Oregon Healthy Worksites Toolkit

Introduction:

This Healthy Worksites toolkit provides you with the tools to improve the health of your employees and make your worksite a healthier place to work.

Toolkit Sections:

Making the Business Case

Promoting and supporting a healthy worksite can help your bottom line by improving productivity, reducing absenteeism, increasing retention and reducing turnover. It can also slow the increase in your organization’s health care costs and possibly even lower them.

Medical care for people with chronic diseases costs more. Medical claims costs for the Oregon Public Employees Benefits Board are 2-10 times more per member for those with chronic conditions. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease and diabetes were responsible for 60,000 hospitalizations in Oregon in 2005 at a cost of $1.4 billion. These costs do not include clinical office visits, medications, or specialized care outside of hospitals. They also do not include the significant impact on quality of life and productivity in Oregon’s workforce.

These are a few examples. Based on American Heart Association estimates, heart disease and stroke alone cost Oregonians $4.3 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity. Among adult Oregonians with asthma, one in six reported missing at least one day of work in the last year due to their asthma; one in ten reported missing 11 or more days.

Although it is difficult to assess the impact of tobacco, a conservative estimate would be that tobacco use costs Oregonians over $2 billion a year in direct medical costs and lost productivity due to premature death. Based on estimates from the National Institutes of Health, cancer costs Oregonians almost $2.5 billion a year in direct medical costs and lost productivity.

Many people in Oregon’s workforce live with chronic diseases, are overweight, or continue to use tobacco as seen in the table below.

Percentage and Number of Employed Adult Oregonians with Chronic Diseases

  Arthritis Asthma Heart Disease
and Stroke		 Diabetes Overweightv
and Obesity		 Cancer
Percentage of Employed Adults with Chronic Diseases 18% 9% Heart Disease 1%,
Stroke 1%		 4% 61% are at a weight
that is too high to be healthy;
36% overweight,
25% obese		  
 Number of Employed Adults with Chronic Diseases 237,417 119,145 30,626 53,344 Overweight
457,074
Obese
321,261		  

Source: BRFSS, 2004

Employees with these conditions that do not manage them successfully are more likely to miss work and be less productive. Even in a small business, poor control of chronic diseases can affect the bottom line. In a business with 30 employees, six of them are likely to have arthritis; three probably have asthma; on average, 18 are at a weight that puts them at risk for diabetes or heart disease, and six or more smoke.

Benefits of a Comprehensive Worksite Health Promotion Program

Chronic diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes, asthma, and stroke are associated with risk factors such as physical inactivity, poor nutrition and tobacco use. Chronic diseases are having a negative impact on employee productivity. Depression is also a serious illness that impacts employee productivity.

Productivity, Morale, and Improved Employee Health

Employers can play a role in decreasing the rate of increase in chronic diseases by creating worksites that provide access to healthy choices and support employees to develop and maintain healthy behaviors. This in turn could improve productivity, morale, and employee health.

According to 2002 Department of Health and Human Services report, savings range from $1.49 to $4.91 for every dollar spent. The report also stated that worksites with physical activity programs, employers have:

Take advantage of these benefits in your organization:

Employee Benefits

 Employer Benefits
  • Weight reduction
  • Improved physical fitness
  • Increased stamina
  • Manage their chronic conditions
  • Take charge of their health
  • Lower levels of stress
  • Increased well-being, self-image and self-esteem
  • Improve productivity and efficiency
  • Reduced employee absenteeism
  • Improve Presenteeism
  • Enhanced recruitment and retention of healthy employees
  • Improved employee relations and morale
  • Decreased rates of illness and injuries
  • Control Increasing healthcare costs

Elements of a Comprehensive Worksite Health Promotion Program

  1. Supportive workplace environments include an organization's expectations regarding implementation of policies that support healthy behaviors and promote health and reduce risk of disease.
  2. Integration of the worksite program into the organization's culture.
  3. Linkage to related programs like employee assistance programs (EAPs) and programs to help employees balance work and family.
  4. Worksite screening programs ideally linked to medical care to ensure  follow-up and appropriate treatment as necessary.
  5. Health education focuses on skill development and lifestyle behavior change along with information dissemination and awareness building.
  6. A process for supporting individual behavior and change with follow-up interventions.
  7. A means of determining how the program is working, and how it can be improved

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Section 1: Building Organizational Support

Organizational culture is the foundation for supporting employees to develop and maintain healthy lifestyle choices. This includes management support, wellness-related guidelines and worksite environments that promote wellness.

