Joining the Dots to Graph the Success of Your Workplace Wellness Program

For any newly initiated program or policy, ultimately, it’s the results that dictate whether it should become a mainstay or be abandoned. Even if optimization is being sought to evaluate the case further and make a final decision, a company still needs to review the results to date.

Workplace wellness programs are no different.

The question is:

How can you graph the success of your workplace wellness program?

It all starts with a review of why a workplace wellness program was offered in first place.

Why is that so important?

It’s important because until you don’t identify reasons behind the introduction of a workplace wellness program, you won’t be able to identify the KPIs to help you in your evaluation.

Now as far as the incorporation of a workplace wellness program goes, the needs of every organization differ. So do their priorities and reasons for the program.

These priorities won’t only differ from company to company, but will also vary from one industry to another. Even the senior leadership, directors and managers within a company might set different objectives.

Let’s explain it with some examples…

For instance, the senior leadership with a holistic viewpoint may focus on helping employees to make better health decisions. On the other hand, directors and managers may emphasize more on reducing company’s healthcare costs.

Manufacturers may focus more on reducing absenteeism and improving productivity with a wellness program, while a healthcare provider may focus more on reducing health risks of its employees.

Likewise, though the program deployment a growing company may focus more on staff retention, attracting new talents and improving the morale of its workforce. An established giant, on the other hand, may focus more on improving employees’ efficiency and reducing care costs. So, on and so forth…

The point is you need to know reasons why a workplace wellness program was introduced in first place.

Once you have identified the reasons and mined through the correlating KPIs, you then need to choose an evaluation strategy.

ROI or VOI – Which should be the preferred strategy?

When we discuss the success of a project or a business plan, we tend to look at the return on investment.

Until recently, same was the case with workplace wellness program, with companies delving into the financial data of health care cost savings and sick leaves utilized by their employees. This is now changing; the strategy looks to be outdated and unaccommodating.

How are you going to quantify employee morale, productivity and satisfaction through traditional ROI values?

Companies have started shifting their focus towards assessing the overall value of a wellness program. This overall assessment includes the evaluation of tangible as well as intangibles. The approach is called value on investment.

How to determine VOI for your workplace wellness program?

Below are few guidelines to help you out.

How to assess the productivity?

There are number of KPIs and management tools through which you can measure employees’ productivity. One such metric could be the absenteeism index. A lower absenteeism index means that each day you are having maximum resources at your disposal which correlates with greater production. Similarly, if you can quantify your output, it will also help assess the productivity of your workforce.

How to evaluate whether your employees are satisfied with their jobs?

This can be evaluated through employee feedback forms and analyzing the employee turnover at your company. If the feedback is positive and the turnover rate is low, it correlates with improved job satisfaction.

How to evaluate health risk status?

To evaluate employees’ health risk status, you can set up periodic biometric screenings. You can monitor body fat, blood pressure, anxiety level through questionnaires along with other parameters. Once you have the data, you can then compare it with records gathered at the start of the program.

How to establish a camaraderie index?

This can be a little tricky in comparison to the assessment of other KPIs. One way is to set up activities which focus on collaborative execution and then study the groups to establish a camaraderie index.

For instance, you can divide your employees into teams and set up a weight loss target for each. You can then monitor the progress of each of the groups. A progression in their individual trajectories correlates to better team work, and improved team work corresponds to improved camaraderie.

Improved camaraderie is also reflected from improved workplace efficiency and lesser number of workplace conflicts and inter-departmental complaints.

And this way, you’ll be able to join the dots to graph the success of your workplace wellness program.

Need Help?

JS Benefits Group can help you. We are one of the leading employee benefits program and HR Consulting Firms in Pennsylvania. We can help you with the optimization of your current wellness plan as well as design a new program for you.  Contact us for more details.