Setting Goals for Your Wellness Program

An estimated 45 percent of all Americans set personal New Year's resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, quit smoking, spend more time with family, get organized, or get out of debt, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology. But most go about it in a casual way and fail. However, researchers found that those who make resolutions and develop an action plan are 10 times more likely to succeed than those who don't. And you can apply the same strategy to improve your wellness program in 2014.

Setting goals for your program each year will provide guidance and direction, give you a clear vision of what you want to achieve, and help you map out an action plan for how you are going to achieve it. Goals also give you a way to measure your progress and success. Use the SMART goal format to set goals for your wellness program. SMART goals are:

• Specific – Clearly state what you want to accomplish.

• Measureable – Goal should be measurable so that you can track goal accomplishment.

• Action-oriented – Goal should include an action which moves the company in a direction closer to achieving the goal.

• Reasonable/Relevant – Goal should be reasonable so that neither the goal is out of reach nor below standard performance. Also, goals should be aligned with your organization's goals and objectives.

• Time-oriented – Set a target date for goal completion.

Here are some examples of SMART wellness program goals:

• Reduce the number of hypertensive employees (>140/90) from 24 percent to less than 15 percent between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015.
• Reduce work-loss days for injury or illness from 5.5 days per employee to less than 4 days per employee between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015.
• Increase the number of participants who engage in regular aerobic physical activity (>150 minutes physical activity per participant per week) from 45 percent to 55 percent between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015.

Setting goals will help your wellness program be successful, but it can also help your participants be healthier, happier, and more productive. Use this SMART Goal Worksheet to get started.