Increasing Employee Participation Tools Referenced in this Presentation are available in the Worksite Wellness Toolkit

2 Develop a Communication Plan What are the best ways to: Send out information to employees? Gather information from employees? Advertise programs to employees? Tool: Sample Committee Announcement Poster Toolkit Committee Workbook - Appendix O, Pg 57

3 Ask someone in Human Resources for guidance in the plan development Appendix Q in the Toolkit has ideas for distributing the Employee Interest Survey that could be incorporated in to your plan Ask employees how they like to receive information Develop a Communication Plan

4 Employee Interest Survey Survey your employees to find out what they are most interested in BEFORE you plan your wellness programs and activities. Tool: Sample Employee Interest Survey Toolkit Committee Workbook Appendix I, Pg 46 Available for download at the Toolkit site

5 Employee Interest Survey

6 Develop Brand Identity Create a personalized logo and name for your wellness committee that employees can identify Use your logo and name on all your advertising and communications with employees

7 Examples – Brand Identity

8 Examples – Committee Names Department of Agriculture – Committee On Wellness (COW) Department of Transportation, Raleigh – Highway to Health Department of Administration – Working On Wellness (WOW) Department of Commerce – Commerce Wellness/It’s Time Psychology Board – Psyched on Wellness State Health Plan – Plan 4 Wellness State Highway Patrol – Active for Duty Carteret CC – Health, Exercise & Living (H.E.A.L.) Central Piedmont CC – Be Well Catawba Valley CC – CVCC Health Connections Craven CC – Health Smart Keys to Wellness Piedmont CC – PCC Wellness at Work East Carolina University – ACT-WEL (Advisory Council Team for Wellness Education Leadership)

9 Advertise your Program Post announcements and sign up sheets at several high traffic locations Give employees dates and times for upcoming events well in advance Communicate regularly before and during the event with updates and reminders through , staff meetings, etc Use ‘word of mouth’ publicity throughout program implementation Wellness program suggestions in the Toolkit include sample announcement posters – use these or create your own!

10 Health Start Activities come with ready-made announcement posters. Find Health Start activities in each of the four resource workbooks at Advertise your Program

11 Management Support Employees are more likely to participate if they are aware of the support from management. Management participation in wellness programs and activities can greatly boost employee morale and participation.

12 Offer Incentives Incentives can range from ‘tokens’ (such as coffee mugs, water bottles, t-shirts) to bigger rewards (such as gift certificates, bikes etc.) Discuss with your management if there are funds available for getting incentives for your programs Incentives should be offered for participation, motivation and completion of programs; consider carefully how to use incentives fairly for actual behavior changes Think about free incentives for your programs – certificates of achievement, recognition in staff meetings or employee newsletters

13 More guidance on supporting employee participation in wellness activities by offering incentives is provided in the NC Office of State Personnel’s worksite wellness policy (under Policy Guidelines, Section II). This Policy is available online at: Offer Incentives

14 Small, individual incentives – great for kick-off events Pedometers, key chains, water bottles, healthy snacks, coupons for healthy foods Larger incentives – work well for competitions/raffles Gift certificates, massages, exercise equipment Workplace incentives – think recognition and praise Buttons, newsletter or meeting mention, certificates, bulletin board notices Ask your local merchants for freebies!* * Check with management first. What Could You Offer?

15 Examples - Incentives Southwestern Community College – Virtual Plaque for walking trail plaque.html Central Piedmont Community College – Walking Hall of Fame www1.cpcc.edu/bewell/Walking Dept of Cultural Resources – water bottles; drawing for several prizes at the Walking Map Kick-off