Managers' Perceptions of Factors Affecting Employees' Uptake of Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Offers

Abstract

Managers are often charged with the responsibility of overseeing Workplace health promotion (WHP) for which significant amounts of resources are laid aside yearly. While there is increasing interest by employers to include WHP policies, studies show that WHP implementation and uptake by employees still need to be improved upon. Given that managers are part of organizational decision-making and implementation of new policies, they serve as the bridge between workers and management. The aim of this study is to investigate managers' perceptions of employees' WHP uptake as well as challenges encountered by managers in the execution of their WHP-related tasks. Method: This study is based on a qualitative method using semi-structured interviews. Participants in the study were managers at medium and large-scale private companies in Northcentral Sweden. To ensure that participating companies are comparable in terms of structure and policy, only companies within the private sector were eligible to participate. Furthermore, only one manager per company was interviewed. A total of nineteen managers participated and the data generated were analyzed using content analysis. Results: A total of three themes and nine subthemes emerged. The first theme deals with factors at the individual level, subthemes include awareness of WHP, work-life balance, and attitudes. The second theme comprises of factors related to the WHP offer, subthemes were design of the WHP, supportive collaborators and financing of WHP. The third theme deals with organizational factors, subthemes were the nature of the organization's operations, management as role models and resources and support for managers. Results show that most of the challenges encountered by managers in executing WHP were mostly at the organizational level. Conclusion: Addressing modifiable factors at the individual and organizational levels and those related to the WHP may improve WHP uptake among employees.

Occupational Physicians’ Perspectives on Determinants of Employee Participation in a Randomized Controlled Musculoskeletal Health Promotion Measure: A Qualitative Study

“…In a different quantitative study, organizational determinants of employees’ WHP participation were focused on: Strong organizational support had a positive impact, while employees’ co-payment and firm size had a negative impact on participation [ 40 ]. In line with other findings, OPs’ statements in our study suggest social environment and support have an essential impact on employees’ perception of a measure, e.g., through encouraging or skeptical communication of colleagues or contact persons [ 22 , 26 ]. While physician-patient relationship did not emerge as a major theme in our study, findings on OPs’ communication with employees suggest the significance of their interaction for employees’ perceptions of health needs [ 21 ].…”

“…Factors of WHP participation mentioned by OPs were complementary to factors mentioned by employees [ 25 ] or managers [ 26 ] in qualitative studies. Regarding participation in WHP measures, time and financial constraints were mentioned as major barriers by employees before [ 24 ].…”

“…However, findings of the category “employees’ health status” imply experiencing improvement of MSD complaints may facilitate self-efficacy and maintenance of health-promoting behavior. Managers’ perceptions of employees’ WHP uptake in another qualitative study comprised awareness of WHP, and attitudes as individual factors [ 26 ]. The existence of a scope of employees’ differing attitudes facilitating or impeding participation correspond with our findings of OPs’ views.…”

“…While OPs were mostly satisfied with general organizational conditions regarding the MHPM, OPs’ criticism in our study also suggests organizational conditions such as their involvement in inter-professional communication or their working conditions need to be improved for better WHP quality. Challenges reported by managers in executing WHP in another qualitative study were mostly at the organizational level as well [ 26 ]. This underlines the meaning of organizational influences on measure participation and change therein.…”

“…It found employees’ low sense of control over factors influencing their intent, lack of incentive and self-efficacy, and negative cost-benefit ratio explained employees’ non-adherent behavior. In a qualitative study on managers’ perceptions of employees’ WHP uptake, further factors on the individual level, the WHP offer itself, and organizational factors were identified [ 26 ]. Understanding these factors can be facilitated and complemented by exploring OPs’ perspectives, especially considering the lack of perspectives on organizational factors.…”