The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit

Chapter 9 The Strategy: Working toward a Happy, Healthy Nonprofit Organization

Wellness Versus Well-Being Programs

Strategies that promote well-being in the workplace complement any traditional wellness programs or employee benefits you might already offer. Your Happy, Healthy Strategy covers the multiple facets of your employees’ lives and your organization’s culture. Your Happy, Healthy Strategy of well-being is much broader than a traditional wellness program and can draw from or enhance other types of internal plans.

The Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey of trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, benefits, and programs defines wellness programs as efforts to improve health and lower costs. The survey found that “a majority of large employers now offer health screening programs including health risk assessments, questionnaires asking employees about lifestyle, stress, or physical health, and biometric screening.” The survey defines these assessments as “in-person health examinations conducted by a medical professional.”¹

The Rand Corporation’s Workplace Wellness Programs Study: Final Report, 2013 describes the traditional workplace wellness program model and how it is delivered and evaluated. According to the report, workplace wellness programs include “wellness screening activities to identify health risks and interventions to reduce risks and promote healthy ...