It’s important to make healthy choices easily available, to encourage these choices and support employees in maintaining them. It’s also important to include wellness as part of your organizations mission statement. Examples of important wellness-related guidelines are available in section 3 (Guidelines and a Healthy Culture).

1.1 Management Support

Management support is crucial to the success and sustainability of a healthy worksite. This support can occur in various ways including role modeling healthy behaviors; supporting wellness guidelines; establishing healthy norms; participating in wellness initiatives and on wellness committees; and encouraging employees to participate in wellness efforts.

Examples of Management Support (pdf) [see pages 25-26]

Success Story – The ODS Companies believes in empowering its employees to live healthy, happy lives. With management support, ODS implemented their successful employee wellness program called Personal Best in 2004. It includes an active wellness committee, program plan and budget, annual employee surveys, monthly on-site activities, and activity contests, discounts and reimbursements. Visible support for wellness practices extends all the way to the top of the organization, with CEO Robert Gootee personally participating in wellness events, serving as a motivational speaker, and sharing his personal challenges and successes.

All three major ODS office locations include company-provided bike storage and locker/shower facilities. The CEO’s healthy habits include biking to work almost every day utilizing those facilities, lunchtime gym workouts, and watching his diet. Gootee has shared his personal experience with and support for wellness by contributing a Personal Best profile to the company’s intranet wellness page. The wellness committee collects these profiles to highlight employees’ healthy behaviors, and they have included employees at all levels of the company.

1.2 Wellness Coordinator/Champions

Identify a staff person or manager who can advocate for and champion worksite wellness in your organization and can coordinate your wellness program. This person should be committed to the importance of wellness and interested in promoting and supporting wellness related efforts in your organization. Consider hiring either a part-time or full-time wellness coordinator or designating a portion of a current employees time for this role. Some health insurers offer discounts to organizations that have wellness coordinators on the payroll.

Based on the size of your organization, you may need multiple coordinators or department champions. To promote and support wellness in the worksite, employers should allow employees to use work time to take on this responsibility.

1.3  Wellness Committee

Wellness committees.

Wellness committees provide input and help on all aspects of an organization’s wellness program and provide support to the wellness coordinator. To promote wellness in the worksite, employers should allow employees to use work time to take on the responsibility of participating in wellness committees.

Learn about the importance of a wellness committee, who should be represented on wellness committees and what their responsibilities should be in the link below.

1.4 Wellness Plan

Planning a healthy worksite is essential for an effective worksite wellness program. Having a written plan will help make your initiatives more maintainable and add to the credibility of your program. Learn how to plan for a healthy worksite below.

Success Story – Department of Forestry - The Oregon Department of Forestry has interest in employee health because of the arduous nature of their work fighting forest fires. With multiple offices statewide, they have developed a Model District Wellness Plan, which gave their statewide committees an example of the type of effort the agency expected in wellness promotion. The plan provides resources for collecting benchmarking data for review of the agency efforts as a whole. Components of the program model include: Physical Fitness, Nutrition, Mental Health and Stress Management, Chronic Disease Management, Financial Security concerns, Disease Prevention, Family Health, and Generational Workforce Issues. A wellness website was created to support and provide information on these topics and resources for committees to build their programs. Per person funding limits were also set to provide for wellness promotion and incentives.

1.5 Safety and Workers Compensation

Accident prevention is certainly a first important step in maintaining a healthy worksite, but even with the best plans, accidents will happen at work and injuries will result. All parties benefit when a worker returns to work as quickly as possible after an on-the-job-injury.

