Wellness Articles

A gap analysis is an assessment tool that enables a business to compare its current capabilities and performance with industry benchmarks and expectations for performance. A gap analysis is used to identify areas that have room for improvement.

Gap analysis can also be used for your Employee Health and Wellness Program to determine where the program stands now and how the Employee Health and Wellness Program can better follow evidence-based recommendations.

To begin a gap analysis, ask these simple questions about your Employee Health and Wellness Program:
• What is the current state of the Employee Health and Wellness Program?
• How does the Employee Health and Wellness Program measure up to evidence-based practices? (i.e., the desired state)

The gap is the difference between the current and desired states.

After the gap has been identified, the next step is to determine the action steps that are needed to close the gap. These actions answer the question: “How can the Employee Health and Wellness Program move forward towards the desired state?”

Sometimes the gaps that need to be filled can be addressed through Employee Health and Wellness Program changes; other gaps might require policy changes. However, using a gap analysis will help you identify areas for Employee Health and Wellness Program improvement as well as the actions needed to make progress towards those goals.

Employee Health and Wellness Program business plan review (from Key #19)
• A Employee Health and Wellness Program business plan is a roadmap for success.
• Your Employee Health and Wellness Program business plan should convincingly demonstrate that your Employee Health and Wellness Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

More smart Employee Health and Wellness Program business planning strategies

Planning the Employee Health and Wellness Program

• Find out how your organization plans so that your planning process will be in sync with what already happens in the organization.
• Involve other individuals. A planning team brings their combined experience and perspective to the process. Including potential partners as you plan will make it easier to get their buy-in later.

Thinking of the big picture

• Look at the barriers and challenges that might be encountered during Employee Health and Wellness Program implementation. Develop strategies ahead of time to overcome these potential problems.
• Do a SWOT analysis and examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This analysis will help you identify potential problem areas or resource shortfalls as well as opportunities for growth or increased partnerships with other installation personnel.

The WORST business planning strategy: sitting in your office; working by yourself.

The best Employee Health and Wellness Program business planning strategies
• Get out of your office; get out of the business. The more individuals you involve in the Employee Health and Wellness Program planning process, the better. Always look for ways to expand your network.
• Keep your budget individuals informed. Get to know their philosophy of financial management.
• Be able to articulate the impact if your budget is not fully funded.
o Stay away from basing your impact-if-not-funded argument solely on: “We have to.”
o Instead, describe the impact-if-not-funded with phrases like: injuries to workers, increased compensation costs, increased medical care costs for patients, lost work time, loss of licenses/accreditations, loss of workload to the Tricare network.
• Always have purchase requests ready to be submitted. There is frequently a short window of time to process these requests. Having the information gathered ahead of time will make it easy to submit the information right away.

A well thought-out Employee Health and Wellness Program business plan is essential in these times of shrinking budgets and resources. A good business plan will help you gain leadership support and help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Employee Health and Wellness Program.

A business plan is a roadmap for success. Use the guidelines below to develop a realistic business plan and budget for your Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

What is a business plan?
• A plan for success
• A document that convincingly demonstrates that your Employee Health and Wellness Program will help the organization to achieve its goals.

Questions to ask when developing a Employee Health and Wellness Program business plan
• Why do you need to do the Employee Health and Wellness Program?
• What are you going to do?
• Where are you going to do it?
• Who is the target audience?
• How are you going to do it?
• Who is going to implement the Employee Health and Wellness Program?
• How much will the Employee Health and Wellness Program cost Senior Management?
• What is Senior Management going to get out of the Employee Health and Wellness Program? Why should Senior Management invest in the Employee Health and Wellness Program?

Employee Health and Wellness Program business Plan Components
• Title and duration of the Employee Health and Wellness Program
• Points of contact
• Background information (description of need; bibliography/literature review; how the Employee Health and Wellness Program will help achieve the organization’s goals)
• Employee Health and Wellness Program description
• Goals and objectives
• Implementation site
• Target population
• Work plan
• Partnerships and collaborations
• Timelines and milestones
• Budget and resource requirements (dollars and individuals)

Gaining the support of leadership
• Clearly link the Employee Health and Wellness Program goals and objectives to the organization’s strategic plan.
• Focus on the desired outcomes.
• Use the right language for the right audience. For example, Senior Management is interested in decreased clinic visits, increased provider productivity, management of the health of the population. However, Senior Management is interested in increased readiness, decreased lost duty/training time, and decreased disability and FECA claims.
A well thought-out Employee Health and Wellness Program business plan will help you gain leadership support, help you get and keep resources needed to implement the Employee Health and Wellness Program, and keep the Employee Health and Wellness Program on track towards meaningful outcomes.

As they say: “timing is everything.” Use the guidelines below to guide the timing of Employee Health and Wellness Program activities and data collection.

