February Employee Benefits Engagement Campaign: Heart Health

January 27, 2023

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women and people of most ethnic groups in the United States – yet the CDC reports that only 16% of employers provided information (brochures, videos, posters, pamphlets and newsletters) to their employees last year on how to manage it! That’s surprising, considering that heart disease and strokes are “bad for business,” annually costing a per employee average of over a week in absences and $1,100 in lost productivity.

February is American Heart Month, so employers around the country will be rolling out initiatives to raise awareness of heart disease and its risk factors and sharing tips on how to live a heart-healthy lifestyle. Employers play a particularly powerful role in Americans’ health care, providing employees with a range of benefit programs that help them manage their health. Dedicating a month to educate your employees and engage them in heart-healthy activities is not only a great way to show you care, but also a way to positively impact the health of your workforce.

Use these campaign recommendations to set off on the right path!

Set Your Campaign Objectives

Heart health is an easy and natural theme to tie in with employee benefits and demonstrate their value, financially and otherwise. Aside from generating goodwill and reaping the benefits of having a healthier workforce, you may want to increase enrollment in or utilization of specific benefit products, programs or resources that support employees’ heart health and wellness.

For example,

Increase downloads of your company's wellbeing app and/or participation in your February wellness challenge.
Boost utilization of your health screening, health coaching or gym membership programs.

Raise awareness of preventive services covered by your major medical plans.

Set Up a Communications Plan

As a month-long campaign, you’ll want to deploy a robust communications plan that reaches employees with actionable information.

Comms Mix: Connect with employees over the channels they prefer and are likely to pay attention to. These include a combination of email, text, corporate social media, postcards with QR codes, the company intranet and on-premises signage. Aside from formal communications, company and team leaders can also promote the campaign at all-hands and departmental meetings.
Messaging: Your campaign communications can raise awareness of heart disease and encourage employees to take action, whether that’s learning something new, attending a Heart Health event or scheduling an appointment with their doctor.
Call-to-Action: Ensure that your communications provide clear directives, such as “Visit your benefits portal,” “Join our Heart Health wellbeing challenge” or “Download this handy tip sheet.”

Creative Ways to Get Your Employees Engaged During Heart Health Month

Conduct a series of in-person or virtual educational events covering Heart Health basics and the employee benefits that support them
Launch a weekly email series that shares Heart Health facts, resources and links to employee benefit programs
Invite a speaker from your health plan or other benefit vendor to present at a Heart Healthy lunch-and-learn
Launch a February wellbeing challenge focused on heart-healthy eating, moderate exercise and stress reduction
Host weekly group stress-busting sessions featuring a mindfulness exercise or set of stretching exercises
Distribute “{COMPANY NAME} Cares about Heart Health” t-shirts or stress balls
Feature heart-healthy snacks in breakrooms and vending machines
Invite your employees to join a Heart Health ERG or similar group on an organizational social media channel
Share a different heart-healthy tip, recipe or stat every day over employee social channels
Encourage managers to host walking meetings, when/if appropriate
Host a National Wear Red Day®
Get more ideas from the CDC!