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[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end id=”” class=”” style=””]Guest Contributor Richard Osborne is a workplace wellness consultant for LiveWell’s At Work Group, the publisher of Go Magazine and a Greenville native. LiveWell Greenville’s At Work Group helps Greenville businesses create and improve their workplace wellness initiatives.[/ezcol_2third_end]
Setting up a comprehensive workplace wellness initiative takes a good bit of time and energy. You have to get top-level buy-in, gather data and develop goals. You create an action plan to work toward accomplishing your goals, then fun things like realistic timelines and budgets come into play. By the time you get to the actual programming, you may feel like you’re at the end of a marathon – your energy is zapped and you just want to drag it over the finish line. However, the presentation of your wellness offerings will have a huge impact on the success of your wellness initiative.
Here are a few key points to help you effectively communicate the power of wellness to your employees:
1. Establish a brand for your wellness initiative. Your logo may have a graphic or could simply be the name of your program in a particular font, with a specific color. You will be covering a variety of topics throughout the year – from serious to fun – so keep that in mind when setting the “feel” and name. This logo or name should be included somewhere on all communications.
2. Know your audience. Everyone thinks paper is dead, but it’s still hanging on. Company-wide emails, e-blasts and intranet will probably hit most of your folks, but don’t stop there. Not everyone has computers, or you may not have an email address for everyone. Old-school methods like flyers, posters and paycheck stuffers should be considered. You may find that a significant number of your folks prefer texts.
3. Build a manageable system. Unless you’re an advertising or PR firm – or have a marketing department at your beck and call – you must develop a system that can be handled by just one or two people who have many other tasks screaming for their attention. Take the time to set up a system you can pull off every time, throughout the year. Decide what two to four items need to be produced and handled for each program (flyer, email, intranet post, etc.) and assign tasks to specific wellness committee members. Create the most involved item first; the other pieces will be derived from that one. Consider purchasing a stock art CD or subscribing to an online service for images, and consider input from a marketing professional on the front end.
4. Be consistent. In keeping with your brand, use a consistent look for each item. It will help streamline the process – so you don’t have to start from scratch with each program – and will help your employees identify wellness-related messages. This should also be developed up front, with input from your wellness committee members and feedback from your employees.
5. Shotguns vs. snipers. If I’m worried about hitting a deadline then racing home to make dinner before my daughter’s soccer practice, I might not read an email before deleting it, or notice a poster. Make sure your plan includes ways to get in front of employees multiple times.
6. Sell it! When it comes to wording, assume that no one cares about it or understands it as much as you and your wellness team. Very important: Use engaging wording in subject lines and headlines. Your people need to be motivated; otherwise you wouldn’t need a wellness initiative in the first place. Imagine you’re being paid a commission based on participation, or think about the difference this program could make (or start to make) in someone’s life – whichever thought motivates you the most.
7. Combine jabs with knockout punches. If you treat every program like a big deal, then people will assume you’re just overzealous. If you just tick along with everything at a moderate level, then no one will notice. Go through your action plan and strategically pick topics two or three times a year and make a splash. Do giveaways in the lobby, a banner in the parking lot, get shirts made, etc. These big punches will hopefully engage a few new people each time, and your regular programming and marketing will be enough to keep them there.
Comprehensive planning and solid programming is a must for your wellness initiative, but your efforts will not be maximized unless you combine those with effective communication.
