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Corporate wellness programs are best supported by individualized health coaching to drive lastingbehavior change among employees, according to a new white paper by Hummingbird Coaching Services.

One of the biggest concerns of employers is containing the high cost of employee benefits –particularly healthcare expenses. Wellness programs are among the most effective ways for an employer to promote a healthy workplace and cut overall health expenses, according to Hummingbird.

"The challenge for employer-led preventative wellness programs is to get the employee far more involved. Individual health coaching takes on a much more important role in this context. Researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that "individual coaching may be the critical component for effective worksite health promotion programs," Hummingbird said.

Hummingbird Coaching Systems’ new white paper, "Why Health Coaching Programs Fail," examines key ways corporate health coaching programs fail.

Among them are lack of support from the top, promoting the program among the wrong population, not providing practical tools, training and communications to help employees take responsibility for their health, and lack of a dedicated health coach to direct employees on the best ways to guard their health.

"Often employer-led wellness programs claim lofty goals of establishing ‘an environment of wellness,’" said Sean Slovenski, president and chief executive officer. "Yet that goal can be vague for both management and employees to reach without specific steps. Individual health coaches help employees bridge this gap between overall intent and the ways to accomplish this goal."

Health coaches work with employees, evaluating their personal health risk assessment and helping them develop a personalized health plan, with direct involvement in reaching their goals.

Online health coaching programs like MyHealthCoach.com encourage more honest feedback and self-reporting, contributing to higher success rates. Such online forms of communication as e-mail, instant messaging/text messaging, journals, blogs and personalized Web site information provide employees ‘instant gratification,’ Hummingbird said.

Often an employee feels better after composing an e-mail and articulating the problem – even if the response doesn’t come until the next day.

Since Hummingbird Coaching is ‘on-demand,’ online enrollees receive an average of four contacts per month, compared with five to seven annually for the average telephonic participant. MyHealthCoach.com provides support in the areas of weight management, blood pressure and cholesterol control, nutrition and smoking cessation.

Address: Hummingbird Coaching Services, 313 Walnut St., Suite 1020, Cincinnati, OH 45202; (513) 287-6529, www.hummingbirdcoaching.com.