Timing: Employee Health and Wellness Program Start-up
• Look at the optimal time to start a new Employee Health and Wellness Program. Take into account preferences of the target population and other factors that could affect enrollment and participation.
• For example, coordinating the start of an adult weight management initiative with the start of school in August or September may be a good tie-in with a “fresh start.”
• On the other hand, starting an adult weight management initiative In January may not be a great idea because of the constraints that weather may put on exercising outdoors.
• Take advantage of other timing cycles at your installation. Planning a marketing blitz just after the PCS turnover has been completed is a good way to let new personnel know what Employee Health and Wellness Program options are available.

Timing: Employee Health and Wellness Program Participant Support
• Look at how frequently Employee Health and Wellness Program sessions should be offered to provide the best support and education for members and the best opportunity for success.
• Get feedback from members regarding what session frequencies work best for them.
• Look at the timing for other support mechanisms like email encouragement. What timing of those messages will benefit members most: Weekly? Bi-monthly? Monthly?

Timing: Employee Health and Wellness Program Data Collection
• Collecting data is an excellent way to track participant progress and also to identify potential problems within a Employee Health and Wellness Program. So, give some thought to the frequency and timing of data collection.
• Select metrics that can realistically change during the Employee Health and Wellness Program implementation time period. For example, BMI and weight may not change very much during a 10-week Employee Health and Wellness Program; however, step counts are more likely to noticeably change.
• Some data, such as participant responsiveness to out-of-class assignments (like food journals) and other interim data (like step counts) will provide important information needed to “adjust fire” as needed and make Employee Health and Wellness Program changes if something is not working.
• Be flexible regarding data collection frequency. Instead of requiring that members complete an physical fitness log every day, for example, consider asking for a “snapshot” summary from two or three days during the week. You will still get information to review, but members will have an easier time complying with the assignment.

Timing: Employee Health and Wellness Program Follow-up
• Because the we are such a mobile population, it’s best to plan some sort of post-Employee Health and Wellness Program follow-up data collection within two to four months after the Employee Health and Wellness Program ends.
• You can always try to collect additional follow-up data at 6 or 12 months after Employee Health and Wellness Program completion. However, if you collect the data sooner, you’ll at least have collected some short term Employee Health and Wellness Program impact information before members are lost to follow-up.

Employee Health and Wellness Program communication is important to all aspects of Wellness and preventive medicine and is relevant to:
• Healthcare provider-patient relationships
• An individual’s exposure to, search for, and use of Employee Health and Wellness Program information
• Effective counseling and patient education for behavior change
• Content of public health messages and community campaigns

Effective health communication should have these attributes:
• Accuracy: content is valid and error-free
• Availability: delivered or placed where the intended audience can access the information
• Balance: content presents benefits and risks of potential actions
• Consistency: content is locally consistent over time and is also consistent with information from other reliable sources
• Evidence-based: content and methods of delivery are based on relevant scientific evidence
• Reach: content gets to or is available to as many individuals as possible in the target population
• Reliability: content source is credible; content is kept up-to-date
• Repetition: delivery of/access to the content is continued over time, to reinforce the impact with the audience and to reach new members of the target population
• Timeliness: content is provided when the audience is most receptive to, or in need of, the specific information
• Understandability: reading, language levels, and format are appropriate for the specific audience (i.e., Employees, Family Members, Garrison leadership, etc.)

What the research says about health communication
• Health communication best supports Wellness when multiple communication methods are used to reach specific audiences.
• Effective Wellness and communication initiatives should reflect an audiencecentered perspective, and reflect the preferred formats, contexts, and method of communication for the intended audience.

Material adapted from: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. 2 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000.
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/HTML/Volume1/11HealthCom.htm

Evaluation of successful Employee Health and Wellness Programs has revealed several primary Employee Health and Wellness Program strategies to increase Employee Health and Wellness Program effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #5: Using a small number of targeted priorities maintains Employee Health and Wellness Program focus.

• Needs assessment data can be used to identify leading health needs and also high risk populations.
• Choosing a handful of specific health needs on which to focus will maximize efficient use of resources.
• Keeping the Employee Health and Wellness Program focus small will avoid duplication of other ongoing installation Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

Strategy #6: Use standardized processes whenever possible.

Reduce the amount of variation within your Employee Health and Wellness Programs by standardizing all the processes needed for Employee Health and Wellness Program planning and implementation. For example:
• Use the same spreadsheet format for data collection so that the columns are in the same order. This way you can compare data more easily.
• Reuse the same forms for enrollment and attendance. Change the heading as needed.
• Look at other Wellness Programming processes (like registration, evaluation, marketing, etc.). What parts of those processes can be standardized?
• The Wellness and Prevention Initiatives website (http://chppmwww. apgea.army.mil/dhpw/Population/HPPiFunction.aspx) has many standardized Employee Health and Wellness Program resources in a variety of topic areas.

