This research evaluates a healthy work organization intervention implemented in a retail setting. Using a participatory process, employee teams in 11 intervention stores developed customized plans for improving work organization at their sites. Ten comparable stores served as controls. Employee surveys were administered prior to the intervention and twice again at 12-month intervals. Business results were compiled monthly for each store. The baseline data were used by the teams to identify needs and establish action priorities for their stores. Most study outcomes declined across time for all stores, due primarily to internal corporate events and a generally adverse economic environment. However, the intervention process appeared to buffer some of these declines; intervention stores fared better in terms of selected aspects of organizational climate and psychological work adjustment. Intervention stores also performed better than controls on general indices of perceived health and safety and two of the four business outcomes: employee turnover and sales per labour hour. These results are discussed in terms of the challenges involved in evaluating organizational-level interventions in work settings.

Minimal-contact, one-shot physical activity interventions delivered at work can help people increase their participation in regular physical activity. Stage matching may not necessarily add value to interventions that otherwise make good use of behavior change theory. The findings also reinforce the importance of barrier reduction in long-term adherence. A limiting factor in this study is that employees in the earliest stage of change (precontemplation) were not well-represented in the sample.

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This study examined ethnic group differences in the effectiveness of a healthy work organization intervention on organizational climate and worker health and well-being. Our sample consisted of employees from 21 stores of a large national retail chain. The intervention involved establishing and facilitating employee problem-solving teams in 11 of the stores. Teams were charged with developing and implementing action plans tailored to the needs of their specific site. Pre- and postcomparisons of the treatment and control groups showed that the intervention produced positive effects on both the climate and health and well-being outcomes; however, these effects varied significantly by ethnic group. Particularly in terms of organizational climate, black and Hispanic employees were the primary beneficiaries of the participatory intervention process. These results are interpreted in terms of social identification and self-categorization theories and are contrasted with traditional participatory and diversity training approaches.