Staff Wellness:

How to get
Involved
Stacey Sills, Health Consultant and
Wellness Coordinator, Ottawa Area
Intermediate School District
 Why Employee Wellness in Schools?
• 6.7 million employees nationwide work for our schools
• Critical workforce charged with preparing our youth to become
successful and productive citizens
• Healthy employees are integral to protecting the health of
students and ensuring their academic success

• Increased productivity
Healthy
• Decreased absenteeism
School
• Increased retention & higher
Employee
s morale
• Serve as healthy role models

Source: School Employee Wellness – a guide for protecting the assets of our nation’s schools
 What is an Employee
Wellness Program?

An Employee Wellness Program is a

planned, organized and coordinated set of
programs, policies, benefits, systems and
environmental supports designed to meet
the health and safety needs of all
employees
 Getting Started….

Understand
Select a Celebrate
needs / Set goals
Leader Success
wants

Communication
5
 Reaching Staffs’ Needs and Wants

• 7 in 10 employees think wellness

programs are effective but only
3 in 10 employees actually
participate in wellness programs.
• Source: Guardian, Spotlight on Group Medical, 2008
• We get “stuck” in our ways sometimes -
https://youtu.be/VrSUe_m19FY
– Most problems are easy to solve.
– Just get off the escalator
What are potential barriers to a successful
wellness program?
Launch Efforts
Create Sustainable Change

• Communicate and promote your wellness activities

to staff members
• Implement wellness challenges to engage staff and
increase participation in wellness activities
• Build your efforts by implementing policies and
environmental changes that support healthy
behaviors for school staff and teachers
 Staff Health Assessments

• Online Self Assessments

• Conducted by School Nurses
• Health Department Services
• Local Hospital
• District Insurance Provider
(onsite or online)
 Health Assessment & Interest Survey
Conduct an interest survey and a health
assessment at your school to understand Action Step:
Conduct an interest
what matters to your colleagues survey and a health
assessment at your
school
Describe Offerings
 Interests, Needs and Wants

• Get employees excited about wellness offerings

• Build ownership
• Provide information for the design of the program
• Help defuse resistance
• Educational value for respondents
• Provide information which can be used to evaluate
impact of program

2 weeks 25% Bonus

 Involve Others
• Work to get support from school leadership
and other staff members
– https://youtu.be/gtrkEVRvqjs
• Develop a plan and set goals with your
wellness committee to focus on getting
started. Consider wellness opportunities
– that encourage healthy eating and promote
physical activity
– that incorporate role modeling
What does
“modeling
healthy
behaviors”
look like?
Support Student Wellness by modeling healthy
behaviors

Lead physical activity breaks

Walk or bike to school
Consume healthy food / beverages
Drink water!
Eat in the cafeteria
Other ideas?
17
 “Go to the gym,” they said. “It’ll be easy,”
they said.

• What it’s like to be out of Shape at the Gym: https://

youtu.be/0MEqTWqAUQU

• You need to make your program “approachable.”

• Staff Buy-In
– Just Do It -
“Let’s Get Physical”
 Here’s some ideas to get you started

Start a salad club Lead a short exercise

Start a walking group
with your co-workers break

Transform unused Offer healthy food

space into a break and beverages at
room your staff meetings
 Healthy Eating - Weight Management
• Salad Clubs
• Healthy cooking demonstrations
• Healthy recipe swap
• Daily/weekly nutrition tips
• Promotion of local farmers
markets
• Provide weight loss tools
• Educational materials
– Pay attention to portions
– Fight food addiction
– End emotional eating
Sprucing Up Staff Break Rooms in Schools

Why are break rooms essential to school wellness?

• Space to relax and regroup during

the school day
• Ideal place for socializing and
building community
• A way to show hardworking school
staff that they are valued and
appreciated
• Healthy & fulfilled school staff are
able to perform at their best and
have fewer sick days, which directly
benefits students.
Healthy Staff Meetings

Switch Up Your… Staff

Meetings, Staff Events/
Parties
and Professional
Development Trainings
 Communication is Key

• Successful Newsletter
– Avoid long articles
– Include actions to take or where to go for more info
– Include personal/inspirational stories from other staff
members
– Include something for everyone
– Quotes from other staff members
– Make it fun and engaging
• Photos!! Different articles that will capture
audience.
Communication is Key

www.healthiergeneration.org/employeewellness
Newsletter
 Awareness – Best Practices

• Staff Interest Surveys

• Health Risk Assessments
• Employee Health Fairs and risk seminars
• Announcements, posters, newsletters, “fitness library”
– Share health and wellness information
• Lunch n’ Learns
• Website – house a calendar for events, gym discounts,
fitness apps, etc.
– http
://www.oaisd.org/oaisd/departments/humanresources/e
mployeewellness
/
• Social Media
Social Media
 Get Started with a Facebook Group

• Create a Facebook group

• Invite team members
• Use all posting types to talk with your team
– Updates
– Pictures/videos
– Take polls
– Create events
– Cheer each other on
Challenges
and
Incentives
 Wellness Challenges

• Fruits and Vegetable Challenge

• Workplace Wellness Challenges – Fun, Effective, and Fr
ee!

• OAISD Challenges - Traverse City Step Challenge,

Step Poker Challenge, 30 Day Walking Challenge, 12
Week Walking Challenge, Tri-athalon Challenge, Walk to
Gulf Shores, H20 Challenge, Waist Management
 What incentives work?

• Leave early from work

• Pedometer, fitness club passes
• Gift card (Subway, farmer’s market, massage, etc.)
• Water bottles, sweat bands, towels
• Money
• Cut in health care costs
• Discount for gym membership
• Jeans Day
 Top 5 Environmental Changes

Fifth Annual Wellness in the Workplace Study: An Optum Research Update, Beena Thomas, MPH 2014
1. Based on where your school is right now, what is the next
step for your staff wellness program?

2. Think about one step you can take, when you leave here
today, to promote staff wellness activities at your school?
Will you:
• Offer a health assessment
• Distribute a staff interest survey
• Implement a fitness program
• Distribute a monthly newsletter
• Make an environmental change to your staff break room
• Create a policy that will sustain employee wellness at
your school