“Working on Wellness:” protocol for a worksite health promotion capacity-building program for employers

Abstract

BackgroundIn the United States, worksite wellness programs are more often offered by larger employers. The Massachusetts Working on Wellness (WoW) program is an innovative, statewide capacity-building model designed to increase the number of smaller employers (200 or fewer workers) adopting health promotion initiatives. This article describes the WoW program design and approaches to recruitment, implementation, and evaluation.Methods/designWoW provides employer training, technical assistance and seed funding, utilizing a Wellness Program Development framework based on recognized good practices. For-profit employers with 200 employees or fewer are eligible for and encouraged to apply for a Massachusetts Small Business Wellness Tax Credit. During the phase described in this paper, employer organizations applied to the program and committed to designating a champion responsible for program implementation. Interventions were to include policy and environmental supports, as well as those targeting individual behavior change through raising awareness and education. Supports provided to employers included seed grants for qualifying activities (up to $10,000 with matching required), community linkages, data collection and organization-specific feedback tools, an on-line curriculum supplemented with technical assistance, and an expert webinar series. Data collection at multiple time points, from the initial application through program completion, provides information for evaluation of recruitment, planned and completed activities.DiscussionThis model is grounded in literature on good practices as well as in local knowledge about Massachusetts employers. It does not directly address the influence of working conditions, which can affect both worker participation and health behaviors. Implementation may be less successful with some organizations, such as those with many workers who are part-time or geographically distributed rather than in a centralized physical location. Program evaluation will assess the extent to which WoW achieves its goals. The data are expected to increase understanding of the needs of smaller employers and industries not traditionally implementing employee wellness programs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-6405-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…This latter consideration may have policy implications considering the high number of such companies and the relevant impact on the development of the world of primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases. Policies might also consider the possibility of defining specific preventive methodologies targeted to small and mediumsize companies [64], helping to create a specific wellness culture [44,65,66], which may have a positive impact outside the work environment. The data showing that small-size companies seem to achieve higher employee participation rates and more health improvements compared to larger companies are also of interest [67], moving from the view of WHP as a "luxury" to the perception of the high effectiveness of the program after its application [68].…”

Well-Being Lessons for Improving Charities’ Online Recruitment

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