Employee Health Management and Organizational Performance

Abstract

Recent research suggests that well-designed employee health management programs (EHMPs) can enhance employee health as well as a number of important organizational outcomes. The purpose of this article is to further our understanding of EHMPs and their effects on organizations. To do so the authors define EHMPs and discuss their history, examine motivations for organizations establishing EHMPs, review EHMP outcome research, discuss linkages between EHMP and the human resource management (HRM) function, analyze the mechanisms by which EHMPs influence important HRM outcomes, and address EHMP implementation challenges. Recommendations for future research are presented.

Dancing between theory and practice: Enhancing work engagement through work stress intervention

“…In fact, if this study had only focused on the negative ones, no improvements would have been shown at T2, and the effectiveness of the WSI would be unclear. This, however, is not the case because the results support the so-called organizational wellness programs which attempt to promote good health or to identify and correct potential health-related problems (Wolfe, Parker, & Napier, 1994) whose effectiveness is associated with decreased absenteeism and increased job satisfaction (see Parks & Steelman, 2008 for a meta-analysis).…”

A meta‐analysis of the non‐monetary effects of employee health management programs

“…Wolfe et al (1994) describe how the Mowday et al (1982) model of attendance (p.84) identifies several factors that can be influenced by an EHMP. Wolfe and colleagues discuss how the potential influence of an EHMP on four factors-organizational commitment, personal characteristics, coworker relations, and job satisfaction-can each work to reduce employee absenteeism.…”

“…For instance, Mowday et al (1982) discuss how organizational commitment, or "the relative strength of an individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization" (p. 27), has a significant impact on employee behavior, including absenteeism. The presence of an EHMP is likely to have a strong impact on two antecedents of commitment, employee characteristics, and experiences at work (Wolfe et al, 1994).…”

“…It is likely that individuals will become more committed to their organizations if the employer offers an EHMP for its employees (Wolfe et al, 1994). From this perspective, the EHMP is an organizational factor that will likely attract, and help to retain, those with a predisposition toward health and health promotion, resulting in "the positive, mutually reinforcing patterns of personal and organizational characteristics that contribute to organizational commitment" (Wolfe et al, 1994).…”

“…Both of these factors have been identified as being important precursors to the development of organizational commitment (Mowday et al, 1982). Specifically, Wolfe et al (1994) suggest that since an EHMP provides opportunities for social interaction and also provides activities that are likely to result in the betterment of its participants, they will be viewed by employees as demonstrating the employer's concern for employee interests. Thus, because the implementation of an EHMP is likely to both improve employees' work experiences and be positively perceived by the employees it attracts (i.e., those with a fitness orientation), organizations that adopt an EHMP are likely to have higher levels of organizational commitment than those who do not adopt an EHMP (Wolfe et al, 1994).…”