Posted by Employer Wellness | Posted in Employer Wellness | Posted on 07-12-2008
What is Employer Wellness Program data?
Employer Wellness Program data is information that is collected about your Employee Health Promotion Program. All Employee Health Promotion Programs should include data as an integral part of the Employer Wellness Program plan.
Why should you care about Employer Wellness Program data?
Data tells the Wellness story. Data is the tangible evidence of a Wellness Program’s impact.
Building data into Employee Health Promotion Programs
Why bother with Employer Wellness Program Data?
You need Employer Wellness Program data to:
• Assess whether or not your Employer Wellness Program is working.
• Answer the ‘so what?’ about the need for a Employee Health Promotion Program.
• Offer information to Upper Management about the impact of the Employee Health Promotion Program.
• Write a budget justification so you can secure Employer Wellness Program resources.
• Use Employer Wellness Program resources efficiently and market your Employer Wellness Program more effectively.
Where to start collecting Employer Wellness Program data:
• MAKE A PLAN to collect the data: decide what, when, and how data will be collected.
• Determine what data is ALREADY BEING COLLECTED.
o By way of example: use dairy sales data in the dining facility to measure the impact of a milk marketing/dairy month campaign.
• Start collecting JUST A FEW small pieces of information. Be innovative!
o By way of example: BMI, APFT scores (before & after), tobacco quit rates
IT’S NEVER TO LATE TO START collecting Employer Wellness Program data.
Innovative Employer Wellness Program data strategies
• Use local college/graduate students to help collect, input, and analyze Employer Wellness Program data.
• If your employer has an internship program, get to know the Internship Director. Take advantage of intern resources – including having the Director and/or interns begin the data collection plan for your Employee Health Promotion Program.
• Use data to let upper management know about the Employee Health Promotion Programs affect on the workers.
Present this information at their monthly/quarterly meetings.
• Use innovative follow-up strategies to get data. Phone calls can be effective, but also consider email, mailed surveys with return postage provided, and going to the units in person to collect the information.
• Make data collection ‘fun’ for Employer Wellness Program members.
o By way of example: use a team approach – the team with the ‘best’ overall results gets some sort of award or recognition.
• ALWAYS relate the impact of your Employer Wellness Program to readiness.