Most Common Health Promotion Challenges

Health promotion challenges come with starting a wellness program and there will be some up-hill battles to win. It is important to be aware of some of these challenges and have a game plan in place to manage them, which I have outlined below.

A review conducted by the 2004 National Worksite Health Promotion (NWHP) Survey indicates that there are five obstacles that typically present headaches for employers when starting a wellness program. Some of them are easier to fix than others but all of them are equally important to address right away.

 

TOP 5 CHALLENGES INCLUDED:

63.5%-----Lack of employee interest

50.1%-----Insufficient staff resources

 

48.2%----Inadequate funds

 

48%----Failure to engage high-risk employees

 

38%---lack of senior management support of programs

Lack of Employee Interest and Participation

One of the most frustrating health promotion challenges you will find is employee participation. Why you might ask if the objective of wellness programs are to improve their health and possibly reduce their employee cost of health insurance?

The top reasons most employees opt out of wellness programs include their concern that the employer has access to their medical health information and who is reviewing their files, time to participate in programs, insufficient knowledge of what the program is trying to do and why they should get involved in the program.

Employees need to be informed about the expectations of the program, why they should get involved, and that their personal health information is confidential. Employees should be involved in the wellness program from the beginning and making decisions about how the program will be composed. They should be invited to participate in wellness committee meetings, they should be able to help decide on possible wellness program vendors, and active in the scheduling and planning for wellness events.

Employee involvement is critical to the success of any program for various reasons but mainly because they can serve as "wellness champions" the program which attracts interest from other co-workers.

Wellness Support Staff and Resources

The second most frustrating health promotion challenge that employers face is lack of sufficient staff resources to start, develop, and maintain a successful wellness program. Often times employers will designate Human Resources Managers or Benefits Coordinators to manage the wellness program on top of their full-time job and hectic schedules.

This causes a lot of stress for these individuals because they already have a full-time job and can't devote their full attention to the wellness program, especially not as much time as it needs to be successful. Employers that are serious about wellness and find the most return on investment are those that hire or designate a fulltime position to a wellness coordinator or manager.

Securing Funding for Wellness

Another wellness challenge is securing financial support for a wellness programs."How much is this going to cost us?" is usually the first question that members of senior management will ask when approached for support of a worksite health promotion program.

 

Even though wellness programs do not have to be expensive to acheive return on investments, there does however need to be some funds allotted to programming and a budget needs to be established.

 

Funding is always a tough issue especially in our current economy but employers must understand that value of what a wellness program can bring to the table. Focusing on early detection can potentially save thousands of dollars a year for businesses. Did you know that detecting a prostate cancer in it it's early stage versus treatments at a late stage can save the employer not only a life but also on average $100,000!! The cost savings there alone allows for implementation of a pretty comprehensive worksite wellness program. 

Understanding the health promotion challenges that you will face and creating a game plan to overcome them is very important to the success of your program. Good luck and if you need additional assistance, please sign up for a free consultation.
 

Why WHP Is Important?

Strategies for Starting Your Own Program

Most Common Hurdles in WHP

How A WHP Consultant Can Help You

Does A Career In Health Promotion Interest You?

Increasing Physical Activity Levels at Work

Wellness Resources I Recommend

Workplace Stress

 

Return to Home Page from Health Promotion Challenges