Transit Operator Health and Wellness Programs (2004)

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48 ling the issues of rising health care costs of an aging opera- tor population. Although some responding agencies have made a good start at being able to quantify the results of investing in employee health and wellness, the evaluation component of the health and wellness program operation appears to be the least developed aspect of these programs. As one agency’s external program audit recommended, wellness programs need to move toward a clearly articulated, re- sults-oriented focus. If these programs have the clearly de- fined missions, goals, and objectives that they have indi- cated in their survey responses, they probably possess the framework for generating qualitative and quantitative data that can help them evaluate and communicate the value of these programs to their organization. Defining such metrics is a possible area for future research. Without strong per- formance indicators, health and wellness programs may become vulnerable to significant downsizing or elimina- tion during times of diminished financial resources or leadership changes. Future research that determines the core components for a cost-effective wellness program at any size organization might also be valuable. Research that develops a transit agency health and wellness program tool kit could be espe- cially helpful to those agencies that need and want to know how to start and sustain a viable program.

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