Wellness Resource Guide
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Table of Contents

Effectiveness of Program Administration

Accomplishment of Program Objectives

Establishment of Evaluation Timetable

In the previous sections of the guide we have provided information to assist you in planning, developing and implementing an effective employee health promotion program. It is equally important to the future success of your program that you develop effective mechanisms to evaluate your program. Program evaluations can include a variety of measurements such as participation levels, employee satisfaction surveys, reductions in risk factors, changes in health behavior, and cost/benefit studies.

Program evaluations serve a number of valuable functions:

  • provide evidence of your department's need for an employee wellness program
  • affirm the initial decision to develop a program
  • provide ongoing measurements of the various program components
  • help you to make any necessary adjustments to the design of the program
  • provide the data necessary to demonstrate success in achieving the program objectives
  • facilitate the continuation or possible enhancement in funding.
There are two major areas in which your evaluations can focus. First, the evaluations should measure whether the program is being administered in a manner conducive to achievement of the program objectives. This information can be derived by reviewing such factors as how many employees participated and successfully completed the program, how satisfied are the participants with the various program components, are the participants satisfied with the course content, instructors, facilities, etc. Second, the evaluations should measure the outcomes of the program, including cost/benefit analysis if possible, and whether identified objectives have been achieved within a specified time frame.

EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

The evaluation of program effectiveness focuses on how well the program is being marketed and implemented and the reactions of participating employees to the various program components. Some of the factors that can be reviewed to determine whether the program is being properly administered are:

  1. Did the program reach and help to improve the health habits of those employees at greatest need?
  2. Was there a high level of awareness of the program?
  3. Did large numbers of employees participate in the program?
  4. Did the program achieve high employee satisfaction?
Evaluating the employees' awareness is one of the fundamental steps in evaluating wellness programs. An employee survey can be administered to address the employees' knowledge of the existence of the program, the kinds of activities included in the program, the methods for enrolling or participating in the programs, etc. The responses to this survey will help you determine whether the program is adequately communicated and understood by your employees. This survey can also be used to solicit feedback regarding the reasons why employees have not elected to participate in the program. A question could be included in the survey which asks the employee to check the reasons for non-participation. Some of the reasons listed on the form could include the following:
  • Not aware of the program
  • Not motivated or interested in participating
  • Class locations are too far away from my work site
  • Courses, seminars, etc. are not scheduled at convenient times
  • Restrictive commuting schedule or car pool arrangements
  • Brown baggers/seminars don't cover topics of interest
  • Exercise classes/equipment are inadequate to fit needs
Another key indicator of the program's success is the level of employee participation. Has the program been successful in attracting and keeping participants? This can be measured by tracking the number of employees who participate in the various brown bag seminars, attend the health education classes, attend the health fairs, participate in the health screenings or exercise classes, etc. Some of the methods that can be used to track participation data include sign-in or attendance sheets and self-reporting participation logs.

A final measure of program effectiveness is the participants' satisfaction with the program content, the instructors, the materials, the facilities, etc. Employees' satisfaction with the program can have a major impact upon their perception of the quality of the program. It can also play a key role in the employees' decision to continue participating in the program. Administering employee satisfaction surveys can provide information on what elements of the program the employees like and dislike and can identify areas where you may need to fine tune or modify the program. Using an evaluation form which participants can complete after attending a brown bag seminar or health education class is another way of eliciting information regarding their satisfaction.

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The evaluation of program outcomes focuses on the effects of the various interventions introduced to your employee population. Was the program able to accomplish the desired results? In order to have a successful program, the effects should be tied to specific program objectives. Objectives could include:

  • Improving employees' health habits
  • Reducing health care costs
  • Increasing the employees' level of physical activity
  • Reducing workers' compensation costs
  • Reducing absenteeism and turnover
  • Improving productivity
Multiple measures should be used to assess the accomplishment of the program objectives. As previously discussed an HRA can be used to collect baseline data on the employees' health habits and personal characteristics prior to implementation of the program. In order to assess whether health improvements have occurred, a follow-up health risk assessment should be administered after an appropriate time interval. A comparison of the baseline data and data collected during the follow-up HRA should indicate whether the interventions have made an impact on the employee population. Ideally, there should be an improvement (e.g., improvement in overall cholesterol levels or blood pressure scores) in the health risks factors identified in Time l versus Time 2 administration of the HRA.

Reviewing employee absenteeism data can also serve as an evaluation measurement. In order to use this data, you will need to identify what types of absenteeism are attributable to health and lifestyle factors. For example, are you only going to track absenteeism for illnesses and injuries rather than for vacations, leaves of absence, jury duty, etc.? You also need to be aware that other factors besides the employees' health can impact absenteeism rates and skew the data. These other factors may include: employees' morale and job satisfaction, outbreaks of flu and other illnesses at work and in the general community, age and health of the employees' children, etc.

Tracking utilization of disability and workers' compensation benefits and costs is also a way to evaluate whether the health promotion program is successful. During the design phase of your program, a review of your department's workers' compensation data may have identified specific problems or high-cost areas such as back injuries or repetitive strain injuries. If these specific disabilities are targeted by the interventions implemented in your program, then over time changes should most likely occur in your workers' compensation experience in these targeted areas. For example, the implementation of a healthy back and exercise program should result in a reduction in the incidence of back problems.

ESTABLISHMENT OF EVALUATION TIMETABLE

You also need to develop a realistic timetable for reporting results to departmental management. It is critical that management be provided with periodic reports of results in order to monitor program performance. Management needs to be aware that some program objectives can be accomplished quickly while others will take a considerably longer time period. Establishing a realistic timetable for management will communicate this information and also lessen their expectations for immediate results and goal accomplishment.

Typically, a twelve-month period is a reasonable time frame for reporting back to management regarding the program's accomplishments. Also, anticipated outcomes that are expected to occur in the near future can be addressed. Usually, in the first year of program implementation, results can be reported to management in the areas of program awareness, employee participation, and employee satisfaction. In the second year, reductions in absenteeism should have become evident. In years three-five , any improvements in health care costs and workers' compensation costs should become evident.

ball graphicBackground ball graphicPolicy ball graphicPlanning the Program
ball graphicProgram Design and Implementation