The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program

Victor Tringali; Matthew Fritts; Joseph Giandonato; Madeline Luehr; Caroline Reilly; Jenna Moody; Chad Aldridge

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

| Peer-Reviewed

The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program

Victor Tringali, Matthew Fritts, Joseph Giandonato, Madeline Luehr, Caroline Reilly, Jenna Moody, Chad Aldridge

Published in American Journal of Health Research (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Received: 1 January 2022 Accepted: 17 January 2022 Published: 5 February 2022

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Employee wellness programs provide numerous benefits for employers and employees, however, achieving high participation is critical to their success. Workplace health climate, a measure of perceptions of support and environmental conditions, has been shown to influence participation in wellness programs. Thus, our study’s primary aim was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between workplace health climate and participation in an employee wellness program. The inquiry design was a needs assessment utilizing a 16-item survey. Respondents consisted of 1618 employees of a public university. Differences in workplace health climate scores based on wellness program participation, sex, and university company were compared and contrasted. There was a significant difference in total scores between wellness program participants 3.85 and non-participants 3.74, p-value 0.007. There were also significant differences in total scores among the three primary companies. The Academic Division had a mean total score of 3.90, the Physicians Group had a score of 3.81, and the Medical Center had a score of 3.70, p-value<0.001. There were no significant differences in total scores between sexes, p-value 0.153. The findings from our investigation support earlier research and suggest a favorable workplace health climate is associated with employees’ participation in wellness programs. Additionally, workplace health climate can vary among business units and suggest a more favorable health climate might be attained by addressing employees’ perceptions of organizational support. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the constituent elements of workplace health climate, and their association with participation in wellness programs.

Published in	American Journal of Health Research (Volume 10, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13
Page(s)	13-19
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Worksite Health Promotion, Well-being, Social Environment, Organizational Support, Employee Wellness, Leadership

