Finding a Worksite Health and Wellness Program Coordinator
Finding an individual to guide your company in creating a Worksite Health and Wellness Program
Without a qualified Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator to guide and manage your company’s creation of a culture of wellness, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s vital that the creation of a culture of wellness be someone’s priority, not all companys need a full-time coordinator. There are a number of ways to capture the time of a qualified coordinator.
Be careful not to confuse Worksite Health and Wellness Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Worksite Health and Wellness Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator:
• knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Worksite Health and Wellness Programs
• competent working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Worksite Health and Wellness Program data
• competent managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• competent in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Worksite Health and Wellness Program Strategies.
What will a Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator do?
The Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator is responsible for guiding a process that creates worksite facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Worksite Health and Wellness Program:
• act as a liaison between leadership and the Worksite Health and Wellness Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Worksite Health and Wellness Program
• create and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Worksite Health and Wellness Program Strategies
• facilitate Health Promotion Committee meetings
• guide your company in determining measurable objectives for the Worksite Health and Wellness Program
• recommend effective Worksite Health and Wellness Program Strategies, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Worksite Health and Wellness Program Strategies and objectives.
Where can we find a qualified Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator?
Explore the following when looking for a Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator:
• Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to support as a Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your company’s Worksite Health and Wellness Program Strategies? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Worksite Health and Wellness Program position.
• New staff - Can you hire an individual to be your company’s Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Worksite Health and Wellness Program Consultation - Various companys (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Worksite Health and Wellness Program consultation on building a culture of wellness within a worksite.
An outside Worksite Health and Wellness Program consultant can advise an internal Worksite Health and Wellness Program coordinator and your Health Promotion Committee on determining priorities and selecting Strategies. Or, you can contract with a Worksite Health and Wellness Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.
