With the increasing pressure to perform and physical and mental strain on employees, health-promoting initiatives are becoming more popular. This study examines factors that influence managers ...regarding the introduction of workplace health promotion in the Austrian hospitality industry. For the investigation, eleven interviews with hotel managers were conducted. Results show that managers attitude, employer attractiveness, and company needs are reasons for implementing workplace health promotion. High costs, time, and the employee's unwillingness to participate are reasons against it. But in order to keep employees in hospitality industry happy, healthy, and productive, it will be even more important in the future.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain a leading cause of illness and death globally, imposing a significant burden on healthcare systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated healthcare ...inequalities, potentially amplifying the burden of CVDs in certain populations. Sedentary occupations and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and coronary heart disease, contributing to elevated mortality rates from CVDs. Occupational risk assessment and management are crucial for developing tailored plans to control and mitigate workplace hazards that lead to occupational and work-related diseases. Long working hours have been linked to an increased risk of ischemic heart disease and stroke. Chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease diminish individuals' quality of life and have negative employment consequences. Workplace health promotion programs (WHPs) focusing on healthy lifestyle behaviors have shown positive effects in reducing the incidence of T2DM, CVDs, and mental and musculoskeletal health issues. Aging, sedentary lifestyles, prolonged working hours, physical inactivity, poor diets, and high occupational stress contribute to MetS and subsequent CVDs, emphasizing the need for attention from occupational stakeholders. Implementing interventions such as promoting physical activity, stress management techniques, and flexible work arrangements can help reduce occupational stress levels and combat sedentary work environments. Embedding workplace health promotion within medical surveillance (WHPEMS) offers an economical, sustainable, and effective approach to improving health outcomes. Involving workers in health promotion interventions during regular medical check-ups provides an opportunity for targeted interventions. Occupational health programs, mandatory in the European Union, can be utilized to educate workers on healthier lifestyles and develop tailored WHPs. The Total Worker Health approach, involving cooperation between occupational and public health stakeholders, plays a vital role in achieving comprehensive workplace health promotion.
Abstract
Organizations offer activities and programmes to improve their employees’ health. These workplace health promotion (WHP) activities usually have an individualized and top-down focus, a low ...uptake among employees, and are perceived to be out of line with employees’ experiences and definitions of health. This paper follows up on studies that have broadened the focus of WHP by including social relations and delves deeper into how daily practices and experiences of (un)belonging at work relate to workplace health. Based on ethnographic research in two companies in the Netherlands, this paper analyses how (un)belonging is expressed and experienced by employees. The paper shows that employees define health at work as a social practice. It also demonstrates how dynamics at work shape different dimensions of (un)belonging that, in turn, affect employees’ perceived health at work. These findings indicate the importance of including (un)belonging in the workplace as an ingredient of WHP.
This study examines the association between irritation and demands of long-term care managers during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the role of workplace health promotion (WHP).
Findings were ...derived from an online survey investigating long-term care managers as part of the employees in the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 207). Data analyses were performed with linear regression and interaction analyses.
For managers in long-term care, there was found a significant positive association between pandemic-related and general demands and irritation. The irritation level was significantly lower among managers in facilities where WHP was offered whereas the association between irritation and demands did not significantly vary by WHP.
The presence of WHP was associated with lower average irritation levels among managers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the implementation of WHP can contribute to maintain the well-being of long-term care managers.
Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) interventions proved to be effective in several workplace contexts. Currently, the effectiveness of such interventions in the academic workplace is lacking, albeit ...evidence suggests similar patterns to those occurring in other workplace sectors. The aim of this study was to review WHP interventions in the university workplace that led to improve health- and work-related outcomes. Articles were selected using Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, PsycInfo, Cinhal and FSTA, using search strings focused on health- and/or work-related outcomes and involving University WHP interventions published between January 2010 and July 2021. The majority of the 12 studies selected reported positive results in their individuality, especially regarding health-related outcomes biological such as weight loss, physical activity, mental health and lifestyle habits and work-related outcomes concerning improvements either for the employee or for the working system. Studies on economic advantage and Return on Investment were limited and reported contrasting results. In conclusion, we have highlighted how the studies on effectiveness of WHP interventions in the university context are few and heterogeneous and need to be encouraged further research in order to build specific guidelines that are effective.
Summary
Despite the potential health benefits of workplace health promotion for employees in sheltered workplaces, participation is often limited. The aim of this study was (i) to understand this ...limited participation, and (ii) to find opportunities for adapting workplace health promotion, such that it better meets the needs of the target population. A responsive process evaluation of an extensive multi-component workplace health promotion program targeting lifestyle behaviors, financial behaviors, literacy and citizenship, was performed in a large, sheltered workplace in the Netherlands (>3500 employees). To understand the limited participation, interviews with employees (n = 8), supervisors (n = 7) and managers (n = 2), and 10 participant observations were performed. To find opportunities for improving workplace health promotion in the sheltered workplace, 7 dialogs with employees were performed (n = 30). The interview data on the barriers for participation were evaluated through the lens of care ethics, as this allowed to understand the role of various stakeholders in the limited participation, as well as the indirect role of the institutional context. Findings showed that participation in workplace health promotion could increase if it is organized in a way that it encourages employees to work on health together, allow to tailor activities to different needs and capabilities of employees, and connects activities to employees’ daily lives. A strength of this study is that the responsive process evaluation focused both on barriers for participation, as well as on opportunities to increase participation.
