The Health and Cost Benefits of Work Site Health-Promotion Programs

We review the state of the art in work site health promotion (WHP), focusing on factors that influence the health and productivity of workers. We begin by defining WHP, then review the literature that addresses the business rationale for it, as well as the objections and barriers that may prevent sufficient investment in WHP. Despite methodological limitations in many available studies, the results in the literature suggest that, when properly designed, WHP can increase employees' health and productivity. We describe the characteristics of effective programs including their ability to assess the need for services, attract participants, use behavioral theory as a foundation, incorporate multiple ways to reach…

• JA
  Johnson and Johnson