Culture, management and finances as key aspects for healthy workplace initiatives

Pippa Waterworth; Melanie Pescud; Stacie Chappell; Christina Davies; Dee Roche; Trevor Shilton; Melissa Ledger; Terry Slevin; Michael Rosenberg

doi:10.1093/heapro/daw068

Culture, management and finances as key aspects for healthy workplace initiatives

Health Promot Int. 2018 Feb 1;33(1):162-172. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daw068.

Authors

Pippa Waterworth¹, Melanie Pescud^{1

2

3}, Stacie Chappell⁴, Christina Davies⁵, Dee Roche⁶, Trevor Shilton⁷, Melissa Ledger⁸, Terry Slevin⁸, Michael Rosenberg^{1

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
² School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), ANU College of Asia & The Pacific, The Australian National University, Fellows Road, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
³ The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, Sax Institute, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁴ College of Business, Western New England University, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield, MA 01119, USA.
⁵ School of Population Health.
⁶ UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
⁷ National Heart Foundation (WA Branch), 334 Rokeby Road, Subiaco, WA 6008, Australia.
⁸ Cancer Council WA, 420 Bagot Road, Subiaco, WA 6008, Australia.
⁹ Health Promotion Evaluation Unit, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

PMID: 27543456
DOI: 10.1093/heapro/daw068

Abstract

The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore the barriers and enablers to implementing healthy workplace initiatives in a sample of workplaces based in Perth, Western Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from 31 organizations representing small, medium and large businesses in the Perth metropolitan area which reported having healthy workplace initiatives. In total, 43 factors were mentioned as influencing the implementation of healthy workplace initiatives. Factors appearing to exert the most influence on the implementation of health promoting initiatives in this sample were culture; support from managers and staff; collaboration with industry providers; financial resources circumstances and the physical environment. These factors appeared to be mutually reinforcing and interconnected. Findings suggest there may be merit in applying an organizational development lens to the implementation of workplace health promotion initiatives as this could assist in leveraging enablers and minimizing barriers.

Keywords: barriers and enablers; implementation; qualitative research; workplace health promotion.

MeSH terms

Australia
Culture*
Financial Management
Health Promotion / methods*
Health Resources
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Leadership*
Qualitative Research
Workplace / psychology*