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As discussed in our previous post some workplace wellness programs deliver big impacts on employees while others produce unintended consequences. According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, “most of the time this comes down to how they’re designed and executed.”

In September 2015, researchers De La Torre and Goetzel from the Transamerica Center for Health Studies and the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health produced the report, “From Evidence to Practice: Workplace Wellness that Works.” The report provides guidance to employers founded in the latest research, expert advice, and interviews with business leaders.

According to the De La Torre and Goetzel, one predictor of a less successful workplace wellness program is launching just a one-time event rather than a comprehensive, integrated health promotion strategy. They say there are “five common ways these solitary initiatives tend to pop up in companies:”

• Administering health risk assessments for issues such as physical inactivity and high stress levels, without providing the tools and resources employees need to change and track their behaviors.
• Providing monetary incentives for behavior change, which can actually lead to “resentment and even rebellion among workers.”
• Sending employees to the company health plan’s website, without tying the insurer’s wellness program to a broader promotion program within the workplace.
• Introducing short-term campaigns, such as a Biggest Loser-inspired event, without tools and tracking to support long-term behavior change.
• Hiring specialized vendors, such as case managers and safety experts, who might work in silos and duplicate each other’s work without looking holistically at the workplace wellness culture.

While these five tendencies contribute to short-lived, low-impact wellness programs, the researchers also note six approaches that employers can take to improve the well-being of their employees long-term. These include:

• Leadership commitment and support at all levels of the organization so that wellness is integrated into the overall vision and values.
• Building a healthy company culture that integrates wellness into all aspects of business practice and looks at employees’ holistic well-being—financial, physical and social.
• Engaging employees and giving them a voice in the wellness program’s implementation by conducting surveys and focus groups to better understand what really matters to them.
• Spreading clear messages to employees including, “this is what the program entails, here is how it works, here’s what’s in it for you, and here are ways to get involved.”
• Offering appropriate incentives, such as a team-based weekly fitness challenge with awards, to boost participation rates, keep employees engaged, and spark behavior change.
• Collecting and evaluating the right metrics, including a blend of return on investment (ROI) and value of investment (VOI).

De La Torre and Goetzel conclude their Harvard Business Review article with some parting words of advice: “To achieve very real health improvement at the workplace, employers should first understand what the evidence says about what works, and then weave together individual health promotion programs with organizational change interventions that build on and support a healthy company culture. This isn’t always easy. But the rewards can be huge, both for your company and for your employees for years to come.”