While employees watch the value of their financial assets decrease, the temptation may be to stop investing in their No.1 asset: their health. When this happens, employees may be deferring even greater costs to a later date. Here are five tips to keep employees engaged in owning and staying on top of their health:
1. Make health-related courses part of on-the-job training.
In the same way that a company expects their employees to deliver on certain defined expectations for each job, companies can't expect to move the needle on health improvement benefit models without providing the right tools, programs and education. Some may choose to make health improvement classes part of required ongoing training, even incorporating it into performance evaluations.
And why not? In today's health care crisis, an employee's ability to understand the resources available to them and proactively manage their health can have as much or more impact on a company's bottom line than their ability to make their sales quotas each month.
2. Capitalize on what motivates employees.
Often, the right incentives will motivate workers to participate in and complete health improvement programs designed for their specific health risks and conditions.
Contests among workers, functional teams or locations/stores can be a great way to generate excitement. Have employees rally together in teams and host your own brand of "The Biggest Loser" or "Smoke-Out" contests. Provide pedometers and challenge teams to accumulate the most steps.
Then be sure to feature the winning teams on your Web site to inspire coworkers to make similar behavior changes. Whether the prize is for an individual or an entire group to hold a cookout or team event, the energy generated around the contest and the collective effort involved can keep on giving until the next contest.
3. Focus on the whole person.
Studies indicate that a person's health does not exist entirely in the numbers. Someone with excellent physical health but without a strong sense of well-being may be at greater risk than someone with average health and a strong sense of their overall well-being.
As you promote the health improvement programs through your medical plan, be sure to give equal billing to free services, such as those available through your employee assistance programs (for assistance with mental, emotional and other conditions). Include education on your 401(k) plan, financial planning and debt management services to help employees understand what they can do to build financial security.
As behaviors change and you build a strong culture of mentally, emotionally, physically and financially secure employees, your company will reap the rewards of a stronger morale, greater productivity, less absenteeism and a better ROI for your health and financial benefits.
4. Encourage employees to have one health care home.
Someone needs to know the whole picture of a person's medical history and current treatments. Employees cheat themselves of this holistic perspective on their health when they choose a different specialist for every ailment. These specialists may prescribe medications that don't work well with other conditions or risks for which they aren't aware.
By allowing one doctor to know what's going on in light of an employee's entire health picture, he/she can refer the employee to the right specialists and the safest medications. This added step may save money, extra hassles or possibly a life.
Also, encourage employees to utilize an online personal health record (if one is available through your medical plan) to keep information about their medical history, prescription drugs and other treatments in one place. With this information, the doctor can make a more accurate diagnosis and prescribe the right medications.
5. Tie it all together through a year-long marketing campaign.
Of course, none of this happens without a strong, sustainable and integrated campaign. After creating your branding and repeatable key messages, integrate these components into all broad and targeted communications. Partner with internal groups to incorporate your messages into job descriptions, performance evaluations, general onboarding sessions and functional team meeting presentations.
This strategy will go a long way toward weaving a health improvement mindset into the fabric of your culture. Make sure your health care and financial partners are incorporating the same elements into their communications, and stage these pieces so that the frequency of the messages will drive tangible behavior change.
Contributing Editor Jill Hudgins is the manager of benefit communications at The Home Depot, the world's largest home-improvement retailer, operating more than 1,500 stores across North America.
