12 Corporate Strategies for Maintaining The
Well-Being of Employees

The following organizational strategies for promoting employee wellness and healthier workplaces are suggested as a starting point for companies and organizations interested in implementing workplace health strategies. Several of these strategies have been found to effectively promote improved health outcomes for individual workers, higher levels of organizational and work team cohesion, and reduced organizational health costs.

1. Demonstrate management support of health promotion by developing a corporate health promotion mission statement.

2. Implement employee lifestyle change programs (improved nutrition, smoking cessation, physical fitness activities, stress reduction, back care, ect.).

3. Institute a corporate health risk appraisal and counselling service.

4. Create an organizational culture that is flexible, supportive and responsive to employees’ needs (training in conflict resolution, team-building and violence prevention skills).

5. Establish and maintain an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to help employees with health and personal concerns.

6. Establish a corporate policy to maintain a smoke-free and drug-free work environment.

7. Offer a program of flexible medical and disease prevention benefits that include clinical preventive services (immunizations, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar readings, etc.).

8. Monitor health promotion programs’ effectiveness, participation rates, benefits and costs.

9. Promote corporate compliance with the New Brunswick Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act and regulations and encourage employees to participate as members of the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC).

10. Offer health and safety education and training which is targeted to the requirements of particular tasks or jobs known to put employees at risk.

11. Create and maintain strategies which allow for regular workplace environmental quality audits and take steps to address identified problem areas (ensuring closer adherence to clean air standards, safety requirements and ergonomic issues).

12. Aggressively communicate regularly with employees regarding health promotion (newsletters, meetings, posters, signage, e-mail, payroll inserts, etc.).

References:

Carman G.A. 1999 Occupational Health and Safety: Success Strategies For The Supervisor. Mississauga: Norco Associates Inc.
Gibbs G.W. 1988 Occupational Health Services in Canada: Through the Year 2000. Toronto: University Press of Canada.
Levy B. S. & Wegman D.H. eds. 1988 Occupational Health, Recognizing and Preventing Work-Related Disease 2^nd edition. Toronto: Little, Brown Company

WorkSafeNB Occupational Health Section: 07/99