Adult Americans spend a significant amount of the day at the worksite, so it is a logical place to find new ways to encourage and promote physical activity and other factors that promote health. Worksite wellness programs are designed by companies to support employees in their health decisions. These programs focus on areas such as nutrition, stress reduction, tobacco cessation, breastfeeding, health screening, weight loss and physical activity.

Worksite wellness interventions may be comprised of health education classes, subsidized use of fitness facilities, policies that promote healthy behavior and any other systems, policies or environmental supports that positively affect the health of employees. The return-on-investment for establishing wellness programs in the worksite can be significant. Worksite wellness programs can help lower employers’ direct costs, such as health care expenditure and worker’s compensation claims. They can also positively impact many indirect costs, such as absenteeism and productivity.

The WorkWell Missouri initiative aims to help employers create environmental changes and worksite policies that make it easy for employees to initiate and follow through with voluntary health behavior changes. Members of the Missouri Council for Activity and Nutrition (MOCAN) serving on the Worksites Workgroup are dedicated to policy, systems, and environmental changes among worksites to make healthy eating and physical activity the norm for Missouri employees. Thanks to their partnership and hard work, the WorkWell Missouri Toolkit and Worksite Wellness Award are valuable resources to establish, improve and recognize healthy work environments statewide.