1.2 Training for Managers

Because management support is an important component of a successful worksite wellness program, it’s important to provide ongoing worksite wellness training for managers. Worksite wellness can be included as part of the agenda during a required training for management or it can be done as a separate training. Suggested training topics to include are:

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Section 2. Human Resources Benefits

Integrating health care benefits into your wellness program is an important part of promoting a healthy worksite. Check benefit plans for benefits that can support specific worksite wellness initiatives. Use open enrollment as an opportunity to encourage staff to review the different benefit options available. As an employer, review what benefits are offered and consider discussing options that would better meet your employees needs, such as chronic disease prevention and management. Below is a list of health care resources.

2.1 Prevention and Healthcare Benefits

Integrate health care benefits into a worksite wellness initiative. Providing employees with access to appropriate preventive services and providing incentives for those services will enhance your worksite’s approach to wellness.

As an employer, review what benefits your health plan(s) offer and consider including these important prevention benefits to your employees: tobacco cessation counseling and medications; preventive screenings for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer; early detection and regular monitoring of conditions like diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol; weight management; and chronic disease self management.

To promote these clinical preventive services to your employees, highlight preventive benefits as part of specific health initiatives. For example, highlight breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer screenings as part of a cancer prevention initiative.

Use annual benefits open enrollment as an opportunity to encourage employees to review the different benefit options available and to increase awareness about the health plan(s)’ preventive services.

The Center for Prevention and Health Services houses the National Business Group on Health’s programs in the areas of health services, health services research, prevention, public health partnerships, maternal and child health, health disparities and consumer education. The Center provides solutions for employer concerns in the above areas; identifies and develops tools and strategies for employers to use in addressing these issues; provides employers with information on emerging trends and data; and translates clinical and public health research and guidelines for an employer audience.

In the links below, employers will find current information and recommendations from federal agencies and professional associations, model programs and best-practices from other employers; the latest clinical and health services research; and opportunities to participate in teleconferences ("webinars"), and Center-led committees, advisory boards, and workgroups.

2.2 Employee Assistance Programs(EAP) and Life Event Benefits

Employee Assistance Programs serve as a valuable resource for managers and employees. The EAP counselors can help managers with the proper way to approach a person when a manager feels that an individual may benefit from coaching or counseling and would like to be sure the person is aware of the EAP benefits available.

EAP’s are also equipped to assist employees or dependents in coping with stressful life events and with such things as behavior modification techniques and complying with prevention and disease management recommendations made by their health care providers

2.3 Value-Based Benefits

As a purchaser of health care benefits it is important to know you are getting health value for the money spent on health care for your employees. However, the health value, or the clinical benefit achieved for the money spent, is often not what employers think about when purchasing health care. Most times the bottom line is cost, but health value is equally important. Structuring your benefits to make it possible for employees to use services with the most clinical effectiveness is a good way to save money and to ensure your employees are getting access to the best health care and preventive services available.

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Section 3. Guidelines and a Healthy Culture

Wellness guidelines are long term, inexpensive to implement and promote, affect everyone, avoid embarrassing one person or group, and, in many cases, give employees more choices in their personal decisions. Developing and implementing a written best practice/guideline may seem overwhelming but it can easily be done. The information below will guide you through the process including how to involve employees and managers and how to monitor success.

3.1 Supporting Healthy Choices

Healthy offerings should be available in vending machines, cafeterias, break rooms, and at meetings and parties. Healthy choices should be promoted and offered at discounted pricing to help motivate employees to make the healthy choices.

Healthy eating includes reduced portion sizes and eating a variety of foods including fruits and vegetables, lean meats, low-fat dairy products and whole grains.

