"Healthy Workplaces" – an intervention. Promoting health among Greenlandic employees

Introduction: Workplace health promotion is vital in ensuring the well-being among employees. An intervention program called ‘Healthy Workplaces’ was implemented by the initiation of CSR Greenland (Corporate Social Responsibility) and its partners, the Ministry of Health and Greenland’s Athletics Union. Healthy Workplaces focuses on training employees to become ‘Health Ambassadors’ (HAs). HAs are then expected to implement health promotive activities in their workplace with the support of their managers. The study aim is to identify the enabling and constraining determinants HAs face in the implementation process.
Methods: The first phase of the intervention has been evaluated, which included the evaluation of the first round of trainings and implementation experiences of the HAs. Qualitative methods were applied where HAs and their managers were interviewed immediately after the first training course and follow-up telephone interviews. The initiators were continuously briefed of the study’s progress via meetings. Additionally, a literature review based on scientific articles investigating the effects of workplace health promotive programs was also completed. Results: HAs can be categorised into three groups; (1) the highly motivated and passionate, (2) the motivated, and (3) the unmotivated. Managers can also be categorised into three groups; (1) a less engaged manager, (2) an engaged manager, and (3) a highly-engaged manager. Conclusions: The results from the evaluation of the first phase have resulted in recommendations that have been presented to the initiators and are continuously being implemented in the program. The results will be discussed and therefrom solutions will be achieved.