Best Practices for Implementing Health Coaching into an Employee Health and Wellness Program

Background: Many employers, from all different types of industries, offer wellness programs for their employees. The goal of these “worksite” wellness programs is to give their employees access to health programs to help them improve their health status. Through these worksite health initiatives the employers have been able to realize an increase in productivity through decrease in both absenteeism and presenteeism. The employers offer a diverse array of programs to reduce health risks or support healthy choices. Health coaching is often included in these worksite offerings. Health coaching is a partnership between the employee and the health coach to work collaboratively to achieve their health goals. The purpose of this study is to determine best practices for implementing health coaching into a worksite wellness program. Methods: A thorough Internet search of award winning hospitals was conducted; ten hospitals throughout the United States were selected. Each hospital participated in a telephonic interview and answered eleven preselected standard questions developed from a comprehensive review of literature. A qualitative analysis was used to evaluate the data. Results: The following four best practices emerged from interviewing award-winning hospitals. 1. Allow an employee to choose what health area to work on, 2. Sessions should be over the telephone or face to face, 3. The same health coach should be used each session, and 4. The number of session should be twelve or more. Discussion: The results provided evidence that correspond with previous literature. Conclusion: Implementing the four best practices would conceivably increase employee engagement in health coaching