Accessible farmers markets near worksites can increase your employee's fruit and vegetable consumption. Promote existing farmers markets or start a farmers market at your worksite

Partner with a local farm for weekly drop-offs of locally grown fruits and vegetables

Success Story – Oregon Department of Employment Partnership with Winter Green Farms - Winter Green Farms started to deliver fresh produce to the Department of Employment in spring, 2007. The Wellness Coordinator promoted the CSA and helped to recruit employees willing to participate. In their first year, Employment had 13 CSA shares. They plan to continue it next year!

Success Story – SAIF Corporation has been working with their cafeteria to develop healthy choices for employees.  They have published a nutritional menu of all the food items that are offered in the café that lists the total carbohydrates, fat, fiber, and calories.  This menu supports employees, who are following specific physician/nutritionist/dietitian instructions, to support their diabetic education and care program, to support our Weight Watchers @ Work program, and to support employees who may need to know the content of the foods for any type of weight/health management program.

3.2 Flex Time Guideline to Encourage Physical Activity or Other Wellness Related Activity

A flextime guideline gives employees some flexibility they may need in order to be active before, during, or after work. Because of busy professional and personal lives, people cite lack of time as the number one reason they are not more physically active. This guideline can help employees schedule physical activity as they juggle multiple demands on their time.

A flextime guideline can also give employees flexibility related to caring for loved ones, medical appointments, and for other wellness related activities. Be sure your flextime guideline is consistent with collective bargaining agreements. Flextime policies support healthy behaviors among employees.

Flextime guideline example (pdf)

Success Story – Stimson Lumber has removed soda, candy bars, pastries, and non-baked chips from their vending machines and now offers several healthy choices.

3.3 Food in the Workplace

Food in the Workplace

Food is a crucial issue to address in the workplace whether it’s for meetings/conferences, parties/events, in vending machines, in cafeterias or in break rooms. Always having healthy choices, which includes fruits and veggies, whole grains, low fat dairy, and appropriate portion sizes are important for a healthy workforce. The best option is to not offer unhealthy choices - so only water at meetings no soda, no chips in box lunches, only whole grains, etc.

To encourage employees to eat healthy throughout the day, vending machines and cafeterias should offer healthy items based on nutritional standards. Promote these options and use discounted pricing for the healthy options while increasing the pricing on unhealthy options. If you provide unhealthy choices or if/when unhealthy options are offered they should be priced higher and be less accessible and/or visually prominent. It's also important to consider prominent placement and appropriate portion sizes for healthy options in your vending machines and cafeterias.

Success Story – Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon -- Regence offers employees a 35% discount for healthy options at their on-site cafeterias which supports and encourages employees to make healthy meal choices. They also include healthy options in their vending machines and as options for breakfast and lunch meetings. They want to make it easier for employees to make healthy choices.

3.4 Breast Feeding Friendly Worksite

Improving breastfeeding rates is a Healthy People 2010 goal. Improved breastfeeding rates will result in a reduction in immediate and future health problems for both mothers and children with corresponding savings in health care costs. The greatest health benefits are associated with exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and breastfeeding with solid foods for at least 12 months.

Over 89% of Oregon women start out breastfeeding-the highest rate in the nation. Unfortunately, less than 29% of Oregon infants are breastfed for at least one year as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

One of the most significant barriers to breastfeeding for one year is when mothers return to work. Most women return within 12 weeks of giving birth. Working women can continue nursing with simple accommodations – a private place to pump, flexible unpaid breaks and a supportive work atmosphere. Employer support means healthier mothers and children which results in reduced absenteeism for mothers. Parents of breastfed children miss work less often to take care of an ill child because their children are healthier.

The Department of Human Services, Public Health, Office of Family Health has a Breastfeeding Mother Friendly Employer Project to encourage and assist employers in creating worksite policies and procedures to support nursing mothers. The Breastfeeding Mother Friendly Employer Packet provides information on the importance of workplace support, the benefits for the employer and specific steps to take to become breastfeeding friendly.

La Leche League International (LLLI) is a great resource for information on breast-feeding.  Here is a link from their web page to current US legislation on BF and how to bring breastfeeding into the work place: Oregon LLLI chapters.

