Editorial

Citation

Makrides, L. (2010), "Editorial", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 3 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijwhm.2010.35403aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Volume 3, Issue 1

I am pleased to present to you Vol. 3 No. 1 of the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. This issue is representative of the wide scope of workplace health topics: fairness and return to work, factors that influence participation in physical activity, prevalence of risk factors, leadership and employee well-being and financial viability of workplace wellness. We welcome papers in these and other topics such as workplace safety, social and physical environmental issues, productivity, measurement and evaluation, case studies of workplace wellness programs and findings, both positive and negative, lessons learned etc. And the perspective can be from employees, labour unions and management. Papers on policy papers and large-scale government initiatives and corporate wellness strategies are also welcome. The Journal will in fact endeavor to include in every issue a paper outlining workplace health policies, standards and strategies at the corporate, community and government levels. There are many initiatives in these areas around the world and we will endeavor to share some of these with you. Stay tuned!

Now to this issue: in “Successful return to work: The role of fairness and workplace-based strategies” C. Gail Hepburn et al., provide an overview of the research literature on return to work and investigate whether injured workers’ perceptions of how fairly they are treated during the return-to-work process, impact outcomes beyond the workplace return-to-work strategies. Based on telephone interviews with 166 workers in Ontario, Canada who had experienced musculoskeletal lost-time workplace injuries, they report that the perceived fairness of the person most involved in the return-to-work process affected the duration of work disability over and above the provision of workplace-based strategies. The offer of work accommodation was found to be an influential strategy and interactional justice did not significantly contribute to the explanation of days on compensation beyond that provided by the presence of workplace-based strategies. The authors concluded that their findings underscore the critical importance of the manner in which employers’ representatives treat injured workers during the implementation of these strategies. Injured workers’ perceptions of interactional justice contributed to the explanation of their self-reported days absent, depressive symptoms and affective commitment beyond what was accounted for by the workplace-based strategies alone.

In “Environmental correlates of physical activity in Australian workplaces” Jason Bennie et al., examined individual, social and physical environmental factors and their associations with physical activity at and around the workplace. Participants (n=1,107) were recruited from a random sample of employed adults in cities and major regional centres in Australia. Self-reported barriers and participation in physical activity at and around the workplace were assessed. Results suggested that there are various levels of influence associated with workplace physical activity, particularly the social factors of perceiving work colleagues and managers to be active and having a physical environment within the workplace that supports physical activity.

In “A case study identifying disease risk factor prevalence in government office workers in Queensland, Australia” Rebecca M. Sealey et al., reported high rates of being overweight or obese (54 per cent of female and 77 per cent of male) government office workers located in different regions throughout Queensland, Australia. Overall, 38 per cent of employees (n=328) did not participate in sufficient weekly physical activity. The greatest risks for both males and females were associated with overweight, obesity and physical inactivity with elevated blood pressure found in 22-41 per cent of the male participants. The authors suggest that workplace interventions aimed at lifestyle behaviour changes should be implemented to decrease these risk factors.

In “Teachers’ wellbeing and perceptions of leadership practices” Anne Konu et al., examined the wellbeing of 1,294 Finnish teachers in elementary (grades 1 to 6), lower secondary (grades 7 to 9) and unified schools (grades 1 to 9). Also, questions concerning work organization and leadership practices in school were compared between teachers grouped according to gender, type of employment, working hours and time served in the current school. Teachers’ wellbeing was found to be highest in elementary schools and lowest in lower secondary schools. The wellbeing of a male teacher, one who had fixed-term employment and one who worked part-time was higher than that of a female, a permanently employed and a full-time teacher. Similar findings were reported for questions related to work organizations and leadership practices, with elementary school teachers rating them highest, lower secondary lowest and unified school teachers’ perceptions falling between these two. The authors concluded that school administration should pay attention to permanent teachers’ wellbeing and caution that school size, not considered in their study, may also be a factor contributing to differences found in teachers’ wellbeing.

Sandra Lee and colleagues present a case study example in “The price is right: Making workplace wellness financially sustainable”, based on their own in-house workplace wellness program in a large acute care teaching hospital in UK. They set out to launch an employee workplace wellness program that would eventually become self-sustaining. After an initial investment and three and a half years after launch, the authors found that the program covered its own expenses and earns up to £50,000 a year profit. It was concluded that while it is important for organizations to provide the initial investment for workplace wellness programs given a high-level of management support, such programs can become at least self-sufficient and may even become revenue-generating.

As always, I personally invite your comments on past issues and look forward to receiving your contributions to future issues.

Lydia MakridesEditor-in-Chief