Finding a Company Health and Wellness Program Coordinator
Finding an individual to guide your corporation in creating a Company Health and Wellness Program
Without a qualified Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator to guide and manage your corporation’s creation of a culture of health, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s vital that the creation of a culture of health be someone’s priority, not all corporations need a full-time coordinator. There are a number of ways to secure the time of a qualified coordinator.
Be careful not to confuse Company Health and Wellness Program skills with fitness skills. You are not looking for a personal trainer or a nutritionist to run your Employee Wellness Program. The following are good indications that an individual may be qualified to be a Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator:
• knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Employee Wellness Plans
• competent working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Company Health and Wellness Program data
• competent managing projects, including developing timelines and facilitating meetings
• competent in strategic planning, including defining goals and related objectives
• ability to understand, and use the findings of, journal articles on effective Company Health and Wellness Program Strategies.
What will a Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator do?
The Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator is accountable for guiding a process that establishes workplace facilities, policies and practices that promote health. The individual may do some of all of the following for your Employee Wellness Program:
• act as a liaison between upper management and the Company Health and Wellness Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Company Health and Wellness Program
• establishe and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Company Health and Wellness Program Strategies
• facilitate Wellness Committee meetings
• guide your corporation in establishing measurable goals for the Company Health and Wellness Program
• recommend effective Company Health and Wellness Program Strategies, using the evidence in the health behavior literature and national and/or recommended best practices
• document and report short-term and long-term progress on Company Health and Wellness Program Strategies and goals.
Where can we find a qualified Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator?
Explore the following when looking for a Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator:
• Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to serve as a Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Is it possible to dedicate a portion of someone’s time (e.g., .5 FTE) to the position of coordinating your corporation’s Company Health and Wellness Program Strategies? If possible, budget enough to cover not only salary but also continued learning, journal subscriptions and membership fees for this Company Health and Wellness Program position.
• New staff – Can you hire an individual to be your corporation’s Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Company Health and Wellness Program Consultation – Various corporations (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Company Health and Wellness Program consultation on building a culture of health within a workplace.
An outside Company Health and Wellness Program consultant can advise an internal Company Health and Wellness Program coordinator and your Wellness Committee on establishing priorities and deciding on Strategies. Or, you can contract with a Company Health and Wellness Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you go with the latter approach, you’ll want to contract with the individual for sufficient hours to carry out all of the responsibilities associated with coordinating an effective strategy.