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Executive Physicals & Wellness
Tips for creating a wellness program in Florida
 A Health Designs consultant counsels a client's employee. |
When Ann Sabbag launched her workplace wellness consulting company 15 years ago, sales were slow and not every business saw the point of having such a program. Today, as companies look for ways to reduce rising healthcare costs, business is booming. "It was initially considered a perk, but now it's become a strategic imperative," says Sabbag, whose Jacksonville-based Health Designs has more than 250 clients.
 Ann Sabbag |
An effective workplace wellness program requires more than just an onsite gym and some healthy choices in the vending machine, says Sabbag, who has helped design wellness programs for St. Joe Co., Anheuser-Busch and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, among others. The most effective programs, she says, include the following key components:
» Annual Health Assessments/Screenings: Typical testing measures blood pressure, blood glucose levels, cholesterol, body fat or BMI and include a lifestyle assessment that examines nutrition and fitness levels. "To get people to start to make changes, they have to know where their risks are," says Sabbag.
» Coaching and Evaluation: Coaching can help employees come up with goals.
» Leadership Commitment and Good Communication: A good wellness model means little if employees aren't aware of it. Moreover, companies that exhibit top-down leadership are likely to inspire greater participation.
» Incentives: Baptist Health in Jacksonville offered its employees a $650 reduction on health premiums to participate in annual screening and coaching. It achieved 80% participation levels.
» Consistency and Support: The company's culture must be aligned with making healthy choices. "You can't do health screenings and nutrition screenings and the next day offer sausage biscuits at a meeting," says Sabbag. While there is always going to be some cost involved — biometric screenings and coaching, for instance, run about $45 to $55 per employee — an effective program doesn't have to cost a ton of money either, she says. For instance, companies can encourage walking meetings or "stand up" staff meetings and encourage employees to take the stairs, rather than the elevators. Studies have shown that people can burn up to 350 calories a day by standing, rather than sitting, for 2½ hours
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