Employee privacy can be a very common barrier to corporate wellness participation. Many employees worry their health data won’t be safe when collected at the workplace. They also might worry that their health data could end up in their employers’ hands.
At most wellness events, the concerns employees have about privacy are addressed and the risk is minimized. If you work with a vendor for things like biometric screenings, there are probably certain safeguards in place to keep your employees’ health information safe.
As their employer, privacy is definitely something you need to focus on. It’s true at any wellness event. Any time health data is involved, privacy is important. Employee health data is very sensitive information. Different employees might value that information differently. So a high level of focus on privacy across the board is vital.
There are a variety of privacy breaches you know to avoid. You know not to share health data and to provide secure areas for private conversations, for example. But what about the obscure privacy concerns you might not have thought about.
Here are six to address to ensure each of your wellness events is as safe and secure as possible. It’s unlikely you’ll be directly involved with handling your employees’ health metrics. Know these six hidden privacy concerns, however, so you can set up your event accordingly.
Facial Expressions
A health professional who acts shocked upon reading a health metric is violating the privacy of the participant by visually referring to abnormal numbers. Most health professionals are trained to avoid these types of reactions.
As the coordinator of the event, however, you can safeguard against someone who slips. Try placing counseling stations in a secure area. If the space doesn’t allow, ensure health professionals aren’t facing a waiting area or somewhere that will be highly populated during the event.
Exposed Paperwork
At most wellness events, employees will leave with some type of handout explaining their health metrics. That paperwork is theirs to control. The paperwork left on-site, however, needs to be protected. This means not only storing it in a place where it won’t be lost, but storing it so results aren’t exposed to wandering eyes.
Many health professionals have been taught to store paperwork face down to address this type of exposure. You can further address the problem by providing a table or space that can only be accessed by event staff. If you have the means, you might consider providing a folder or box in which to store completed paperwork.
Potential to be Overheard
Being overheard is a risk at any wellness event. Unfortunately, events done at work aren’t afforded the luxury of private exam rooms like many doctor’s offices. That doesn’t mean you can’t set up a room and maximize the space for privacy, though.
Health professionals are trained to speak at a reasonable volume. If you can provide a space large enough to spread counseling stations out, you’ll be taking a huge step towards ensuring private information isn’t overheard. Always remember to plan and reserve rooms with privacy in mind.
Unattended Equipment
At many wellness events, health measurements will be taken using some sort of equipment. The equipment tells the health professional the results. Unfortunately that means it has the potential to display the results to anyone who looks at it.
A simple way to address this is—again—to think about privacy when preparing the space you’ll use for your event. Be sure you have a room large enough that health equipment can be kept at a safe distance from waiting areas or places where participants might gather.
Identification Confirmation
When dealing with health information it is absolutely vital to confirm the right information is given to the right individual. One way to do ensure this is to have a participant confirm their identity. There are a variety of ways to do this, and health professionals are trained with this in mind.
As the wellness coordinator, however, it’s important to educate your workforce on the importance of identification confirmation. Be sure they know to use and respond to their full name when waiting for results. If they know a coworker has the same name, remind them to confirm date of birth, spelling or some other identifier. The more active your employees are in the process, the more the potential for mistakes is diminished.
Speaking Out Loud
We know what you’re thinking. How can health professionals chat with our employees without speaking out loud? Obviously speaking is an important part of the interaction. In an ideal wellness situation, though, a health professional would discuss an employee’s health metrics without ever saying his or her results out loud.
Employees are provided handouts that list their health metrics. Health professionals are instructed to point at numbers and results rather than speaking them out loud. This is one more safeguard against being overheard.
It’s important your employees follow suit in order to protect their own health information. If they have a question about a particular number, it’s best to point to it. For example, an employee might say, “Is this an acceptable LDL cholesterol number?” as they point to their LDL result, rather than saying, “Is 127 an acceptable LDL cholesterol number?”
Here at TotalWellness, participant privacy is an absolute priority. We train all of our health professionals on appropriate employee interactions to ensure that priority is addressed across the board.
Just because you work with a vendor like us, however, doesn’t mean you can’t do things to address privacy in how you prepare for your event. Being properly prepared also doesn’t mean you don’t trust your vendor, by the way!
The more people who focus on the privacy of your employees’ health information, the better! Keep the obvious security measures in mind, but learn to address the more obscure privacy concerns like the six listed here.
How do you ensure privacy at your wellness events? Let us know in the comments below!
