IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i2p959-d725497.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Workplace Health Promotion in German Social Firms—Offers, Needs and Challenges from the Perspectives of Employees, Supervisors and Experts

Author

Listed:
  • Ann-Christin Kordsmeyer

    (Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Ilona Efimov

    (Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Julia Christine Lengen

    (Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Volker Harth

    (Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Stefanie Mache

    (Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany)

Abstract

On the general labor market, social firms provide 30–50% of people with different types of disabilities the opportunity to gain employment. However, the topic of workplace health promotion (WHP), needs for improvement and accompanied challenges are neglected in the current research and were the focus of the present study. Therefore, data triangulation was used between July and December 2020 by combining three focus groups with employees ( n = 14 employees) with 16 interviews with supervisors from several social firms in Northern Germany (e.g., from catering, cleaning or bicycle repair sectors). 17 semi-structured telephone interviews with experts in the field of WHP or social firms were added. All approaches were audio-taped, transcribed and anonymized. To analyze the data, Mayring’s qualitative content analysis was used. The results indicated that several offers for WHP, including sport, nutrition and relaxation, were offered, as well as those on smoking cessation, cooperation with external organizations or training and education offers. Needs for improvement were stated referring to additional sport offers, support for implementing a healthy diet, offers for relaxation, financial incentives or collaborations with external organizations. A low take-up of offers; a lack of resources, structures or management support; compatibility of offers with work time and organization; challenges with available trainings or the consideration of individual needs and capacities were highlighted as challenges. Overall, there is a need for further interventional and longitudinal research on WHP in social firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Ann-Christin Kordsmeyer & Ilona Efimov & Julia Christine Lengen & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2022. "Workplace Health Promotion in German Social Firms—Offers, Needs and Challenges from the Perspectives of Employees, Supervisors and Experts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-25, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:959-:d:725497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/2/959/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/2/959/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ann-Christin Kordsmeyer & Julia Christine Lengen & Niklas Kiepe & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2020. "Working Conditions in Social Firms and Health Promotion Interventions in Relation to Employees’ Health and Work-Related Outcomes—A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-25, June.
    2. Holger Pfaff & Sabrina Zeike, 2019. "Controlling im Betrieblichen Gesundheitsmanagement," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-658-16525-3, October.
    3. Benedicte Deforche & Jasmine Mommen & Anne Hublet & Winnie De Roover & Nele Huys & Els Clays & Lea Maes & Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij & Jelle Van Cauwenberg, 2018. "Evaluation of a Brief Intervention for Promoting Mental Health among Employees in Social Enterprises: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ann-Christin Kordsmeyer & Ilona Efimov & Julia Christine Lengen & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2021. "“One of My Basic Necessities of Life Is Work. That’s Just Broken Away.”—Explorative Triangulation of Personal and Work-Related Impacts for Supervisors and Disabled Employees in German Social Firms dur," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-28, August.
    2. Agata Basińska-Zych & Agnieszka Springer, 2021. "Organizational and Individual Outcomes of Health Promotion Strategies—A Review of Empirical Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-27, January.
    3. Ann-Christin Kordsmeyer & Julia Christine Lengen & Niklas Kiepe & Volker Harth & Stefanie Mache, 2020. "Working Conditions in Social Firms and Health Promotion Interventions in Relation to Employees’ Health and Work-Related Outcomes—A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-25, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:959-:d:725497. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.