Personal involvement with participants seemed to drive up satisfaction with wellness initiatives, said Patty Calvier, Intel senior project manager, when discussing Intel’s global health wellness program during the audio Webinar "What’s Ahead for Workplace Wellness Management," sponsored by Wellness Management Information Center.

Clavier explained that between the two different types of coaching offered – on-site or telephonic –the highest rates of satisfaction are associated with personal face-to-face coaching.

In both the U.S. and across the globe, two different health risk assessments are used, said Clavier, but people tend to "prefer the idea of working with someone in a health check setting or health coaching setting ... so when it’s a person, the satisfaction goes up; when it’s a person [compared] to [a] computer, there is not as much satisfaction."

Looking ahead for the program, "one of the things we feel is important is to have peer mentors," said Clavier. "So we do have a wellness champion program, we call them wellness ambassadors."

Clavier believes this interpersonal encouragement aids in keeping people motivated towards their wellness goals.

"We are enhancing our coaching and reward referrals all the time, through different support mechanisms," Clavier told participants.

"These ambassadors know all of the new things that are happening, we meet with them every month, and give them updates to go out and share with their peers to tell them about a new weight loss program or a new smoking cessation program, or the reward points program," she said.

Address: Intel Corporation, Garden of the Gods, 575 Garden of the Gods Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80907; www.intel.com.