5 Strategies to Navigate Your Way to Corporate Wellness Program Success

Biometric screening is an essential part of improving your wellness program to achieve better results.It’s the kind of question a sailing captain asks after looking at navigation data, reviewing the weather and competition, and assessing the crew’s list of strengths and weaknesses.Pay attention. Make adjustments. Follow the route. Keep going.It’s how Captain Jim Weyand recently sailed a 35-foot yacht 333 miles on Lake Michigan with a crew of eight to win the oldest freshwater sailing race in the world.If you want to steer your wellness program in the right direction, follow Weyand’s example. What’s working? What’s not? And where can you improve?When you know the route to wellness program success, you can implement strategies to achieve better results.Check out these 5 strategies to steer your wellness program in the right direction:

1. Collect biometric screening data

It’s the foundation of every evidence-based wellness program. Are your employees at risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, or obesity? Biometric screening data is the easiest and least complicated way to find out and measure things like blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Think of it like GPS data a captain uses to steer a ship.

• The route to wellness program success: Organize and invite your employees to complete a biometric screening at least once a year. Compare results from year to year. Evaluate your population results data, and make adjustments to improve.

2. Use a health risk assessment

Biometric screening data doesn’t tell the whole story. More information from a health risk assessment can help you make better decisions about how to run your wellness program. Think of it like this…a captain uses multiple reference points and tools to decide how to steer a ship, and so should you.

• The route to wellness program success: Invite your employees to complete a health risk assessment that asks detailed questions about their health history, diet, exercise, sleep, and other lifestyle habits. Then review the data to evaluate their strengths and where you can help them improve. Measure results from year to year to find out if you’re making progress.

3. Track steps and exercise activity

Are your employees getting enough exercise? The American College of Sport Medicine recommends adults get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. If you want a healthier crew, encourage your employees to exercise, take walk breaks, and be more active.

• The route to wellness program success: Invite employees to track their steps or exercise activity with a digital fitness tracking device, smartwatch, mobile app, or other wearables. Evaluate the data to see if they’re getting enough exercise. If not, identify ways to encourage them to be more active such as rewards, incentives, exercise classes, and organized walk breaks.

4. Provide health coaching services

If you’re running a ship with an inexperienced sailing crew, they’re probably willing to steer the ship, but need help from a captain to be successful. Your wellness program participants are a lot like that. A little help can make a big difference to promote health, prevent disease, and improve productivity.

• The route to wellness program success: Connect your employees with a health coach who will review biometric screening data, health risk assessment results, discuss diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits, and help them set goals. A health coach can also monitor progress, measure results, and hold employees accountable to keep them headed in the right direction.

5. Evaluate health claims data

Where did you come from? Where are you now? Where are you going? Those are three questions a sailing captain considers hundreds of times a day to stay the course. Your employee health claims data can tell you a lot about the health of your population.

• The route to wellness program success: Work with your human resources benefits team and health insurance provider to evaluate health claims data from year to year. What health conditions are most common among your population? What health conditions are the most costly? And what can you do to reduce these health risks and healthcare costs? Based on the results, develop specific interventions to reduce these health risks. Then measure your results.

Steer your wellness program in the right direction

If you want to steer your wellness program in the right direction, add these tips to the route you’ve planned to achieve success. As a manager or administrator, think of yourself as the captain of your wellness program.With the right tools to measure and evaluate your progress, and encourage participation, you’ll achieve better results and reach your destination sooner.

Looking for a wellness platform to help guide your ship?

The FitLyfe 360 wellness platform is the most agile and powerful wellness platform in the wellness industry, highly flexible, and designed to accommodate any wellness strategy. Let’s connect.