As a physician, your patients look to you as a model of good health. Help promote that image in your small-group practice by starting a wellness program for your employees. Thomas Gilliam, co-author of Move It, Lose It, Live Healthy: Achieve a Healthier Workplace One Employee at a Time, has five great suggestions on how to launch a successful wellness program:
- Create an environment that promotes good health for all of your employees. Too often, Gilliam suggests, employers focus on staff members who are obese. Remember, a wellness program is intended to help everyone on your staff adopt a general lifestyle change based upon eating nutritious foods and exercise.
- Be honest. Inform your employees of the difficulty in providing higher salaries and better benefit packages when much of the practice’s money is going toward the cost of treating preventable diseases. Talk one-on-one with your staff, and don’t lie; they will respect you more for your honesty.
- Offer incentives for wellness program participation and individual milestone achievements. It does not have to be costly or time-consuming, and you can use gift certificates or bonuses. Offering recognition for achieving small goals can keep your employees motivated to stay with the program.
- Work on getting your employees to exercise in groups. Hire an exercise professional to visit your practice several times a week, or start a walking program during lunch. Employees who have a common goal are more likely to motivate each other to stick with it.
- Personalize Your Approach. Point out that participation in the wellness program will set a good example for their families, and the implementation of a good nutritional diet plan will benefit their families as well.
Fostering a healthy work environment is a great first step in improving the wellbeing of your practice. For more information, see Gilliam’s suggestions at, “How To Launch a Wellness Program.”
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