Management support is a key element for a workplace wellness program to have continued and sustainable success over time.  The difficult part is that there are very few senior-management teams that are willing to offer the strong and visible support that is necessary for wellness program success.  This leaves human resources staff, benefits managers, and wellness coordinators in a tough position.  Without the proper management support, these employees are left to fight an uphill battle as they try to implement wellness programs that capture company-wide participation and engagement.

With that in mind, here are a few steps that the employees in charge of wellness programs can take to gain management support.

1.    Take an Employee Survey

This is always a good place to start because many managers will shoot down workplace wellness programs based on the premise that the employees aren’t interested and won’t participate.  By showing positive responses from an employee survey, this objection can be overcome very quickly and easily to gain management support.

2.    Understand the Executive Leadership Style and Decision-Making Process

There is really no hard and fast rule for working with upper-management because each company is unique in its leaders’ styles and decision making processes.  In order to help better understand upper management, here are a few questions that may shed some light on how to approach them.

• Are decisions made by an individual or by a group?  If by a group, are those meetings formal or informal?
• How do the decision makers usually evaluate information?  Do they like to review written documents and papers?  Do they respond well to audio/visual presentations?  Are they partial to hard statistics or might they be swayed by more qualitative data?
• What are the current issues facing upper management?  How might workplace wellness be positioned to help them conquer those issues and achieve company goals?

3.    Firmly Understand and Be Able to Communicate the Business Case for Workplace Wellness

Start by painting the picture of the problems that are caused in the workplace resulting from poor employee health.  There is plenty of information out there to show the various direct and indirect costs related to unhealthy behaviors.  Next, present case studies from similar companies that have achieved positive results from workplace wellness programs.  Again, there are plenty of recent case studies and ROI calculations these days that will be relevant to the organization.  Once this has been effectively communicated, the specifics of the program (budget, resources, etc.) can be discussed.

4.    Identify Wellness Champions that Have the Ear of Upper-Management

Find those individuals that really understand wellness and want to see it succeed within the company.  Utilize these valuable wellness champions to help spread the message of wellness to other employees in an effort to generate even more support for a program.  If possible, find a wellness champion that has influence amongst leadership and work with them to gain management support.

5.    Once Management Support is Obtained, Maintain It

The job isn’t done once the upper-management support is obtained.  Don’t make the mistake of ignoring the management team once the wellness program gets rolling.  Get them to participate in the program for themselves.  If they can taste and feel the wellness program for themselves, they are more likely to be strong and visible supporters.  Update management on a regular basis regarding the progress of the wellness program and the gains that are being made to ensure that resources and funding will continue to be available.

Without management support for workplace wellness, many wellness programs either get abandoned down the line or employees lose interest in the program altogether.  The most important thing to do is to gain and maintain management support from the beginning.