that encourages the use of stairs as a form of physical activity. 6
Other Resources The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other entities have developed a large number of resources to help businesses and employers incorporate strategies for chronic disease prevention in the workplace. A SIX STEP GUIDE FOR EMPLOYERS Shows employers how to reduce costs by investing in worksite health promotion. HEALTHIER WORKSITE INITIATIVE www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/index.htm Information, resources, and step-by-step toolkits to help employers improve the health of their workforces. LEAN WORKS! - A WORKPLACE OBESITY PREVENTION PROGRAM www.cdc.gov/leanworks/index.html A web-based resource with interactive tools to help program planners design effective worksite obesity prevention and control programs. OBESITY COST CALCULATOR www.cdc.gov/leanworks/costcalculator/index.html Shows how much obesity costs a company and how much could be saved by implementing an obesity-prevention program. WELLNESS COMMITTEES www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/programdesign/wellness_ committees.htm How to structure worksite wellness committees to gain employee input on activities and planning. IMPLEMENTING A TOBACCO-FREE CAMPUS INITIATIVE IN YOUR WORKPLACE www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/toolkits/tobacco/index.htm Provides guidance for implementing a tobacco-free initiative that includes comprehensive cessation services for employees. HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY GUIDELINES FOR FEDERAL CONCESSIONS AND VENDING OPERATION www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/guidelines/foodservice-guidelines.htm How to make healthier food available in cafeterias, vending machines, snack bars, and other workplace concessions. WORKSITE WALKABILITY AUDIT TOOL www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/toolkits/walkability/ audit_tool.htm Assesses how safe or attractive the walking routes are in your workplace. PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT PLAN www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/professionals/programs/pep.html A 12-week self-directed worksite program to promote healthy eating and moderate physical activity. LACTATION SUPPORT PROGRAM www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/hwi/toolkits/lactation/index.htm Guidance for setting up a comprehensive lactation support program for nursing mothers at the worksite. A PURCHASER S GUIDE TO CLINICAL PREVENTIVE SERVICES: MOVING SCIENCE INTO COVERAGE Translates clinical guidelines and medical evidence in order to provide large employers with the information they need to select, define, and implement preventive medical benefits. 7
What is Long Live Texans? Long Live Texans is the go-to resource for chronic disease prevention in Texas. It is also a movement one in which everyone in the state can take part that aims to take Texas from being a leader in chronic disease rates to being a leader in preventing chronic disease. Developed and managed by the Texas Department of State Health Services, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Section, and funded by the Community Transformation Grant/Transforming Texas Initiative and Coordinated Chronic Disease Grant, Long Live Texans serves as the connector for agencies, organizations, businesses, and communities working collaboratively for the state s Coordinated Chronic Disease Initiative. It is individually and collectively creating education and outreach efforts to increase awareness of chronic disease and its causes and to educate the public about ways to prevent it. EDUCATING AND EMPOWERING Long Live Texans aims to empower individuals and families to take control of their health, inform them of how environment influences personal choice, and encourage them to support change in their communities to promote better health. It also highlights community initiatives that have led to successful policy and environmental change. They serve as models for the rest of the state. ONE-STOP INFORMATION HUB LongLiveTexans.com is an information hub. The website provides guidance on methods that individuals, employers, health-care professionals, and communities can use to prevent chronic disease. It also links you to other programs and resources developed by the state and by federal and nonprofit organizations. Regular updates will continually provide new information. Use the site to find ways that you, your family, your business, and your community can take small steps to be more physically active, eat healthier, and live tobacco-free all to reduce the risk of chronic disease. 8