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Small-scale enterprises (SSEs) are important for sustainable development in Europe and account for a significant proportion of private enterprises and their large contribution to employment. The purpose of this paper is to explore workplace health management (WHM) from the perspective of managers in SSEs in Norway and Sweden.

In-depth interviews with 18 managers in SSEs were conducted and a stepwise qualitative analysis was used.

The findings are presented as two main patterns: inter-organisational dynamics and participative leadership. Managers discussed opportunities for WHM to foster solidarity and flexibility in the workplace, the potential of employees for self-governance and a cultural environment at the workplace characterized by safety, trust, care, loyalty and humour. The managers employed a process-oriented communicator style, were all-rounders, and demonstrated dedicated and distinct management. Managers in SSEs were lone problem solvers and experienced high and conflicting work demands and work-family conflicts.

The findings should be interpreted with caution concerning representation of SSEs generally. The enterprises were recruited from an intervention project focussing on WHM and might, therefore, have a positive attitude.

The managers obtain recommended information about what to do and how to address WHM in SSEs.

This study adds important knowledge regarding the preconditions for creating health promoting workplaces in SSEs, an area for which limited research exists. The findings provide insights and knowledge about managers’ possibilities and obstacles in WHM. The findings could be transferrable to management in similar contexts if managers develop more awareness and knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the gaps between experienced working conditions (WCs) and the perceived importance of these conditions in relation to subjective health in Swedish public sector workplaces.

In total, 379 employees answered questions concerning WCs and health. Nine WC areas were created to measure the gap between the experienced WCs and the perceived importance of each condition. These WC areas were: physical work environment, social relationships, communication, leadership, job control, recognition, self-development, workplace culture and work/life satisfaction. Subjective health was measured using mental ill health, well-being and general health.

The results indicated relatively large gaps in all nine WC areas. Leadership, physical work environment and work/life satisfaction in particular seemed to be problematic areas with relatively large gaps, meaning that employees have negative experiences of these areas while perceiving these areas as very important. Additionally, all WC areas were significantly related to subjective health, especially regarding mental ill health and well-being; the larger the gaps, the worse the subjective health. The WC areas of work/life satisfaction, self-development, social relationships, communication and recognition had the highest relationships and model fits. This indicates that it is most problematic from an employee’s point of view if there are large gaps within these WC areas.

This study improves the understanding of workplace health by exploring the gap between experienced WCs and the perceived importance of these conditions.

The increasingly demanding psychosocial working conditions in Swedish public sector workplaces call for implementation of workplace health promotion (WHP) interventions. There is a need to increase first-line public sector managers’ capacities for health-promoting leadership. The purpose of this paper is to investigate first-line managers’ experiences of participating in an intervention aimed at strengthening health-promoting leadership. More precisely, the aim is to study what obstacles and prerequisites the intervention have for their learning processes to become health-promoting managers.

A qualitative study in Northern Sweden at workplaces in the county council and municipalities was conducted. The data were gathered through individual interviews with 18 participating first-line managers. Inductive-content analysis was used to analyse the data.

The results identify time for reflection and collegial discussions about leadership as prerequisites for learning about health-promoting leadership. Managers experienced the intervention as a confirmation of the leadership behaviours already gained. However, the health-promoting leadership intervention was seen as a contradiction, since organisational prerequisites to implement WHP measures were perceived to be lacking. The managers were not involved in the planning of the intervention and questioned why the organisation did not involve them more when the educational activities were created.

When the organisation understands how and when its managers learn, what they need and want to learn about WHP, and what they already know, tailored participatory interventions can be facilitated that consider the unique prerequisites for the particular organisation.