US Dept. of Health and Human Services, “Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding (pdf”, Wash. D.C., DHHS, Office of Women’s Health, 2000.
Welmer, J “The Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding: A Review and Analysis.” Economic Research Service, USDA 2001; FNARR-13.
CDC National Immunization Survey Breastfeeding data

Success Story – The Umatilla County Public Health Departments’ Employee Wellness Committee determined that there was a high level of support for a new breastfeeding guideline and obtained copies of guidelines from other work sites. They also utilized the Oregon Department of Human Services Breast Feeding Promotion website and the “The How to Become a Breastfeeding Mother Friendly Employer”  packet found there. In July of 2006 the committee submitted a draft guideline to management. They found that they did not have to create an exclusive room for breastfeeding, but that employees would have access to a private room at all worksites. A new guideline was adopted in August 2006, and Umatilla County Public Health received the designation as a Breastfeeding Mother Friendly Employer in Oregon. Breastfeeding Mother Friendly certificates hang in their offices in Pendleton, Hermiston and Milton Freewater.

3.5 Tobacco Free Campuses

Tobacco-free campuses reduce employees' exposure to secondhand smoke, which is a trigger for asthma and contributes to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.  Tobacco-free campuses are cleaner, healthier and more productive. Smoke is a common asthma trigger.Smoke-free means fewer asthma exacerbations/flare ups means fewer missed workdays. To help employees with the transition, encourage employees to call the Oregon Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW for cessation support.  Quitting makes employees healthier – using fewer sick days and taking fewer breaks.

Success Story – Oregon Health Science University - Over a year of planning and the work of hundreds of employee volunteers resulted in Oregon Health & Science University launching a tobacco-free policy in September at all its Portland area properties. With more than 12,000 employees and 3,000 students, OHSU became the largest employer in Oregon to take this step. To help tobacco users comply with the policy while on campus, OHSU has arranged free counseling, prescriptions and over the counter medications for staff and students interested in quitting or managing their cravings. Visitors to the campus or medical centers have access to free nicotine replacement lozenges, and new programs to identify and assist tobacco-dependent patients are under way. 

3.6 Wellness Room (i.e. meditation, yoga, stretching)

Worksites can designate a room or create laminated door handle signs for using multiple rooms (when available) for reasons including meditation, yoga, emotional healing and stretching.

3.7 Stairwell Promotion and Developing Walking Maps

When it comes to increasing physical activity, every step counts. Encouraging employees to take the stairs is an inexpensive and effective way to increase physical activity during the work day.

The first step is to assess your stairwell. Is it accessible, attractive, clean, well lit, and safe? If not, review the State of California’s Guide to Improving Stairwells (pdf) including Safety Resources.

Once your stairwell is ready, you will need to encourage staff to use the stairs. Check the CDC’s StairWELL for better health for strategies to promote stairwell use.

Creating and displaying walking maps of the area around your worksite will encourage and support employees that would like to walk during their breaks and at lunch. Start the process by doing a walkability audit to determine the needs and interest of your employees.

Develop walking routes from your worksite using the American Heart Association’s START Program.

Success Story – Royal Caribbean Cruise Stairwells -- At Royal Caribbean Cruise, employee health is approached from the ground up by designing environments that allow for a great deal of movement for the employees of the Springfield, OR customer contact center, a sedentary job by nature. One example of healthful design is the centralized twin spiral staircase known as the “Centrum,” designed to resemble the Centrum of their cruise ships. By creating two separate working areas on the main floor, the Centrum also draws employees together by strategically placed amenities adding extra steps and a brief moment of exertion climbing the staircase to the second floor. Decorated with a large suspended artist-rendered waterfall, illuminated by a combination of indirect and natural lighting from the skylight, the waterfall breaks over a small atrium with ferns, large plants and a potted tree as the center piece. This staircase serves as the hub of activities, which includes the wellness center, dining facilities, restrooms, vending and employee rest areas.

