Posted by admin | Posted in Workplace Health Promotion | Posted on 12-11-2008
Workplace Health Promotion Programs begin and end with individual health. Individuals, after all, are able to make decisions about maintaining and / or improving their health and wellbeing. Employee Workplace Health Promotion Programs must therefore provide the tools and resources necessary to assist and motivate individuals to actively participate in the program.
Individual health is only one part of starting worker Workplace Health Promotion Programs. Below you’ll find some things to assist you in your efforts to develop a healthy atmosphere for you and your coworkers.
Encouraging Your Employer to Begin an Workplace Health Promotion Program
This is the first step in starting a Workplace Health Promotion Program. In recent times more and more companies are starting to see the value of promoting and supporting the health of their workers. Partnership for Prevention, a nonprofit organization, has released a sourcebook called “Healthy Workforce 2010″ (http://www.wellnessproposals.com/pdfs/tool_kits/healthy_workforce_2010.pdf). This sourcebook is an excellent resource containing information on:
• Benefits of Workplace Health Promotion Programs
• Suggestions on where to begin
• Tools like surveys and evaluation forms
These resources are for both companies and workers to lead the development and assess the effectiveness of their new Workplace Health Promotion Program. Make available it to your employer as a place to begin or read it yourself and present your ideas.
Taking Part in Workplace Health Promotion Programs
Once you have an worker Workplace Health Promotion Program established, participating fully in all aspects of the program is important. Many of us know that we need to more actively engage in Workplace Health Promotion Programs to improve our health, yet have difficulty finding and taking the time to do so. These simple steps can jumpstart your participation in an worker Workplace Health Promotion Program:
• Review the offerings that interest you and that you need for health improvement.
• Schedule time to go to the presentation or service.
• Actively following through with recommendations from the program.
• Make a decision now to improve your health. You will feel better today and tomorrow and the next day for actively moving towards wellness.
Here is a list of potential Workplace Health Promotion Programs that might be available to you at work:
• ergonomic evaluations and ergonomic training classes
• lactation rooms and classes
• prenatal education program
• quiet rooms for relaxation
• stress management programs
• fitness facilities
• onsite corporate massage
• healthy eating education
• worksite primary medical care services
• child care facility or resources and referral service
• tobacco cessation programs parenting classes
• elder care resource and referral service
• cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose screening programs
• influenza vaccinations
• weight management programs
• medical care consumerism programs
• work/life programs
• lifestyle coaching
• onsite mobile mammography
More information to follow in my next posting about Employee Workplace Health Promotion Programs
