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With employers increasingly seeking to bring wellness to the workplace — and with seemingly easy solutions being offered through “happiness” programs and the like — its no wonder that some employers might wonder: What does a well-run wellness program look like?

While there might not be a rigid answer, the Society for Human Resource Management offers keys. Some well-run workplace wellness programs may offer more, but SHRM says “Because of the ever-increasing costs of health insurance and the importance of employee health, employers should consider implementing a well-thought-out wellness program that benefits both employee health and the employer’s bottom line.” Keys include:

• “Conduct an Organizational Assessment: Obtaining information about the health of the workforce is a critical step in developing a workforce wellness program. This information will enable the employer to design programs and services that are most beneficial to both the employer and the employee.”
• “Obtain Management Support: Support from management is essential to building a successful wellness program. As with any initiative, management buy-in is critical for financial funding purposes, for obtaining support throughout the organization, and for approving policies and processes related to the program.”
• “Establish a Wellness Committee: After conducting a needs assessment and obtaining management support, an employer can create an internal, employee-driven committee that helps build and sustain a wellness culture in the organization. This committee will help build organizational support and effectiveness for the wellness program.”
• “Develop Goals and Objectives: Using the information gathered from the workforce assessment, employers can establish goals and objectives for the program. For many organizations, a key goal is to improve workers’ health and thereby reduce health care costs. Other goals may include reducing absenteeism, boosting worker productivity and increasing retention.”
• “Establish a Budget: Establishing a budget is a critical step in creating the wellness program. Without funding, the program will stall.”
• “Select Wellness Program Incentives or Rewards: Incentives or rewards are an effective tool to change unhealthy behaviors, to adhere to healthy behaviors, to increase participation rates, or to help individuals complete a program.”
• “Design and Communicate the Wellness Program Components: Communication is important to marketing the program and ensuring participation. It is helpful to use communication to create a social culture where being healthy is valued.”
• “Evaluate the Success of the Program: As with any investment or project, evaluating the effectiveness of the wellness program is important in sustaining management and employee support and in revising or implementing new programs. Employers should have established metrics and baselines at the rollout of any wellness initiative.”

Why is it important to make sure your workplace wellness program is well-run and well-designed? As SHRM writes: “Designing and managing an employee wellness programs is an important step in improving the health and productivity of employees and potentially improving the overall cost of employer-provided health care.”