While the Centrum is the hub and main staircase of the facility, two smaller scale stairwells are located at the front and rear of the building. The front staircase is primarily used by employees as direct access to the administrative and information technology departments. The rear staircase is for emergency exiting. These stairwells are well lit and with finished floor and stairs, painted walls and hardware, and a warm color scheme as well as temperature regulation and surveillance cameras for safety.

Two elevators are located side by side at the front of the building, a considerable distance from the working area and center of the building and this encourages walking to and from the amenities at the center of the facility.

3.8 Covered Bike Parking and Showers

Safe, protected and convenient bike parking along with accessible showers will encourage employees to commute to work by bike. Showers will also support employees who want to engage in other types of physical activity before work, during lunch, and after work.

3.9 On Site Fitness Center, Showers or Lockers/Health Club Discounts

Worksites can designate a room or create laminated door handle signs for using alternating rooms (when available) for wellness related activities such as meditation, yoga, emotional healing and stretching.

On Site Fitness Center

Providing an onsite fitness center, when appropriate, makes physical activity convenient for busy employees and cuts down on travel time.

On Site Fitness Center

A well-designed and equipped fitness center provides employees an opportunity to engage in diverse activities and provides a venue for fitness classes. To increase use, fitness centers should be equipped with showers and lockers.

Many employment settings do not have the resources to provide an onsite fitness center. In these instances, employers can offer discounts to local fitness centers to support employees wanting to be physically active in a fitness center atmosphere. Employers should talk with local fitness centers to determine if health club discounts exist and the types of packages offered. Corporate discounts are sometimes available. Employers should also talk with their health insurance providers to determine if they offer a benefit package with fitness center discounts

Success Story – Evraz Oregon Steel Mills provides both on-site fitness equipment and wellness reimbursement accounts. Employees have $300 accounts annually which reimburse for gym fees, equipment purchase (running shoes, bicycles, treadmills, etc.), and services such as nutrition and fitness training.

Success Story – Portland State Office Building- Employees and managers collaborated on the creation of a wellness center that would include exercise equipment, stretching and yoga mats, and a place for class instruction. Tenants donated building space and the center incorporated as a member-benefit non-profit, run by members for members. Dues for the center are only $4 per month to reduce the cost barrier for employees to stay healthy. The Portland State Office Building is proud to provide this low-cost benefit to all building employees.

3.10 Automated External Defibrillators (AED) and CPR Training

In the time it takes you to read this information, sudden cardiac arrest will have claimed another victim. Statistics show that more than 200,000 Americans die of sudden cardiac arrest every year. Up to 50,000 of these deaths could have been prevented if someone had initiated the Cardiac Chain of Survival, and an automated external defibrillator (AED) had been available for immediate use at the time of the emergency.

Excerpt from The American Red Cross website, Saving a Life Is as Easy as A-E-D:
“ If a cardiac arrest happened to your loved one or a close friend, would you know how to perform life-saving CPR, which can double a victim’s chance of survival?  Surprisingly, the vast majority of Americans don't.” 

Excerpt from The American Heart Association website, Family and Friends CPR Anytime Personal Learning Program:
“ Prepare your staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide basic care for sudden cardiovascular illness until advanced medical personnel arrive and take over.”

3.11 Heart Attack and Stroke Signs and Symptoms

Less than 20% of the general public can recognize the signs and symptoms of heart attacks and strokes and knows how to call 9-1-1. Since heart attacks and strokes are life-and-death emergencies, it is critical to raise employees’ awareness of these situations and the appropriate response.

Employers should post signage in work sites that describes symptoms of heart attacks and strokes and how to respond. Periodically remind employees of the importance of calling 9-1-1 in emergency situations.

While it is important to know how to respond to heart attacks and stroke, also encourage employees to learn about their own heart heath. Employers can offer health screenings that include blood pressure checks, as well as hosting blood pressure management classes. (See section 4 for more information on promoting educational programs in the workplace).

