Improvement Planning Guide

Transcription

1 Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide In the process of creating the Community Healthy Living Index (CHLI), the development team examined numerous previously developed tools and resource documents that support building a healthy living environment. For a list of these tools and resources, visit YMCA association/chli number: Name of Community team: DIPG Date: CHLI point person: CHLI Coordinators assigned to work site: Work site name: Names and titles of individuals participating in the discussion and improvement planning process: Introduction Having completed your CHLI assessment, you should have a better understanding of your work site and its level of support for healthy eating and physical activity. You may have gained a new appreciation for aspects of your environment that strongly support healthy lifestyles and noticed some distinctive gaps in how you are serving your employees and their families. When we uncover opportunities for improvement, the steps we need to take to turn our ideas into reality are sometimes unclear. However, thoughtful discussion and development of an improvement plan can lead to efficient and effective changes. This Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide, facilitated by a CHLI Coordinator, will lead you through a thinking process aimed at formulating actionable suggestions on how to improve and setting your site on a course for change. When it is complete, your major concerns, ideas, and recommendations will be used by the community team to develop an improvement plan for the community. V8 CHLI Tools Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide 139

2 CORE ELEMENTS FOR WORK SITES Work site wellness initiatives benefit not only employees, they benefit employers too. Work site wellness policies and initiatives have been shown to promote higher job satisfaction, decrease employee absenteeism, lower insurance costs, and improve employee performance. In the long run, work site wellness saves companies money and can improve the overall health and productivity of employees. Work sites are an important part of a vital community and should view themselves as integral to the healthy community solution. They can play an essential role as facilitators of community-wide healthy living efforts. The following core elements identify the characteristics of a work site that strongly supports healthy eating and active living. Administrative support/general: The work site has a wellness committee or coordinator who focuses on enhancing physical activity and healthy eating, and there is a budget to support these enhancements. The work site has a health insurance plan that covers preventive services, and employees are rewarded for participating in health and wellness activities. The work site invests money, staff, products, or services in community-wide efforts to increase opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity. The work site is smoke free. Health promotion: The work site offers health promotion classes, programs, and needs assessments to employees and their family members and makes efforts to increase awareness about the availability of these services. Managers and supervisors support employee participation in health promotion activities during work hours. The work site offers preventive health services and screenings to employees and their family members on-site or access to these services or screenings off-site. Incentives or rewards are offered to employees for engaging in physical activity and/or healthy eating. Physical activity opportunities: The work site allows and has policies supporting flexible work/ break time for employees to engage in physical activity and builds activity into meetings. Incentives promote non-motorized/active commutes (e.g., biking, walking, or use of public transportation). Physical environment related to physical activity: The work site provides or subsidizes membership to workout facilities for employees and their family members. The work site has a safe area or trail outside the building for walking or exercising. If it has stairwells, they are easy to find (i.e., adequate signage), safe, clean, and accessible for employee use. Bike parking is available and secure. Healthy eating opportunities: When the work site has food outlets (e.g., cafeteria, snack bar, vending machines, and/or food service), they provide a variety of healthy food and beverage options on a daily basis. Serving sizes are moderate, healthy food preparation practices are used for the majority of menu items, and healthy food and beverage choices are provided at companysponsored meetings and events. Written policies support all of these practices. Physical environment related to food/nutrition: The work site promotes consumption of healthy food and beverage choices at food outlets or meetings/events through nutrition information, preferred placement, and/or price incentives. The work site provides access to a kitchen area with a refrigerator and a sink for food preparation and a clean, private space for working mothers to pump breast milk. Work site has on-site gardens or a farmers market. 140 Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide CHLI Tools V8

3 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS As a team, review your responses to the Work Site Assessment alongside the Core Elements for Work Sites on the previous page of this guide. What areas of your assessment come closest to reflecting the core elements, and what areas need work? Use this Discussion Questions section to stimulate thinking and record observations. A. Administrative Support/General 1. Do our administrative practices support healthy lifestyles for employees? What from the Work Site Assessment leads us to What is our work site doing right, and why is it Who else needs to be part of this process? Likely Unlikely Very unlikely B. Health Promotion 1. Do our work site s promotional strategies effectively support employee participation in activities related to healthy eating and physical activity? Who else needs to be part of this process? Likely Unlikely Very unlikely V8 CHLI Tools Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide 141

4 C. Physical Activity Opportunities 1. Does our work site provide ample opportunities for and encourage employees to take advantage of physical activity? Who else needs to be part of this process? D. Physical Environment Related to Physical Activity 1. Does our work site s physical environment support physical activity? Who else needs to be a part of this process? Likely Unlikely Very unlikely Likely Unlikely Very unlikely E. Healthy Eating Opportunities 1. Does our work site support employees in healthy eating and provide ample opportunities for them to do so? Who else needs to be part of this process? Likely Unlikely Very unlikely 142 Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide CHLI Tools V8

5 F. Physical Environment Related to Food/Nutrition 1. Does our work site s physical environment support healthy eating? Who else needs to be a part of this process? Likely Unlikely Very unlikely General Discussion Questions Discuss the following questions and record your responses in the spaces provided. These questions will help you prioritize your ideas, identify barriers and opportunities, and think about what resources you ll need to take action. 1. Across the major areas of healthy eating and physical activity in our work site, can we identify three areas where we could make improvements immediately? What about three priority areas that may take us longer to accomplish? 2. Can we identify the areas where we are most ready to make changes and start from there? What are those areas? What programs, policies, promotion ideas, or projects (physical environment) in each of those areas will most likely lead to advancement? V8 CHLI Tools Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide 143

6 3. What barriers will we need to overcome to advance our priorities for change? 4. What resources will be necessary to make these changes? IMPROVEMENT PLAN Once your stakeholder team has completed the Discussion Questions section of this guide, you re ready to form the foundation of an improvement plan: a list of concerns and a list ideas for improvement. In this section, list the areas where you want to make changes, barriers to supporting healthy eating and active living, and other opportunities for improvement your team identified through the discussion process. Write your ideas in the boxes labeled. Next, make a list of potential solutions to each concern. Record your ideas in the boxes that correspond to each concern. A. Administrative Support/General 144 Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide CHLI Tools V8

7 B. Health Promotion C. Physical Activity Opportunities D. Physical Environment Related to Physical Activity V8 CHLI Tools Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide 145

8 E. Healthy Eating Opportunities F. Physical Environment Related to Food/Nutrition 146 Work Site Discussion and Improvement Planning Guide CHLI Tools V8