Join us! Move Europe with us!

Workplace Health Promotion: A Holistic Management Task

Attitudes to health have changed fundamentally in recent years. The new understanding encompasses both physical and mental well-being, the quality of life and learning. Health is no longer a result but rather a process in which people, with their potential and ability to develop, are viewed as an entity and are no longer merely regarded as someone to be protected against illnesses and accidents.

The task of promoting health at the workplace has changed accordingly. If healthy employees represent a key resource for the future viability of companies, health must become an integral part of the corporate philosophy and workplace health promotion must be integrated into the concepts of organisation and human resources development.

The ENWHP supports corporate health management which combines behaviour prevention, i.e. individual measures, with technical/organisational changes (circumstantial prevention) in the company and which firmly integrates workplace health promotion into the corporate culture and the daily decision-making processes at all hierarchical levels. The quality criteria developed by the Network are based on the model of the European Foundation for Quality Management and enable health promotion to be incorporated into company quality management systems. The quality criteria embrace the areas of corporate policy, human resources and work organisation, social responsibility, the planning and implementation of workplace health promotion and its evaluation.

The integration of health promotion into company quality management systems is progressing in many countries in Europe and successful management systems have been developed which incorporate workplace health promotion. The ENWHP has identified examples of "good practice" and has documented them during the projects.