Finding Fit Employer Guide: Implementing Wellness Programs Successfully

The Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces (ICHW) has developed an Employer Guide that will enable organizations (with an emphasis on small and medium-sized) to find a workplace wellness program that fits their specific constraints. Small and medium organizations face a number of limitations given their size and financial reserves, but employees’ health and well-being needs are a constant regardless of organization size. Employees need a safe, socially supportive, and health-promoting work environment that not only supports their wellness but also enables them to do their best work. We have examined the available literature on wellness programs in general, and we have created a method based on our research for how organization leaders can design an effective wellness strategy that fits their constraints.

To help leaders determine which wellness programs provided the best “fit” for their organization, we created an assessment tool that yields several different options to choose from and which is sensitive to different types and levels of organizational constraints and opportunities. This Guide provides background information and an assessment tool for employers to select a wellness program that provides the best match. It also contains a resource page that directs readers to low- to no-cost options for different aspects of employee wellness.

Our research for this guide was funded by the Transamerica Center for Health Studies.