References

[1]	Kaiser Family Foundation. 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2018-employer-health-benefits-survey/. Published October 3, 2018. Accessed August 21, 2021.
[2]	White, B. M. (2020). Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) Faculty and Staff Wellness Assessment (Doctoral dissertation, Middle Tennessee State University).
[3]	Song, Z. and Baicker, K. (2019). Effect of a workplace wellness program on employee health and economic outcomes: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA, Vol. 321, No. 15, pp. 1491-1501. DOI: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2730614.
[4]	Qaisar, M. N., Mariam, S. and Ahmad, F., 2018. Employee wellness as predictor of productivity from public sector management perspectives: Conditional process analysis. NUML International Journal of Business & Management, 13 (2), pp. 104-116. DOI: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357172418_Employee_Wellness_as_Predictor_of_Productivity_from_Public_Sector_Management_Perspectives_Conditional_Process_Analysis.
[5]	Lowensteyn, I., Berberian, V., Belisle, P., DaCosta, D., Joseph, L. and Grover, S.A., 2018. The measurable benefits of a workplace wellness program in Canada. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 60 (3), pp. 211-216. DOI: https://journals.lww.com/joem/Abstract/2018/03000/The_Measurable_Benefits_of_a_Workplace_Wellness.2.aspx.
[6]	Morris, W. R., Conrad, K. M., Marcantonio, R. J., Marks, B. A., and Ribisl, K. M. (1999). Do blue-collar workers perceive the worksite health climate differently than white-collar workers? American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 13, No. 6, pp. 319-324. DOI: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.4278/0890-1171-13.6.319.
[7]	Perrault, E. K., Hildenbrand, G. M., and Rnoh, R. H. (2020). Employees’ refusals to participate in an employer-sponsored wellness program: Barriers and benefits to engagement. Compensation & Benefits Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 8-18. DOI: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0886368719899209.
[8]	Tringali, V., and Aldridge, C. (2021). Physical Activity Climate and Health Beliefs Are Associated with Workplace Physical Activity Program Participation of Older Employees of a Public University. Physical Activity and Health, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 206–214. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/paah.125.
[9]	Hoert, J., Herd, A. M. and Hambrick, M., 2018. The role of leadership support for health promotion in employee wellness program participation, perceived job stress, and health behaviors. American Journal of Health Promotion, 32 (4), pp. 1054-1061. DOI: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0890117116677798.
[10]	Hall, M. E., Bergman, R. J., and Nivens, S. (2014). Worksite health promotion program participation: a study to examine the determinants of participation. Health Promotion Practice, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 768-776. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839913510721.
[11]	Lemon, S. C., Zapka, J., Li, W., Estabrook, B., Magner, R., and Rosal, M. C. (2009). Perceptions of worksite support and employee obesity, activity, and diet. American Journal of Health Behavior, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 299-308. DOI: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/png/ajhb/2009/00000033/00000003/art00008.
[12]	Ribisl, K. M. and Reischl, T. M., (1993) Measuring the climate for health at organizations. Development of the worksite health climate scales. Journal of Occupational Medicine Vol. 35, No. 8, pp. 812-824. DOI: https://journals.lww.com/joem/Abstract/1993/08000/Measuring_the_Climate_for_Health_at_Organizations_.19.aspx.
[13]	Clough, B. A., March, S., Chan, R. J., Casey, L. M., Phillips, R., and Ireland, M. J. (2017). Psychosocial interventions for managing occupational stress and burnout among medical doctors: a systematic review. Systematic Reviews, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 72-80. DOI: https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-017-0526-3.
[14]	Varghese, A., George, G., Kondaguli, S. V., Naser, A. Y., Khakha, D. C., and Chatterji, R. (2021). Decline in the mental health of nurses across the globe during COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Global Health, Vol. 11. DOI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8053406/pdf/jogh-11-05009.pdf.
[15]	Islam, T., Ali, G., and Ahmed, I. (2018). Protecting healthcare through organizational support to reduce turnover intention. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, Vol 11. No. 2. DOI: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJHRH-03-2017-0012/full/html.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Victor Tringali, Matthew Fritts, Joseph Giandonato, Madeline Luehr, Caroline Reilly, et al. (2022). The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program. American Journal of Health Research, 10(1), 13-19. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Victor Tringali; Matthew Fritts; Joseph Giandonato; Madeline Luehr; Caroline Reilly, et al. The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program. Am. J. Health Res. 2022, 10(1), 13-19. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Victor Tringali, Matthew Fritts, Joseph Giandonato, Madeline Luehr, Caroline Reilly, et al. The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program. Am J Health Res. 2022;10(1):13-19. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13,
  author = {Victor Tringali and Matthew Fritts and Joseph Giandonato and Madeline Luehr and Caroline Reilly and Jenna Moody and Chad Aldridge},
  title = {The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program},
  journal = {American Journal of Health Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {13-19},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajhr.20221001.13},
  abstract = {Employee wellness programs provide numerous benefits for employers and employees, however, achieving high participation is critical to their success. Workplace health climate, a measure of perceptions of support and environmental conditions, has been shown to influence participation in wellness programs. Thus, our study’s primary aim was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between workplace health climate and participation in an employee wellness program. The inquiry design was a needs assessment utilizing a 16-item survey. Respondents consisted of 1618 employees of a public university. Differences in workplace health climate scores based on wellness program participation, sex, and university company were compared and contrasted. There was a significant difference in total scores between wellness program participants 3.85 and non-participants 3.74, p-value 0.007. There were also significant differences in total scores among the three primary companies. The Academic Division had a mean total score of 3.90, the Physicians Group had a score of 3.81, and the Medical Center had a score of 3.70, p-value<0.001. There were no significant differences in total scores between sexes, p-value 0.153. The findings from our investigation support earlier research and suggest a favorable workplace health climate is associated with employees’ participation in wellness programs. Additionally, workplace health climate can vary among business units and suggest a more favorable health climate might be attained by addressing employees’ perceptions of organizational support. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the constituent elements of workplace health climate, and their association with participation in wellness programs.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY - JOUR
T1 - The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program
AU - Victor Tringali
AU - Matthew Fritts
AU - Joseph Giandonato
AU - Madeline Luehr
AU - Caroline Reilly
AU - Jenna Moody
AU - Chad Aldridge
Y1 - 2022/02/05
PY - 2022
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13
DO - 10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13
T2 - American Journal of Health Research
JF - American Journal of Health Research
JO - American Journal of Health Research
SP - 13
EP - 19
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2330-8796
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13
AB - Employee wellness programs provide numerous benefits for employers and employees, however, achieving high participation is critical to their success. Workplace health climate, a measure of perceptions of support and environmental conditions, has been shown to influence participation in wellness programs. Thus, our study’s primary aim was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between workplace health climate and participation in an employee wellness program. The inquiry design was a needs assessment utilizing a 16-item survey. Respondents consisted of 1618 employees of a public university. Differences in workplace health climate scores based on wellness program participation, sex, and university company were compared and contrasted. There was a significant difference in total scores between wellness program participants 3.85 and non-participants 3.74, p-value 0.007. There were also significant differences in total scores among the three primary companies. The Academic Division had a mean total score of 3.90, the Physicians Group had a score of 3.81, and the Medical Center had a score of 3.70, p-value<0.001. There were no significant differences in total scores between sexes, p-value 0.153. The findings from our investigation support earlier research and suggest a favorable workplace health climate is associated with employees’ participation in wellness programs. Additionally, workplace health climate can vary among business units and suggest a more favorable health climate might be attained by addressing employees’ perceptions of organizational support. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the constituent elements of workplace health climate, and their association with participation in wellness programs.
VL - 10
IS - 1
ER -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Victor Tringali