Lay Summary
People who cannot participate in work without adaptations, for example, due to disability, can work in sheltered workplaces. These employees face various health risks, which are prompted by, for example, low income or low (health) literacy. More and more sheltered workplaces provide health promotion programs to improve health of their employees, such as educational workshops about physical exercise and healthy nutrition. However, participation of employees in such programs is limited. In this study, we investigated why participation is limited, and what are possible ways to make workplace health promotion programs that aim to improve health more attractive to employees in a sheltered workplace. We used different methods, such as interviews, group dialogs and participant observations. We concluded that workplace health promotion programs seem to rely too much on the individual employee, who prefers to work on health together with peers. Employees also value that activities in the health program are useful for their daily lives. This increases the relevance of the program for them and makes employees more inclined to participate.
Aging of the workforce is a growing problem. As workers age, their physical, physiological and psychosocial capabilities change. Keeping older workers healthy and productive is a key goal of European ...labor policy and health promotion is a key to achieve this result. Previous studies about workplace health promotion (WHP) programs are usually focused on the entire workforce or to a specific topic. Within the framework of the EU-CHAFEA ProHealth65+ project, this paper aims to systematically review the literature on WHP interventions specifically targeted to older workers (OWs).
This systematic review was conducted by making a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL and PsychINFO databases. Search terms included ageing (and synonyms), worker (and synonyms), intervention (and synonyms), and health (and synonyms). The search was limited to papers in English or Italian published between January, 1(st) 2000 and May, 31(st) 2015. Relevant references in the selected articles were also analyzed.
Of the 299 articles initially identified as relating to the topic, 18 articles met the inclusion criteria. The type, methods and outcome of interventions in the WHP programs retrieved were heterogenous, as was the definition of the age at which a worker is considered to be 'older'. Most of the available studies had been conducted on small samples for a limited period of time.
Our review shows that, although this issue is of great importance, studies addressing WHP actions for OWs are few and generally of poor quality. Current evidence fails to show that WHP programs improve the work ability, productivity or job retention of older workers. In addition, there is limited evidence that WHP programs are effective in improving lifestyles and concur to maintain the health and well-being of older workers. There is a need for future WHP programs to be well-designed so that the effectiveness and cost-benefit of workplace interventions can be properly investigated.
The National Health Service (NHS) seems appropriately placed to be an exemplar employer in providing effective and proactive workplace health and wellbeing services for its staff. However, NHS staff ...sickness absence costs an estimated £2.4 billion. Evidence suggests staff health and wellbeing services delivered in the NHS can improve health, productivity and sickness absence and yet the adoption of these services remains a challenge, with few examples nationally. This research aimed to explore the perceptions of NHS senior leaders and health and wellbeing practitioners regarding barriers and facilitators to implementing workplace health and wellbeing services for staff in the NHS.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with NHS staff, consisting of four senior leaders, four heads of department and three health and wellbeing practitioners in one region of the UK. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
Themes describe the experience of delivering workplace health and wellbeing services in the NHS, and barriers and facilitators to implementation from senior decision makers. Barriers to implementation of services include; a busy and pressurised environment, financial constraints and reluctance to invest in staff health and wellbeing. Barriers to staff engagement were also reported and include difficulty of access to health and wellbeing services and lack of time. Initiating services were facilitated by financial incentives, a supportive organisational structure and culture that takes a preventative, rather than reactive, approach to staff health and wellbeing. Facilitators to implementing health and wellbeing services include a coherent, strategic approach to implementation, effective communication and advertisement, being creative and innovative with resources and conducting a needs analysis and evaluation before, during and after implementation.
Barriers to the successful initiation and implementation of health and wellbeing services in the NHS are numerous and range from front-line logistical issues with implementation to high-level strategic and financial constraints. Adopting a strategic and needs-led approach to implementation and ensuring thorough staff engagement are amongst a number of factors that facilitate implementation and help overcome barriers to initiation of wellbeing programmes in the NHS. There is a need for a culture that supports staff health and wellbeing in the NHS.
The evidence surrounding the value of workplace health promotion in positively influencing employees' health and wellbeing via changes to their health behaviours is growing. The aim of the study was ...to explore employers' views on the promotion of workplace health and wellbeing and the factors affecting these views.
Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, 10 focus groups were conducted with employers selected from a range of industries and geographical locations within Western Australia. The total sample size was 79.
Three factors were identified: employers' conceptualization of workplace health and wellbeing; employers' descriptions of (un)healthy workers and perceptions surrounding the importance of healthy workers; and employers' beliefs around the role the workplace should play in influencing health.
Progress may be viable in promoting health and wellbeing if a multifaceted approach is employed taking into account the complex factors influencing employers' views. This could include an education campaign providing information about what constitutes health and wellbeing beyond the scope of occupational health and safety paradigms along with information on the benefits of workplace health and wellbeing aligned with perceptions relating to healthy and unhealthy workers.
The aim of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of a workplace intervention supporting employees to interrupt sitting time with short bouts of activity (termed an opportunity to move OTM).
Using ...an interrupted time series design, 58 sedentary employees provided baseline assessments of physical activity, health, and work-related outcomes and completed the 12-week intervention. Assessments were repeated immediately and 12 weeks after intervention. Focus groups explored intervention acceptability.
Accelerometer data showed no change in the number of OTMs taken before to after intervention, while participants self-reported 62-69% intervention adherence. Physical activity at work, productivity, and musculoskeletal health improved but cardiometabolic health and psychological well-being did not. Intervention components were viewed favorably (pending amendments), but taking an OTM every 30 minutes was not feasible.
The Move More @ Work intervention has potential, but adaptations are required to increase adherence.
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