Establishing a Planning Committee

Employee involvement is important to the planning process. Therefore, a planning committee should be formed as early in the process as possible.

The committee should include potential program participants; individuals who may have a role in program implementation or evaluation (e.g., middle managers who directly control employee schedules or who have great influence on upper management, someone familiar with budgeting, the person responsible for contracting with outside vendors, etc.); and someone to represent management (if not already included in one of the above groups).

Very small businesses may not need a committee but will need someone to champion the activities.

The planning committee serves several functions. First, an employee-driven advisory board encourages “buy-in” from both management and potential program participants. Second, a representative planning committee will help assure that the program is responsive to the needs of all potential participants. And third, the committee can be responsible for carrying out or overseeing the rest of the steps in the planning process.

Click here to go to the next section: Assess the Needs and Interests