Workplace health management in municipal organizations: the perspective of senior managers

1. Workplace health management
in municipal organizations:
the perspective of senior
managers
Robert Larsson, Ingemar Åkerlind &
Hélène Sandmark
Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and
Social Welfare, Västerås, Sweden
7th Nordic Health Promotion Research Conference, ”Promoting Health in
Everyday Settings: Opportunities and Challenges”, Vestfold, Norway, 2013

2. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
● Shift towards, how organizational factors affect
employee health
● Integration of WHP and OSH [e.g. 1, 2]
● WHP should be integrated into the organization’s
regular management practices [3]
Less knowledge about if and how this is done…
● Need for WHP-studies in public sector organizations
2
Background
[1] Goetzel et al., 2008 [2] EU-OSHA, 2010 [3] Chu et al., 2000

3. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
3
Aim
…to explore how health promotion is
managed within a municipal organizational
context, and also to describe how
workplace health could be incorporated
into the general management system

4. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
● Large employers with the
responsibility of providing
public services
● Variation in organization,
human resource policy,
conditions etc.
● Previous research indicates
poor employee health
4
Research setting
The municipal employer context

5. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
Design: Qualitative approach
Sampling strategy: Managers were purposefully
selected from two municipal organizations
 Senior managers (SM) = higher management positions
 SMs representing a variety of municipal departments
(m = 250 employees)
Data collection: Semistructured face-to-face
interviews
Analysis: Qualitative content analysis
5
Research design

6. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
The domination of wellness
 Provision of activities
 Organizational support
WHP partly integrated into
the management system
 Employee survey as driving force
 Shortcomings in implementation
and follow-up
6
Findings “We offer exercise during
working hours. You can
exercise one hour/week. We
have fruit. We do health
profiles where all are invited
to participate, and you may
also have an interview
afterwards, where you can
follow-up on your result.”

7. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
Development of leadership
competence
 Ambitious leadership programmes
 OHS training
The political influence
 Health-related policies
 To be an “attractive” employer
7
Findings
“Now, the municipality
have decided how money
for wellness should be
used. There is a general
decision.”

8. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
● Selection bias? Some chose not to participate. Those
with little interest/knowledge about WHP?
● Transferability limited to public sector organizations
with similar conditions
● How to not only get “politically correct statements”
and “on the surface information” about WHP?
8
Limitations and challenges

9. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
Preliminary findings concerning how WHP is
managed by senior management
 The domination of wellness
 WHP partly integrated into the management system
Improved management practice concerning WHP…
…could ultimately affect the health of municipal
employees
9
Summary and implications

10. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
Thank you for your attention!
contact: robert.larsson@mdh.se
10

11. School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
School of Health, Care
and Social Welfare
1. Goetzel, R.Z., Ozminkowski, R.J., Bowen, J. & Tabrizi, M.J. (2008).
Employer integration of health promotion and health protection programs.
International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 1(2), 109 -122.
2. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. (2010). Mainstreaming
OSH into business management. Luxembourg: Office for Official
publications of the European Communities.
3. Chu, C., Breucker, G., Harris, N., Stitzel, A., Gan, X., Gu, X. et al. (2000).
Health-promoting workplaces – international settings development. Health
Promot Int., 15, 155-167.
4. Shain, M., & Kramer, D.M. (2004) Health promotion in the workplace:
Framing the concept; reviewing the evidence. Occup Environ Med., 61(7),
643-648.
5. Polanyi, M.F., Frank, J.W., Shannon, H.S., Sullivan, T.J., & Lavis, J.N.
(2000). Promoting the determinants of good health in the workplace. In:
B.D. Poland, L.W. Green, & I. Rootman (Eds.) Settings for health
promotion: Linking theory and practice. (pp.138-160). Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications.
6. DeJoy, D.M., & Southern, D.J. (1993). An integrative perspective on work-
site health promotion. J Occup Med., 35(12), 1221-1230.
7. Chu, C., & Dwyer, S. (2002). Employer role in integrative workplace health
management: A new model in progress. Dis Manage Health Outcomes,
10(3), 175-186.
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References