Building Blocks for Health Engagement: An Employer's Toolkit

Introduction

Last Updated January 2011

Employees have many opportunities to improve their health, by using their health benefits wisely and developing a healthy life plan. This includes regular exercise, a heart-healthy diet and other good choices. Employers can encourage these choices by fostering a corporate culture in which making good health decisions is simple and the means to achieve good health are accessible.

Building Blocks for Health Engagement provides employee health and benefit managers with the resources to facilitate health engagement through easy-to-understand tools, templates for motivational communications, and guidelines for programs that support a healthy and engaged population. Additional tools and case studies that give examples of successful employee engagement will be added over time to further enhance the toolkit's usefulness.

Toolkit Components

• Motivational Letters to Support Health Engagement — With employees still reeling from the economic downturn and despite the challenges in their lives, these reassuring and empowering statements can help motivate employees to make healthy choices.

• Screening and Preventive Health Guidelines Graphic: Men — Screening and preventive health messaging can often be overwhelmingly complex for people. Use the following graphical guide to the major health and wellness guidance for each age group to simplify the information and engage employees in improving their health.

• Screening and Preventive Health Guidelines Graphic: Women — Screening and preventive health messaging can often be overwhelmingly complex for people. Use the following graphical guide to the major health and wellness guidance for each age group to simplify the information and engage employees in improving their health.

• Practical Guidelines for Establishing a Wellness Champions Program — Using Wellness Champions has been shown to be an effective, grassroots method of encouraging health engagement within an organization. These guidelines, developed by companies with successful programs in place, will help you develop or strengthen your own Wellness Champions program.

• Employer Case Studies — These case studies provide a real-life example on how to improve health and engagement within an organization and were provided by companies with existing engagement programs that have proven results. These examples will assist in the development of your own successful program.

Related Business Group Resources

• A Purchaser's Guide to Clinical Preventive Services: Moving Science into Coverage — An information source for employers on clinical preventive services benefit design.
• Wellness Champions: Local Advocates for Healthy Living — An information source for employers on including employee wellness volunteers or wellness “champions” in their wellness program design.

Employee Engagement Committee of the Institute on Health, Productivity and Human Capital

IHPHC Employee Engagement Committee

The Employee Engagement Committee is part of the National Business Group on Health's Institute on Health, Productivity and Human Capital (IHPHC). The committee was established in September 2008 and provides a forum for developing and evaluating tools to assist large employers in improving the engagement of their employees.

This Toolkit was funded by the members of the Institute on Health, Productivity and Human Capital of the National Business Group on Health. To protect the proprietary and confidential information included in this material, it can only be shared, in either print or electronic formats, within and among National Business Group on Health member companies. All other uses require permission from the National Business Group on Health.

2009 National Business Group on Health.