Worksite Wellness
Employees spend approximately 36% of their total waking hours at work. This makes the worksite an ideal place to provide workers with the knowledge and skills needed to help improve attitudes and behaviors concerning health.
A worksite wellness program is any workplace health promotion activity or organizational policy designed to support healthy behavior in the workplace and to improve health outcomes. Worksite wellness programs can be implemented through health insurance providers, the companies or businesses themselves, or with the help of a third party vendor. The goal is to build wellness and healthy living into the work day, by making positive changes in the workplace.
Nutrition Wellness Policy
The Department of Health (DOH), Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division (CDPHPD) developed the DOH Nutrition Wellness Policy (NWP) which was adopted in April 2015. The NWP requires that meetings, training sessions, workshops, conferences, and other events offer healthy food and drink options when the event is sponsored with state or federal funds. This policy is designed to promote a healthier work environment, giving employees, partners, and meeting participants the opportunity to choose from healthier food and beverage options. The DOH hopes to partner with and inspire other state agencies and private sector employers to adopt similar standards for their meetings and conferences, to put the state on a positive path to better health. To support implementation of the Nutrition Wellness Policy (NWP), the DOH CDPHPD created the Nutritional Wellness Policy Guidelines to serve as a guide for employers and workplaces to make healthy choices that align with the NWP.
The purpose of this guide is to provide other agencies with:
- The original DOH Nutrition Wellness Policy
- A template that other agencies, organizations, and businesses can use
- Implementation resources
- Meal planning guidance and caterer’s guide
- Frequently asked questions
Be Active at Work Toolkit
The Be Active @ Work Resource Kit contains easy-to-use resources for employers, to implement at their worksite, that support physical activity as part of a comprehensive worksite wellness program.
To create a comprehensive program, employers must address both the individual risk factors affecting their employees and the organizational factors that help or hinder employee’s efforts to reduce their risks. The strongest programs create a culture of health and ensure that both leadership and the workplace environment provide support for healthy choices.
The Be Active @ Work Resource Kit also includes tools and strategies for increasing social support opportunities for employees. Social support programs help to create shared experiences that can advance behavior change, specifically related to physical activity. Social support programs include group exercise activities, walking groups, health challenges, and options to develop social contracts and agreements around physical activity.
Research has shown that social support opportunities in the workplace can lead to increased time spent being physically active, increased fitness and knowledge levels, and decreased body fat.
Why support wellness at work?
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), worksite wellness programs can lead to positive changes for employees and employers through the following ways:
- Positive impact on overall employee health
- Cost-effective for employers
- Increased productivity
- Recruitment and retention
- Increase employee morale
- Reduce absenteeism
Learn more about how to improve employee health and save money from the CDC by visiting the CDC’s Active People, Healthy Nation Employers Page. For more information on how to begin a worksite wellness program, the CDC’s Work@Health Program provides education, training, and technical assistance to employers.