Manager Support for Wellness Champions: A Case Study for Consideration and Practice Implications

Background Wellness champion networks are deemed an important component to workplace wellness programs. By encouraging colleagues to engage in healthy behaviors, champions can help improve employee health and well-being outcomes, while reducing healthcare costs and increasing productivity. However, little evidence exists regarding factors that impact the effectiveness of a wellness champion. This study examined the relationship between employee engagement in a workplace wellness champion program and the direct manager’s support of the wellness champion role. Methods A descriptive study was conducted with a 15-item cross-sectional survey that was developed and disseminated to 470 wellness champions at a large academic institution. Survey questions addressed manager/supervisor support for the wellness champion, manager/supervisor support for faculty and staff direct reports participating in wellness activities, and demographic questions. Findings One hundred and ninety-nine (42%) wellness champions responded to the survey and responded to at least half of the questions. Wellness champions who reported a high level of manager support for their role were more likely to have high levels of engagement in communicating wellness initiatives (p = .0004), motivating and encouraging colleagues (p < .0001), and planning wellness activities (p = .04). Conclusion/Application to Practice Findings suggested that support wellness champions received from direct managers was a key determinant to their level of engagement in efforts to improve their colleagues’ health and well-being. As employers desire to impact the health and productivity of their employees and generate cost-savings, manager support of wellness champions is necessary to facilitate employee engagement in workplace wellness champion programs.