Department of Public Health Sciences, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA
Matthew Fritts

Department of Human Resources, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
Joseph Giandonato

Department of Human Resources, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
Madeline Luehr

Department of Public Health Sciences, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA
Caroline Reilly

Department of Public Health Sciences, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA
Jenna Moody

Department of Public Health Sciences, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA
Chad Aldridge

Department of Therapy Services, UVA Medical Center, Charlottesville, USA

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Victor Tringali, Matthew Fritts, Joseph Giandonato, Madeline Luehr, Caroline Reilly, et al. (2022). The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program. American Journal of Health Research, 10(1), 13-19. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Victor Tringali; Matthew Fritts; Joseph Giandonato; Madeline Luehr; Caroline Reilly, et al. The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program. Am. J. Health Res. 2022, 10(1), 13-19. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Victor Tringali, Matthew Fritts, Joseph Giandonato, Madeline Luehr, Caroline Reilly, et al. The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program. Am J Health Res. 2022;10(1):13-19. doi: 10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13,
  author = {Victor Tringali and Matthew Fritts and Joseph Giandonato and Madeline Luehr and Caroline Reilly and Jenna Moody and Chad Aldridge},
  title = {The Relationship of Workplace Health Climate and Participation in an Employee Wellness Program},
  journal = {American Journal of Health Research},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {13-19},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajhr.20221001.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajhr.20221001.13},
  abstract = {Employee wellness programs provide numerous benefits for employers and employees, however, achieving high participation is critical to their success. Workplace health climate, a measure of perceptions of support and environmental conditions, has been shown to influence participation in wellness programs. Thus, our study’s primary aim was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between workplace health climate and participation in an employee wellness program. The inquiry design was a needs assessment utilizing a 16-item survey. Respondents consisted of 1618 employees of a public university. Differences in workplace health climate scores based on wellness program participation, sex, and university company were compared and contrasted. There was a significant difference in total scores between wellness program participants 3.85 and non-participants 3.74, p-value 0.007. There were also significant differences in total scores among the three primary companies. The Academic Division had a mean total score of 3.90, the Physicians Group had a score of 3.81, and the Medical Center had a score of 3.70, p-value<0.001. There were no significant differences in total scores between sexes, p-value 0.153. The findings from our investigation support earlier research and suggest a favorable workplace health climate is associated with employees’ participation in wellness programs. Additionally, workplace health climate can vary among business units and suggest a more favorable health climate might be attained by addressing employees’ perceptions of organizational support. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the constituent elements of workplace health climate, and their association with participation in wellness programs.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download