Stan Maes

“Healthier work at Brabantia”, a comprehensive approach to wellness at the worksite

Abstract As American worksite health promotion projects claim to have not only favourable effects on wellbeing, safety and health, but also on absenteeism and productivity of employees, many European countries and enterprises have become interested in starting similar projects. However, most American programmes focus on the modification of individual behaviour rather than on the creation of health promoting work environments and it is therefore argued that American programmes may be inefficient and socially unacceptable from a European perspective. In contrast to the American approach, the Dutch “Healthier Work at Brabantia” project aims at promoting wellbeing, health and safety by means of changes at the individual as well as at organizational and environmental levels. This is in line with Dutch Labour Law, which describes wellness at the worksite in terms of explicit individual rights and working conditions. The “Healthier Work at Brabantia” project was started in 1990. Brabantia is a Dutch household products manufacturer with several sites in Holland and in other European countries. The project comprises interventions at all levels. At the individual level health risk assessment and counselling, physical exercise and health-education sessions as well as stress management and communication training can be distinguished. At the organizational and environmental level the interventions consist of actions which support behavioural changes and the identification and modification of unhealthy working conditions. Effects of the project are assessed by means of a pretest-posttest controlled design with repeated measures. The first results show a decrease in reported stress in the experimental group (one Brabantia site) one year after the start of the interventions when compared to the control group (two other Brabantia sites). As individual interventions and especially physical exercise were the focus of the interventions during the first year this effect must be attributed mainly to the physical exercise sessions. The measurements in 1992 and 1993 will inform us about the effects of interventions at the organizational and environmental level, including effects on work-related stress, absenteeism, accidents, and disability.