Success Story – Evraz Oregon Steel Mills provides blood pressure monitors and blood pressure management classes on site to help employees prevent heart attacks and strokes. Annual testing indicated a larger than normal number of employees with elevated blood pressure.  Employees requested easy access to blood pressure monitors and classes that could help them to manage their blood pressure.  The company purchased six monitors and provided classes conducted by an outside health care provider.  Additional testing and counseling are also provided.

3.12 Ergonomics Guideline

If work is performed in awkward postures or with excessive effort, fatigue and discomfort may result. This can lead to the development of musculoskeletal disorders, or MSDs. MSDs can increase the cost of doing business directly or indirectly. Direct costs include medical services and workers' compensation premiums. Indirect costs from increased employee turnover, absenteeism, and retraining may result. Productivity, product quality, and employee morale may also suffer.

An ergonomics guideline can specify processes and activities that help to reduce and prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Taking a proactive approach to problem solving can help in preventing the development of MSDs. These are a few of the many online resources available to help you get started developing a proactive ergonomics program in your workplace.

Ergonomics guideline examples:

3.13 Air Quality and Allergen Reduction

Good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is important to the health and well being of your employees, particularly those with asthma, allergies, and other lung conditions. The Indoor Air Quality resources listed below may help you develop a more comprehensive approach to improving air quality for everyone who works for you.

Generally, IAQ is improved by:

The following specific resources may help you address IAQ in your workplace:

3.14 Pesticide and Emission Sensitivity

The resources below provide valuable information about pest management and reducing vehicle emissions. While these resources were developed for schools, they can be applied to any worksite.
Preventing pests begins with storing food properly and disposing of garbage appropriately. Integrated pest management can reduce the use of potentially harmful chemicals in and around a worksite. This is especially important for employees who may experience multiple chemical sensitivity or other health conditions requiring avoidance of many chemicals. The focus of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is on pest prevention using effective, least-toxic methods.

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Section 4. Promoting Educational Programs for Employees and Family Members

Along with wellness guidelines and permanent maintainable changes, employers should also provide educational initiatives to help employees achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Worksites can promote the following programs throughout the year. Consider having a designated month when promotional materials are available.

4.1 Addressing Substance Abuse, Gambling, and Mental Health Disorders

Substance abuse, gambling and mental health disorders can also impact productivity, absenteeism, morale, and an employee’s health. Health plans typically offer referrals for counseling to employees who have a substance abuse, gambling problem, or a mental health disorder.

4.2 Skin Cancer Prevention

Do you know that in 2002 Oregon was second in the nation for deaths from melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer? Encourage your employees, who work outside, to wear sunscreen. Melanoma can be found early and you or your health care professional can check your skin for signs of skin cancer. Go to Can Skin Cancer be Found Early? for more information.

4.3 Weight Management

Physical activity combined with healthy eating is recommended for the prevention of overweight and obesity and other associated chronic diseases. Worksites that promote and provide healthy food choices and physical activity options throughout the day support employees who want to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Many worksites also offer discounted pricing or reimburse employees following the successful completion of an evidence based weight management program.

Promote the evidence based Weight Watchers program in your community or bring Weight Watchers to your worksite

Success Story - SAIF Corporation has been working with their cafeteria to develop healthy choices for employees. They have published a nutritional menu of all the food items that are offered in the café that lists the total carbohydrates, fat, fiber, and calories. This menu supports employees who are following specific physician/nutritionist/dietitian instructions, to support their diabetic education and care program, to support their Weight Watchers @ Work program, and to support employees who may need to know the content of the foods for any type of weight/health management program

4.4 Health Screenings

Health screenings are a part of preventive care for employees. Check with your health insurer about scheduling screenings at your worksite including blood pressure, cholesterol and weight.

