WELCOA | Wellness Councils of America

Purpose

Why Build a Well Workplace?

In July of 1979 the Surgeon General’s office released a report titled Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. It was the nation’s first report card on health, and it lives on to this day.

The central theme of the original Healthy People document—and what has been substantiated in more recent Healthy People 2000 and Healthy People 2010 reports is that—“The health of the nation’s citizens can be significantly improved through actions individuals can take themselves, and through actions decision makers in the public and private sector can take to promote a safer and healthier environment for all Americans at home, at work, and at play.”

It is a statement that we have taken to heart—and to the workplace.

Founded on the principles of Healthy People, WELCOA has, over the past fifteen years, endeavored to operationalize the principles of healthier living this document espouses. Using the workplace as the foundation, WELCOA has built a framework that allows American employees to live healthier, more productive lives.

Getting to Work
Why worksite health? To begin with, the workplace is an ideal setting for health promotion and disease prevention programs. After all, the majority of Americans work. In fact, of the nation’s 203 million people over the age of 16, 136 million are employed in the US workforce. Add to this the fact that Americans spend a substantial amount of time at work (nearing 50 hours per week) and the workplace emerges as an ideal setting to address issues of health and wellness.

Realizing this, WELCOA set out to establish an effective system for building health promotion programs into the landscape of corporate America at large. But it was a challenging process.

Says WELCOA founder William Kizer Sr., “In the beginning, I learned firsthand how difficult it was to incorporate health and wellness into a work setting. There weren’t any resources, and there didn’t seem to be any well-established procedure for getting it done. I knew that if we were going to see results on a large scale, there needed to be a well-organized plan that companies could follow.”

That well-organized plan took years to develop, but the effort has paid off. What has emerged is working—and working well.

The Well Workplace Model
WELCOA originated the Well Workplace process as a key component to operationalizing Healthy People objectives. This trademarked, seven-step, benchmarking initiative gives organizations a roadmap to successfully build results-oriented wellness programs into their working environments while avoiding common pitfalls.

Organizations that complete WELCOA’s Well Workplace framework are guided through a process that involves securing senior level support, assembling a wellness team, collecting organizational data, writing an operating plan, implementing interventions, fostering a supportive environment, and evaluating outcomes. They learn how to implement and administer workplace health initiatives that stand the test of time by squarely linking health promotion objectives with the organization’s overall mission and vision.

This Well Workplace design for building healthy companies has proven itself to be effective in individual worksites and communities, but what about the bigger picture? What about Healthy People objectives for the nation as a whole?

The Local Council Model
Promoting healthier lifestyles, and meeting the objectives of the Healthy People documents, means having reach. WELCOA is beginning to achieve this reach through the establishment of locally-affiliated wellness Councils now located in 11 communities throughout the nation. Led by devoted Executive Directors, these wellness Councils are responsible for leading companies through the Well Workplace process in their respective communities, ensuring that health as an organizational priority becomes not just a concentrated rarity, but a national enterprise.

Local council involvement gives area businesses the opportunity to address health issues specific to their workforces and to their part of the country. Using annual conferences, continuing education, and face-to-face interaction, the local Council Executive Directors who are in the trenches, have been extremely instrumental in helping to develop practical, hands-on strategies for improving health through workplace wellness initiatives.

Finding Results
The results of WELCOA’s efforts to realize Healthy People Objectives are becoming evident. To date, over 600 organizations, employing over 1 million people, have embraced the Well Workplace process set forth by WELCOA and its locally affiliated Councils. Representing a diverse number of industry types including Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, educational institutions, and government entities, these organizations have become part of a group known as America’s Healthiest Companies.

In becoming Well Workplaces, these organizations have realized some of Healthy People’s most significant goals such as increasing employee health education, creating supportive physical environments, integrating health into the fabric of the organization’s culture, implementing follow-up interventions, and regularly evaluating programming efforts. Their efforts are to be commended.

The Next Fifteen Years
Founded on the goals and objectives set forth in the Healthy People literature, WELCOA is proud to be associated with the Healthy People initiative. WELCOA is pleased to have played an important role over the past 15 years in advancing the cause of improved employee health through the Well Workplace process and local Council model.

May the next 15 years be just as effective in helping American employees live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.