The Office of Personnel Management released guidelines for agency evaluations of worksite health and wellness programs in a memorandum  on June 17. The guidelines provide agencies with methods for developing their own individual workplace assessments, and for implementing changes that serve the needs of their employees.

The guidelines now provide agencies with resources for assessing workplace factors  such as employee interests, health risks, demographics and physical environments. With the results from these surveys, agency wellness program coordinators can use the results to tailor improvements based on employee needs.

OPM also released a fact sheet on program-development models  to prioritize, plan, implement and sustain goals for program improvement.

A third fact sheet includes details on action planning  for program coordinators to address program shortcomings and improve weaknesses. Coordinators can use the action planning guide to create strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analyses on workplace conditions to better identify how program decisions will affect employees based on factors such as burden, feasibility, control and impact.

OPM created the guidelines to help agencies determine what a successful program looks like for them, and to ensure the efficient use of resources.

The memorandum also includes information on aspects of each health and wellness effort, as well as webinar training and facilitated discussions among those responsible for the implementation of agency worksite health and wellness programs.

The health and wellness programs are the result of a June 2014 presidential memorandum calling on agencies to develop new workplace flexibilities and work-life programs, and to better utilize existing efforts. The memorandum called on agencies to “eliminate any arbitrary or unnecessary barriers” to foster a more balanced workplace.

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