Last month this newsletter focused on trucking companies making their wellness initiatives purposeful, action oriented and systematic rather than being mere passive, educational campaigns. This issue marks the start of setting forth the strategic components of an action-oriented wellness campaign.
Being action oriented naturally implies that companies will have to exert some effort and resources. To ensure that those efforts and resources are truly impacting the health of the workforce, measures must be taken. In order for companies to properly measure the progress that their wellness initiatives are yielding, there are two imperatives: 1) companies must determine what aspects of driver (and non-driver) health should be measured; and 2) companies must have strategy for tracking and communicating progress.
The Dimensions of Health: Determining What to Measure
Companies all over are creating their own versions of the hit, weight loss reality show, The Biggest Loser. Some companies have experienced success with these campaigns, while others have experienced mediocre results at best. For those companies who have at least taken the initiative to sponsor a weight loss campaign and impacted at least one employee’s health for the good- hats off to you and your efforts. However, one thing should be noted about wellness campaigns centered entirely on weight loss – their measures are one dimensional. Granted weight loss is a HUGE measure when it comes to evaluating overall health, but it is still only one measure of health. By only evaluating weight loss, many companies’ intentions of having a wellness campaign result only in a weight loss campaign. Unfortunately, there are folks who are not overweight but still suffer from health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.
In order for a company’s wellness initiative to be more than a weight loss campaign, it must track and measure a wide variety of health related measures to determine success. Here are several categories of health measures that trucking companies should consider including in their wellness program measures:
· Blood Pressure Improvement
· Smoking Cessation Success
· Cholesterol Improvement
· Diabetes Control
· Exercise Goals
· Program Participation
· Weight Loss
· Nutrition Improvements
· Alcohol Use Reduction
· Sleep Apnea Resolution
While the above list is certainly not exhaustive, it does provide a primer from which companies can begin to think about the many dimensions of health that can be measured to gauge wellness initiative impact. Notice though, all of these measures are leading measures as opposed to the traditional lagging measures of health insurance premiums, worker’s compensation claims, etc. If improvements are seen in these leading areas of health, the lagging measures should naturally experience a similar, positive correlation.
Each company should work with their healthcare provider to define specific measures within these categories and design a mechanism that tracks the data and communicates to the employer in a legally sound, yet useful manner.
Communicating Progress
The most important reason that health data is tracked and measured is so that progress can be communicated to employees. There is no better motivator than success itself. It has been shown that when companies start realizing success with their health initiatives, participation is contagious and progress can expand exponentially. Measures on individual driver health should be shared only with its owner (for obvious legal reasons) however collective data that shows how the company is doing as a whole should be communicated throughout. Employees will be motivated by both the company-wide and individual improvements. Next month, we’ll explore some specific measures within the categories mentioned as well as strategies for sharing the measures throughout the company and with individuals.
