Posted by admin | Posted in Workplace Health Promotion | Posted on 18-10-2008
Locating an individual to lead your company in starting a Workplace Health Promotion Program
Without a qualified Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator to lead and manage your company’s creation of a culture of health, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s vital that the creation of a culture of health be someone’s priority, not all companys need a full-time coordinator. There are a number of ways to capture the time of a qualified coordinator.
Be careful not to confuse Workplace Health Promotion Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Workplace Health Promotion Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator:
• knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Workplace Health Promotion Programs
• experience working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Workplace Health Promotion Program data
• experience managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• experience in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Workplace Health Promotion Program Procedures.
What will a Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator do?
The Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator is responsible for guiding a process that creates worksite facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Workplace Health Promotion Program:
• act as a liaison between upper management and the Workplace Health Promotion Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Workplace Health Promotion Program
• create and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Workplace Health Promotion Program Procedures
• facilitate Health and Wellness Committee meetings
• lead your company in determining measurable goals for the Workplace Health Promotion Program
• recommend effective Workplace Health Promotion Program Procedures, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Workplace Health Promotion Program Procedures and goals.
Where can we find a qualified Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator?
Explore the following when looking for a Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator:
• Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to serve as a Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your company’s Workplace Health Promotion Program Procedures? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Workplace Health Promotion Program position.
• New staff – Can you hire an individual to be your company’s Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Workplace Health Promotion Program Consultation – Various companys (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Workplace Health Promotion Program consultation on building a culture of health within a worksite.
An outside Workplace Health Promotion Program consultant can advise an internal Workplace Health Promotion Program coordinator and your Health and Wellness Committee on determining priorities and selecting Procedures. Or, you can contract with a Workplace Health Promotion Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.
