6 ways to improve your biometric screening program

1. Scheduling with ease

Employers must schedule the event as well as individuals participating in the event. If the screenings require fasting, then they should be conducted at the beginning of the employees shifts. Experts recommend employers provide juice and light snacks to employees after a fasting screening event. When scheduling individuals, they suggest four to six people can be screened per staff member per hour.

2. Assuaging privacy concerns

Screening space must provide adequate privacy and is best conducted in private rooms or offices for small groups. When this is not possible and a large number of people are to be screened, large meeting rooms or spaces can be divided to create visual privacy. Screening personnel should refrain from verbalizing results and instead point to results once recorded.

3. Stations versus no stations

Some vendors conduct screenings in stations where generally one or two screeners will complete the biometric measurements and another will draw blood. Other vendors choose to conduct the entire screening with one screener, citing participant satisfaction and the desire not to create an assembly-line feeling at the event. When coaching or immunizations are offered, these can either be integrated into the one-stop screening or the station approach.

4. Serving a dispersed workforce

One of the biggest challenges employers face is how to effectively and efficiently screen dispersed or remote employees and locations. Employers can offer screenings at clinical reference laboratories or urgent care centers, but may encounter problems aggregating population data and ensuring these sites can report the data. Some vendors provide at-home self-collection test kits and others offer physician kits the employee can take to their doctor. Read how fast food chain Jack in the Box offers screenings to its dispersed locations.

5. Selecting a vendor

The quality of the screening staff is perhaps the most visible aspect of the program and key driver of the programs overall success. Ask how many times a screener has successfully completed similar screening events. Vendors may have myriad screeners in their network and quality is largely dependent on their experience with similar work populations (blue collar, executives, faculty, etc.), their educational background, and training. When choosing a vendor, employers should request references for events of similar industry and workforce size.

6. Additional factors when choosing a vendor