Building Healthy Habits The Science Behind Healthy Behavior Change

Let’s face it, at the core, your wellness program is about changing

your employees’ behaviors.

No you’re not trying to control them, but you are trying to get them to make healthy choices and build a healthy lifestyle—and everyone has

room for improvement, so everyone has changes they can make.

• Knowledge and skills to perform the behavior

• Salience, or prominence, of the behavior

• Environmental constraints

• Habit, or repetition, of the behavior

• Intention to perform the behavior

Behavior is influenced by a few things:

Some of those things are pretty straightforward.

Your wellness program obviously delivers on…

Education. You provide your employees the knowledge and skills they need to perform healthy behaviors.

Prominence. You encourage healthy behaviors and start the conversation about health where you work.

Constraints. You work hard to rid your work environment of things that hinder healthy behaviors.

But how can you influence your employees’ habits and intentions?

Well, habits are created by 3 things… (and they can be pretty hard to change)

The Cue (or Trigger)

The Behavior

The Reward

1 2 3

It’s important to make sure the behaviors you encourage fall in line with your employees’ existing habits.

Encourage healthy behaviors as the reward

for a habit employees already have.

Promote healthy hydration by framing a refreshing bottle of water as a reward for habits like mowing the lawn, walking the dog or taking out the trash.

It’s important to make sure the behaviors you encourage fall in line with your employees’ existing habits.

Encourage healthy behaviors as the cue

for a habit employees already have.

Promote physical activity by framing a morning workout as the cue to shower and get ready for the day.

It’s important to make sure the behaviors you encourage fall in line with your employees’ existing habits.

Encourage healthy behaviors as a new behavior that works with the cues and rewards that are

already in your employees’ lives.

Promote mental health by encouraging employees to keep a gratitude journal on their nightstands. Their nightly routine will remind them to save a minute for mindfulness.

Now that you’ve officially got habits covered…

What about that intentions piece?

When it comes to your employees’ intentions for healthy behaviors,

There are 3 factors that play a role…

Attitudes

Perceived Norms

Personal Agency

An employee’s attitude refers to the feelings they have about a particular behavior—whether that’s

healthy eating, stress relief or preventative wellness.

Attitude encompasses the beliefs your employees have about the behavior, and the beliefs they

have about the outcome of the behavior.

Perceived norms are what your employees believe about others—or what they believe to be “normal.”

Your employees’ perceived norms include what they believe others are doing, as well as what they

believe others expect of them.

An employee’s personal agency deals with the beliefs they hold about their role in the behavior.

That means whether or not they think they can do the behavior based on their environment and

constraints, and based on their own abilities.

So what does all this science talk actually mean for

your wellness program?

• Educating your employees with the knowledge and skills to perform healthy behaviors

• Making healthy behaviors prominent and starting the conversation about health at work

• Eliminating any environmental constraints that hinder healthy behaviors in your workplace

You’re probably doing well with…

But you might need a little work on…

Aligning your wellness program with your employees’ current habits. 1

Creating positive attitudes by focusing on benefits, positive messaging and making your program a feel-good affair.

2

Making it clear that healthy behaviors are the norm—others are performing them and want you to be involved.

3

Empowering your employees by assuring them they have the ability to make a difference in their healthy lifestyles.

4

Employee wellness is all about encouraging healthy

behavior change.

To get the most out of changed behaviors—and to change them effectively—you need to understand

the science behind healthy behavior change.

To learn more about our approach to healthy behavior change,

give us a call, or find us online!

TotalWellnessHealth.com 888.434.4358