Working Hard or Hardly Working?: A Multi-site Evaluation of Worksite Wellness Committees At a Large Multi-national Corporation

Background: In 2005, 63% of the US population was employed, representing over 142 million people over the age of 16 in the United States. Because so many Americans spend so much time at work, the workplace has become a natural setting for public health interventions. The field of worksite health promotion (WHP) offers many opportunities to improve the health of the US population and achieve Healthy People 2010 objectives.WHP programs often contain a participatory component in the form of worksite wellness committees (WWC). Despite their popularity, little is known about how wellness committees organize, assess, plan, implement and evaluate programs. This project sought to understand how WWCs functioned at PPG Industries, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company,Methods: To evaluate the WWCs, two survey tools were developed. The first gathered information about WHP program offerings; the second assessed the organizational processes by which the committees operated. The tools were deployed by email to approximately 100 worksites. The data were analyzed, along with pre-existing HRA data, to see if worksite demographics or organizational functioning were significantly related to the health of employees and if there was a relationship between the processes by which the WWCs operated and the quality of the WHP offered.Results: Larger, US-based, and older worksites did have significantly more resources and activities in the areas of blood pressure, lipid, and overweight/obesity control, and cancer and depression screenings. In general, worksites in the US had slightly more mature organizational processes than those internationally. However, there were no significant differences were found in the location, size, or age of employees on organizational maturity. Higher functioning worksites did also have significantly higher scores on the Program Inventory in all areas except nutrition and physical activity categories. HRA data revealed that many preventative health behaviors were significantly associated. However, few significant relationships were found between organizational functioning and employee health.Public Health Significance: WWC need increased attention from researchers and evaluators. Organizational maturity is related to program outcomes, but not necessarily to employee health. Improving organizational functioning may lead to improved WHP programming

Prev Chronic Dis

BackgroundThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helps protect the health and safety of all people. The workplace can be used to reach millions of workers and their families with programs, policies, and benefits that promote health. We describe a CDC-led project to build Cargill's workplace health promotion capacity and identify the importance of a company liaison in the public-private relationship.ContextThe project goals were to engage diverse Cargill personnel, conduct a workplace health assessment, aid in the development of a workplace health program action plan, and develop Cargill's internal capacity using knowledge and skill-building.MethodsCDC partnered with Cargill on a workplace health promotion project to build Cargill's capacity. A multicomponent assessment was conducted to determine priority employee health issues, stakeholder meetings were held to engage and educate Cargill management and employees, and technical assistance was provided regularly between CDC and Cargill.ConsequencesIdentifying a company liaison to work with an external assessment team is critical to building capacity for a successful workplace health project. This relationship creates an understanding of company culture and operations, facilitates access to key stakeholders and data, and provides opportunities to enhance capacity and sustainability.InterpretationEmployers undertaking workplace health promotion projects should identify a senior-level person to serve as the company health leader or liaison and who can devote the time necessary to build trusting relationships with partners to ensure project success. This person is valuable in facilitating communications, data collection, logistical support, troubleshooting, and influencing employer workplace health practices.2009726

Am J Health Promot

Purpose:To provide a nationally representative snapshot of workplace health promotion (WHP) and protection practices among United States worksites.Design:Cross-sectional, self-report Workplace Health in America (WHA) Survey between November 2016 and September 2017.Setting:National.Participants:Random sample of US worksites with 6510 employees, stratified by region, size, and North American Industrial Classification System sector.Measures:Workplace health promotion programs, program administration, evidence-based strategies, health screenings, disease management, incentives, work-life policies, implementation barriers, and occupational safety and health (OSH).Analysis:Descriptive statistics, t tests, and logistic regression.Results:Among eligible worksites, 10.1% (n = 3109) responded, 2843 retained in final sample, and 46.1% offered some type of WHP program. The proportion of comparable worksites with comprehensive programs (as defined in Healthy People 2010) rose from 6.9% in 2004 to 17.1% in 2017 (P < .001). Occupational safety and health programs were more prevalent than WHP programs, and 83.5% of all worksites had an individual responsible for employee safety, while only 72.2% of those with a WHP program had an individual responsible for it. Smaller worksites were less likely than larger to offer most programs.Conclusion:The prevalence of WHP programs has increased but remains low across most health programs; few worksites have comprehensive programs. Smaller worksites have persistent deficits and require targeted approaches; integrated OSH and WHP efforts may help. Ongoing monitoring using the WHA Survey benchmarks OSH and WHP in US worksites, updates estimates from previous surveys, and identifies gaps in research and practice.CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States2019-07-22T00:00:00Z31007038PMC66432746493vault:3260