Strategy #7: Employee Health and Wellness Program delivery methods should be flexible and adapted to population needs.

• Delivery of products and services may depend on: unit needs, training requirements, other scheduling considerations (such as work/duty schedules, school scheduling, etc.), participant preference, and/or availability of staff or space.
• Be flexible: the same produce/service delivery methods may not work for every population.
• Some units may want services provided to them as close as possible to the unit location; other units may prefer as many services as possible bundled together at once (regardless of location).
• Take Wellness and preventive medicine beyond the walls of the business in order to meet leadership and worker needs. Answer the question: “How can we best help leadership and Employees to fulfill their mission?”

Evaluation of successful Employee Health and Wellness Programs has revealed several primary Employee Health and Wellness Program strategies to increase Employee Health and Wellness Program effectiveness and impact overall Soldier health.

Strategy #1: Communication with leadership is essential

• Assess leadership priorities.
• Report Employee Health and Wellness Program outcomes back to leadership in a timely manner.
• Equal investments of support from both the medical and line community will result in enhanced Employee Health and Wellness Program success.

Strategy #2: Employee Health and Wellness Program planning must be driven by data.

• Determine specific needs of the target population.
• Focus on the health status of the population as a whole to identify the top health concerns.
• Information should drive decisions regarding which health needs should be addressed first.

Strategy #3: Use electronic data collection and reporting as frequently as possible.

• Centrally collected data in an electronic format is essential for determining population health needs.
• Electronic reporting is also very valuable when communicating Employee Health and Wellness Program outcomes to leadership and other stakeholders.
• Flexible reporting capabilities allow data to be presented as information that can support decision-making, in formats that decision-makers prefer.

Strategy #4: Multidisciplinary collaboration enhances worker health and maximizes available resources.

• Collaboration between health disciplines increases effectiveness of Wellness and preventive medicine initiatives.
• Don’t forget to look outside the business for collaboration partners.
• Optimized Employee Health and Wellness Program outcomes can be met by coordinating the activities of medical consultants, cadre, community agents, and funding sources.
• Bundling services together also provides the additional benefit to units by conserving training and mission time.
Implementing these strategies can improve Employee Health and Wellness Program effectiveness and optimize available resources.

Changing health-related behaviors is a difficult challenge. Incorporate the tools below into your Wellness initiatives to assist members in successfully changing health behaviors.

Tool #1: Establish effective goals

• Focus on areas that can impact the overall goal.
• For example, if the overall goal is to lose weight, the most productive areas to focus on are the dietary and activity changes that will lead to long-term weight loss.
• For example, stress management and improving self-esteem may also impact weight loss; however, improving relationships, while a worthwhile topic, will not necessarily impact weight loss.
• Make the goals specific, attainable, and forgiving. For example:
• “Exercise more” is too general.
• “Walk five miles everyday” is specific, but may not be attainable.
• “Walk 30 minutes everyday” is specific and more attainable, but is not very flexible.
• “Walk 30 minutes, five days a week” is specific, attainable, and forgiving.
• Use a series of short-term goals to achieve the ultimate goal.
• Short-term goals break big challenges into more easily attained pieces.
• Smaller steps also provide Employee Health and Wellness Program members with encouragement and success. These small successes are essential for maintaining motivation towards a long-term goal.

Tool #2: Increase self-awareness

• Self-monitoring is useful for tracking behavioral and environmental cues that trigger a particular health behavior.
• Keeping track of health behavior status is also useful for times when progress towards a goal is difficult to measure, or when an individual is in a maintenance stage.

Tool #3: Provide rewards and motivation

• Encourage members to reward themselves for achieving small successes on the way to their ultimate goal.
• Remember that rewards don’t always have to be “things.” Words of encouragement and praise can provide powerful motivation when spoken by a teacher, instructor, parent, friend, etc.

Tool #4: Respond effectively to set-backs

• health behavior change is conceptually a continuum. However, movement along that continuum is not just in one direction. Employees can move backwards or forwards or sometimes just stay put. Communicate to members that set-backs, lapses and even staying the same (i.e., maintenance) are common for individuals trying to change behavior.
• Stress is frequently a factor in lapses and relapses. Provide a variety of stress management resources to help members better handle the stress which could trigger a set-back.
• Brain storm to create a list of potential (and probable) barriers to participant behavior change. Then formulate strategies to meet each of those challenges.
• Improved time management and decision-making skills can be effective ways to overcome behavior change relapses.
• Provide members with information regarding the behavior change process so that they will be better prepared for the challenges they will face. A brief overview of the Stages of Change may be helpful.

