Health Fairs

Want some wellness program ideas and wellness policy ideas to get you started? Or maybe you want to jump start or improve upon your current wellness program? The list below provides ‘best practices’ that have the potential to help meet any wellness program budget! The Employee Wellness  ideas are divided into topic areas.

General Wellness Progam Ideas

• Administer an Employee Needs & Interest Survey
• Create a Employee Wellness  Committee
• Identify health insurance plans that cover expenditures for weight management and tobacco cessation
• Waive co-pay or reimburse for preventive health care visits
• Display handouts on a variety of wellness topics for employees to take
• Create a wellness resource center or library with videos, books, magazines, DVD’s on a variety of topics of interest to employees
• Identify employees who are mentors or champions for healthy activities and ask them to present or to list as a contact for other employees
• Plan and promote periodic or regular educational sessions.
• Plan monthly educational sessions on the national health observance topic
• Post a Wellness Bulletin Board & update it monthly
• Post messages from national health observances during the month
• Provide healthy tips in newsletters, paycheck stuffers, bulletin boards, etc.
• Offer a benefits fair
• Offer business fitness and healthy eating challenges
• Offer business health & wellness fairs or other on-Site events

Nutrition Programs

• Offer free, healthy snacks for employees (fruit, nuts, popcorn)
• Offer healthy meal choices in cafeterias and at business events
• Provide information to employees about the nutritional content of food served in the cafeteria
• Create a fresh fruit “snack basket” in the breakroom or cafeteria
• Stock snack machines with healthier options
• Subsidize healthy foods in the cafeteria or snack machines (10¢ apples may be more appealing than $1.00 candy bars)
• Begin a weekly or monthly healthy lunch club
• Have handouts available on a variety of healthy eating topics
• Include diet articles in business newsletters
• Provide a healthy food tasting contest Free
• Provide educational sessions at lunchtime-time on a variety of diet topics of interest
• Offer an employee healthy meal cookbook. Either sell the cookbook and use profits for programs, or purchase a cookbook for all employees

Weight Loss Programs / Weight Management Programs

• Consider offering flexible work schedules so that employees have the potential to participate in weight-loss programs
• Subsidize registration expenditures for weight-management programs
• Offer a support group to help employees who are trying to lose weight
• Locate registered dieticians near your worksite as a resource for employees who want information on healthy eating, meal planning or weight control
• Offer individual counseling for employees trying to lose weight
• Offer onsite fitness and weight-management programs through your local hospital, Weight Watchers, TOPS or local, registered dietician
• Provide an educational session on diet myths and healthy eating

Physical Activity Programs

• Offer flexible work schedules to encourage exercise
• Create a fitness space with aerobic equipment, and weights
• Create accessible walking paths, trails, and/or bike routes
• Urge employees to walk more by parking farther away from the entrance
• Create a fitness center with aerobic equipment, weights, aerobic classes, fitness professionals
• Hold walking meetings
• Make the stairways more appealing (carpet, fresh paint, artwork, posters)
• Offer reduced health club membership fees to all employees
• Provide facilities for employees to secure bikes
• Provide 5 – 10 minute stretch breaks during the day
• Subsidize health club membership for employees who participate a minimal number of days per week (ex., 3 days per week)
• Support lunchtime walking/running clubs or business sports team
• Urge stairwell use and incentives/rewards
• Install a basketball hoop outside
• Promote & support neighborhood walks or fitness events
• Promote walking during breaks and other off-time periods
• Provide periodic fitness incentive programs to encourage exercise
• Provide educational sessions on fitness activities

Smoking Cessation Programs / Tobacco Cessation Programs

• Create a tobacco-free grounds
• Create a tobacco-free workplace
• Promote the use of 1-800-QUIT-NOW, North Carolina’s free Tobacco Use Quitline. Or check www.QuitlineNC.com
• Reimburse for tobacco replacement products
• Subsidize the expense of tobacco cessation sessions
• Provide handouts and information on health effects from tobacco use and tobacco cessation
• Provide awareness sessions to excite employees to try to quit tobacco use
• Provide onsite tobacco cessation sessions

Employee Health Screening

• Discount medical insurance premiums or lower co-payments for employees who participate in screenings and who participate in managing their risk factors
• Install Blood Pressure (BP) monitoring equipment
• Offer flu shots for employees and family members
• Offer Health Risk Assessments to all employees, including counseling and follow-up
• Offer periodic Blood Pressure (BP) screenings and follow-up
• Offer periodic screenings for blood lipids, blood glucose, body composition, etc.

Stress Management Programs / Work Life Balance Programs

• Offer flexible schedules for family/work life balance
• Offer and promote an Employee Assistance Program(EAP)
• Provide information on substance abuse prevention
• Provide handouts and information on stress management and mental health
• Provide handouts and information on work life balance, such as monetary planning, childcare, parenting, elder care, etc.
• Provide supervisor and manager training on communication, relationship building, business stressors, etc.
• Evaluate business policies and work schedules to identify business stressors
• Evaluate the Employee Assistance Program(EAP) to ensure it is meeting the needs of the employees and business
• Provide educational sessions on stress management and work life balance
• Provide sessions on relaxation, stress management, and work life balance topics