Health Promotion in Smaller Workplaces in the United States

Abstract

Most American workplaces are smaller, with fewer than 1,000 employees. Many of these employees are low-wage earners and at increased risk for chronic diseases. Owing to the challenges smaller workplaces face to offering health-promotion programs, their employees often lack access to healthpromotion opportunities available at larger workplaces. Many smaller employers do not offer health insurance, which is currently the major funding vehicle for health-promotion services. They also have few health-promotion vendors to serve them and low internal capacity for, and commitment to, delivery of on-site programs. The programs they offer, whether aimed at health promotion alone or integrated with health protection, are rarely comprehensive and are understudied. Research priorities for health promotion in smaller workplaces include developing programs feasible for the smallest workplaces with fewer than 20 employees. Policy priorities include incentives for smaller workplaces to implement comprehensive programs and an ongoing system for monitoring and evaluation.

Fitness of the US Workforce

“…Unfortunately, as noted in the 2004 National Worksite Health Promotion Survey (NWHPS), only 6.9% of all worksites offer a comprehensive program (66). Compared with larger workplaces, smaller workplaces are less likely to offer comprehensive programs or wellness plans of any kind (48,54,66). Moreover, because the 2004 NWHPS did not include worksites smaller than 50 employees, it likely overstates the prevalence of comprehensive programs (48,120).…”

“…Compared with larger workplaces, smaller workplaces are less likely to offer comprehensive programs or wellness plans of any kind (48,54,66). Moreover, because the 2004 NWHPS did not include worksites smaller than 50 employees, it likely overstates the prevalence of comprehensive programs (48,120). It is of interest to consider how workplace wellness programs may organize around best practice principles of design in order to optimize the likelihood for success.…”

Building a National Culture of Health: Background, Action Framework, Measures, and Next Steps

“…In the business sector, Chu et al (2000) and Harris et al (2014) have documented the pervasive and beneficial effects of workplace health promotion programs on employee health and well-being and on the health of the surrounding community, and there is growing evidence that these interventions improve business profits (Pronk et al, 2015).…”

Workplace health and safety intervention for child care staff: Rationale, design, and baseline results from the CARE cluster randomized control trial

“…As such, it may be easier to introduce program and policy changes, and their intimate culture may make it easier to encourage employee participation [16]. However, smaller workplaces are generally less likely to offer such programs or policies [17] due to limited resources and capacity [18,19].…”