Most companies do not have the Employee Health and Wellness Program resources to address all of their health needs at once. Priorities must be set to determine the most pressing health needs. Use the steps below to prioritize installation Wellness needs.

Assess the health needs of the population.

Collect data about the health needs in the community. How?

• Community- or target group-specific surveys

Identify health needs and at-risk populations.

Use the data to identify leading health needs and also high risk populations. For example:
• Obesity and overweight
• Injury prevention
• Self care

Reduce the list.

Not every health need can (or should) be addressed. Use the following questions to determine which health needs should be addressed first.
• How does the health need impact operational readiness? How big is the impact?
• What are the Senior Management priorities? How does the health need fit into those priorities?
• What are the behavioral factors affecting the health need? What is the evidence that a behavior change will make a difference? Has the behavior been successfully changed by other Employee Health and Wellness Programs?
• What other physical, social, or environmental factors influence the health need or the target population?
• Is the health need a greater problem at the local level than in the U.S. population as a whole?
• Does the business have the subject matter expertise and resources to address the health need?

Develop Employee Health and Wellness Program recommendations.

Only a handful of specific health needs should be focused on in a given year. Keep the following in mind as recommendations are developed as to which specific health needs will be addressed:
• Avoid duplication of other ongoing Employee Health and Wellness Programs whenever possible. Identify Employee Health and Wellness Programs already addressing the health need and/or the target population.
• Identify and assess available resources. Build on existing services whenever possible.

Use the recommendations to offer tailored, targeted, integrated initiatives to address the prioritized list of health needs. Prioritizing health needs will keep Employee Health and Wellness Programs focused, maximize efficient use of resources, and align Wellness efforts with Senior Management goals and priorities.

References
• US Department of Health and Human Services, Planned Approach to Community Health, http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/PATCH/index.htm.
• Implementing a Comprehensive Community Wellness and Well Being Program, presentation by CHPPM-EUR at the 2006 Force Health Protection Conference

Keeping the bottom line up front Bottom Line Up Front in Employee Health and Wellness Program will help you get and sustain Senior Management support. A Bottom Line Up Front approach will also help you more realistically measure the impact of your Employee Health and Wellness Program.

The bottom line in Employee Health and Wellness Programs answer two primary questions:
• How will participant health be improved?
• What’s in it for Senior Management?

The ultimate bottom line: all roads should lead to readiness.
• Always be ready to communicate to leadership the ways that your Employee Health and Wellness Program impacts readiness.
• Think like Senior Management: what Employee Health and Wellness Program outcomes will be important from a Senior Management point of view?
• Develop line-centered language that communicates those outcomes.
• Ask members how they think a particular Employee Health and Wellness Program enhances force readiness. This input is a valuable source of information.

Use the following steps as a Bottom Line Up Front approach to Employee Health and Wellness Programs.

Step 1: Think about the end of the Employee Health and Wellness Program first and plan backwards.
• It has been said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
• Before planning or implementing any part of the Employee Health and Wellness Program, be able to answer the questions: how will participant health be improved? What’s in it for Senior Management?

Step 2: Identify concrete Employee Health and Wellness Program outcomes.
• Identify up front what the Employee Health and Wellness Program is working towards.
o For example: will members lose weight? Walk more steps? Decrease injuries? Move to another stage of change?
• Identify any processes or procedures that will be improved.
o For example: which pharmacy operations will become more efficient? How will record-keeping be streamlined?

Step 3: Determine what will be measured to show that Employee Health and Wellness Program goals were achieved.
• Look at what data is really needed to show Employee Health and Wellness Program effectiveness. Avoid the temptation to collect every possible piece of data. Choose a handful of important data points and stick to those.
• Think backwards when deciding what data to collect – consider how easily follow-up data can be collected when a Employee Health and Wellness Program ends. Getting follow-up data is frequently a challenge.
• Only collect data for health behaviors or indicators that the Employee Health and Wellness Program actually affected.
o For example: if the main Employee Health and Wellness Program goal is that members will walk more steps, then it may be better NOT to choose changes in cholesterol level as a Employee Health and Wellness Program outcome (unless the Employee Health and Wellness Program specifically addresses cholesterol).
• Avoid measuring outcomes that the Employee Health and Wellness Program cannot (or did not) affect.

Step 4: Determine what Employee Health and Wellness Program elements must be included to move members towards the Employee Health and Wellness Program goals.
• The concrete Employee Health and Wellness Program outcomes identified in Step 2 are the compass for keeping the Employee Health and Wellness Program on track. All Employee Health and Wellness Program elements should lead towards that ultimate goal.

Working backwards when planning and implementing Employee Health and Wellness Programs is really forward thinking. Keeping the bottom line up front is a smart approach to Employee Health and Wellness Programs.