WELCOA, the Wellness Council of America, is a global thought-leader in creating and developing results-oriented wellness programs and their popular 7 Benchmarks of Success is widely adopted. However, companies in Hong Kong and Asia may face additional obstacles which make WELCOA’s 7 Benchmarks more difficult to implement.
This post is, in no way, meant to make excuses. But rather to identify key obstacles so that they can be overcome. Let’s take a look at the 7 benchmarks, from the perspective of the Hong Kong regional office of a global organization:
Benchmark 1: Capturing CEO Support: Global organizations often have complex matrix organizations which require approvals from an MD in Asia, a VP of Human Resources in Europe and a head of global CSR initiatives in the US, just to simply roll out an employee initiative for the Hong Kong office. There is no way around Benchmark #1 – keep working hard to get the support of senior level management across the organization. Many well-intended wellness initiatives have failed to achieve the desired results because they did not receive the necessary support from those high enough in the organization.
Benchmark 2: Creating Cohesive Wellness Teams: To add one more layer of complexity to our commentary mentioned in Benchmark 1, there are varying definitions of wellness. An HR leader born and raised in Hong Kong may believe in Traditional Chinese Medicine, healing soups and body constitution analysis, while an expat business leader may believe in vegan diets, detox programs and fitness clubs. Regardless of your employees’ background or personal philosophy, creating cohesive wellness teams within your organization that represent the perspectives and interests of the entire staff is a necessary step to achieve widespread adoption of workplace wellness initiatives.
Benchmark 3: Collecting Data to Drive Health Efforts: As the regional office a global organization, Hong Kong offices may have an advantage here. Very often wellness initiatives are rolled out in headquarter offices first before being rolled out to regional offices. If so, then the there will be plenty of data to support your plans for a wellness program in Hong Kong. You just need to collect the relevant data and clearly communicate the positive results to drive action in Hong Kong. This underlines the importance of Benchmarks 1 and 2.
Benchmark 4: Carefully Crafting an Operating Plan: Human Resources leaders are pulled in many directions. They need support to craft and implement an operating plan. Since wellness programs are often company-wide initiatives that span every organization, why not solicit support from your peers. Some of the most successful wellness programs that I’ve seen in Hong Kong are coordinated by HR, but included volunteer team members from across the organization.
Benchmark 5: Choosing Appropriate Interventions: What are the top priority target programs to focus on first? Smoking cessation? Stress management? Sleep management? Should programs be conducted in Cantonese or the common company-wide business language of English? What would be most effective? Lots of questions but seemingly no clear answer. However, there are many assessment tools in the market to help you conduct a proper audit of your employee programs. They will likely help you uncover the right answers.
Benchmark 6: Creating a Supportive Environment: Benchmark 1, Benchmark 2, and creating a culture of trust within your organization across all employee initiatives is the start of building a supportive environment. This benchmark is not a destination to arrive at, but rather a way of life that your organization should adopt.
Benchmark 7: Carefully Evaluating Outcomes: After a lot of effort is spent to launch a wellness initiative, you better make sure that you understand the fruits of your labour. Did you see positive results? Should you invest in a similar initiative in the future? What can you do to improve for next time? This benchmark not only requires commitment and discipline on the part of your internal staff, but it could also help to engage the help of HR consultants or industry professionals who have a unique perspective across companies and across industries.