Health Handouts : Employee Wellness Program: Establish Goals and Objectives  

A Corporate Health Promotion Program without objectives and goals is somewhat akin to taking a family trip without any planning; you won’t know where you’re going, how to get there, what you want to do once you have arrived, or even whether or not you have arrived!  The trip may end up ok, or it may end up disastrously.  Yet, with a bit of thoughtful planning, you broaden your chances for a successful experience.  Clear objectives and goals are necessitated to plan your wellness program in order to ensure success!

Wellness program goals are different from one business to another depending on the population, needs, interests and resources.  Nevertheless, well thought out objectives based on your company’s needs assessment will form the foundation of a efficacious wellness program!

Worksite Health Promotion Program Mission Statement

The first consideration is a mission statement for your Corporate Wellness Program. The mission statement is the overall expression of what the Corporate Wellness Program Committee wants to accomplish by implementing a wellness program.  It is important to consider how your Corporate Wellness Program fits in with the company mission statement, contributes to the overall mission and supports the company bottom line.  This will integrate your efforts throughout the company operations.  

Here are some examples of Employee Wellness Program mission statements:

“At XYZ Business, maintaining an environment that supports employee health and safety is our underlying value.  It is the mission of the Employee Wellness Program to help  in starting Employee Wellness Program services that fosters and upholds that value.”

“It is the mission of the XYZ Corporate Health Promotion Program Committee to develop healthier lifestyle choices to decrease health risk factors, better overall wellbeing, and maintain a productive, active work force.”

Corporate Wellness Program Goals

The goals/objectives further define your mission and are based on your needs assessment.  Depending on the needs assessment, senior staff expectations and employee interests, examples of goals/objectives can include:

The goal(s) of XYZ Corporate Wellness Program in year XXXX is to:  (one or more of the following examples)

• Decrease absenteeism by one day per employee
• Cut down on musculoskeletal injuries by 10%
• Lower unnecessary emergency room visits
• Lower or contain health care costs
• Improve dietary habits of staff members
• Cut down on health risk factors  

Employee Health Promotion Program Objectives

Specific Corporate Wellness Program objectives help meet your long-term goals/objectives.  Both short term and long term objectives should be developed as the stepping stones to accomplish the goals/objectives.  In addition to objectives for the expected attendant outcomes, process objectives should also be developed for the program process itself.  By way of example, process objectives may include the number of employees you want to take part in the programs, the number of sessions on a topic will be offered, the type of wellness sessions that will be implemented, etc.

Objectives must be easily measurable within a set time frame.  Try using the SMART formula to establish both your long and short-term goals/objectives:

• Specific (one behavior or outcome)
• Measurable (one result that can be observed or evaluated),
• Attainable (but also challenging),
• Realistic (do you have the resources to achieve?), and
• Time specific (within 3 months – up to 5 years)  

This is the who, what, when, where, why, and by how much method.  By way of example, the mission for a weight loss program that has an overriding objective of improving healthy eating and promoting a healthy weight is that:

Members (who) will lose an average of .5 – 1 lbs per week (specific what that is measurable) at the end of the 12 week lunchtime program (time specific what, when and where) for a minimum of 6 lbs weight loss per colleague (attainable and realistic).

Or:

Participants (who) will go to 11 of the 12 sessions (specific what that is measurable) and name at least one healthier eating change at the end of the program (specific what, when, where)

An example of the mission for coaching employees with high cholesterol might be:

To decrease the total cholesterol (specific what) of high risk workers with cholesterol over 240 mg/dl (specific who) to 200 mg/dl (measurable how much) through one-on-one counseling sessions provided at the worksite (where) by X date (ex, after 6 months) (attainable, realistic & time specific when) to decrease the risk factor for heart disease (why).  

And one last example of a process objective for a smoking cessation program with an overall intention to assist  participants in committing to quit for life:

By the end of the 4-week tobacco cessation program, ten% of the participants will have quit smoking.  Each colleague will be contacted at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from the program’s end to determine quit status (process intention) and ten% of those who quit will still be tobacco-free after one year.

You have now completed Steps 1 through 4, including adopting your Workplace Wellness Program Committee.  It is now time to plan your wellness activities!