Locating a Employer Health and Wellness Program Coordinator
Locating an individual to lead your employer in creating a Employer Health and Wellness Program
Without a qualified Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator to lead and manage your employer’s creation of a culture of wellness, efforts can be scattered and momentum can stall. While it’s essential that the creation of a culture of wellness be someone’s priority, not all employers need a full-time coordinator. There are a number of ways to secure the time of a qualified coordinator.
Be careful not to confuse Employer 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 Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator:
• knowledge of community health, population health and worksite Employee Wellness Plans
• competent working with and understanding aggregate data, preferably Employer 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 Employer Health and Wellness Program Strategies.
What will a Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator do?
The Employer 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 Employer Health and Wellness Program employee advisory workgroup
• interpret health-related data on your Employer Health and Wellness Program
• establishe and manage work plans and budgets for implementation of selected Employer Health and Wellness Program Strategies
• facilitate Employee Health and Wellness Program Committee meetings
• lead your employer in establishing measurable goals for the Employer Health and Wellness Program
• recommend effective Employer 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 Employer Health and Wellness Program Strategies and goals.
Where can we find a qualified Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator?
Explore the following when looking for a Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator:
• Existing staff: Are there individuals on staff who have the background, or are interested in gaining the skills, to support as a Employer 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 employer’s Employer 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 Employer Health and Wellness Program position.
• New staff – Can you hire an individual to be your employer’s Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator? Would it need to be a full-time position, or would part-time be sufficient?
• Employer Health and Wellness Program Consultation – Various employers (e.g., health plans, benefit consultants and public health departments) provide Employer Health and Wellness Program consultation on building a culture of wellness within a workplace.
An outside Employer Health and Wellness Program consultant can advise an internal Employer Health and Wellness Program coordinator and your Employee Health and Wellness Program Committee on establishing priorities and determining Strategies. Or, you can contract with a Employer Health and Wellness Program consultant to be your coordinator. If you choose 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.