4.5 Health Risk Appraisals (HRA’s)

HRA’s measure health risks of employees and other beneficiaries, interest in participating in specific programs, and readiness to change unhealthy lifestyle habits. The appraisal promotes health awareness for the individual by reviewing one’s personal lifestyle practices and revealing health issues that personal choices could impact. HRA’s are also useful for employers in determining the proportion of individuals who are currently and appropriately receiving clinical preventive services, such as diagnostic screening, immunizations and prenatal care. The assessment can highlight gaps in utilization of these services.”

Source: National Business Group Health “Improving Health. Improving Business.”

Insure that HRA feedback will have a positive tone with very specific feedback and options for improvement. Ask your health insurers to reach out to employees who are identified as being at risk to help them manage the risks.

HRA’s can determine the presence of a chronic disease and determine an individual’s risk of developing a disease based on a persons lifestyle, family history, and other characteristics. It also provides suggestions on how to stay healthy and can reduce health are costs.

4.6 Chronic Disease Programs

Chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, depression, and asthma affect Oregonians of all ages, and have an increasing impact on our aging workforce. Chronic disease self-management programs help employees gain self-confidence in their ability to control their symptoms and help loved ones understand how they can support those with a chronic disease. Ask your health insurance companies to offer health risk appraisals to help employees and dependents who have chronic diseases.

4.7 Incentive for Using Alternative Transportation To/From Work

Employees who use alternative modes of transportation to commute to/from work not only contribute to a cleaner environment but research shows that they are more physically active than employees who drive to work. Check with your local transportation provider to see if they offer annual passes or other discounts to employers. If your worksite is not on a bus route, talk with your transportation provider to see if they can alter routes to meet your employee’s needs.

4.8 Flu Shots

Contact your health plan to schedule onsite flu clinics or promote flu clinics offered in your community. If your health insurer does not provide onsite flu shots, contact Cascade Health Solutions. Learn about the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Success Story – Evraz Oregon Steel Mills offers free, onsite flu shots to their employees annually. free onsite tetanus shots are also offered periodically. They offer the shots to make it easy for employees to take care of themselves by bringing preventive services onsite.

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Section 5. Developing Communication Tools

Effectively communicating wellness activities is crucial to promoting your efforts. Determine the best method of communicating with your employees based on your organization and the specific initiative you are promoting.

5.1 Tailor Your Promotion Efforts Through Branding

Promote your wellness initiatives through such things as

Using a consistent branding identity, employees will recognize the identity of your wellness program.

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Section 6. Measuring Your Success

Many factors affect success and potential return on investment of wellness programs. These include plan design, demographics of the covered population, corporate culture, program communications, behavior change, and outreach.

Measure your success in incremental ways such as: percent of employees/dependents who complete a health risk assessment (HRA); percent who sign up for wellness lunch and learns or other wellness initiatives; and percent of targeted population that enroll in disease management programs. Employers can also conduct employee surveys to determine changes in health behaviors and to gain input/feedback on wellness program activities.

6.1 Employee Assessment

Track the success of your program by evaluating the behaviors and characteristics of your employees through an employee assessment. The assessment can also guide you to where your focus should be related to wellness.

6.2 Providing the Evidence

Data collected from activity logs, assessments, and feedback from employees can help increase support of a Healthy Worksite from management and administrators.

Success Story – Stimson Lumber employees that want to participate in their wellness program, “StimWell,” complete a Health Risk Questionaire (HRQ) and participate in an annual health screening. The HRQ asks questions about personal health and safety, occupational health, stress, exercise, nutrition, wellness knowledge, and medical history. The health screenings cover weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist circumference, and a full blood panel.

After testing, participants receive a 20-page personal health profile with their results and Stimson receives the company’s aggregated data showing the health of their participating employees. The StimWell Program interventions are developed and implemented based on the results of this aggregated data. They closely track the health screen data, StimWell participation data, and their health care claims data with a sophisticated data mining system.

6.3 Return on Investment

WELCOA provides resources on how to get a return on investment from your wellness efforts. It lists multiple case studies.

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Section 7. Additional Resources

Oregon Healthy Worksites Website Department of Human Services
Oregon Public Health Division
Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention