Conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions: What works?

TLDR

Recent years have seen growing interest in organizational‑level occupational health interventions that aim to improve psychosocial working conditions and employee well‑being, with the greatest impact expected when the interventions are structured and involve employee participation. This paper reviews prominent European systematic approaches to improving employee health and well‑being and examines the validity of their core elements to support their use in organizational‑level occupational health interventions. The authors analyze five European methods—Risk Management, Management Standards (Great Britain), Health Circles (Germany), Work Positive (Ireland), and Prevenlab (Spain)—each comprising a structured five‑phase process for redesigning work organization and management. Comparative analysis shows all five methods share a five‑phase structure and core elements, yet none have been thoroughly validated, underscoring the need for further research to identify the effective ingredients of such interventions.

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in how organizational-level occupational health interventions aimed at improving psychosocial working conditions and employee health and well-being may be planned, implemented and evaluated. It has been claimed that such interventions have the best chance of achieving a significant impact if they follow an intervention process that is structured and also includes the participation of employees. This paper provides an overview of prominent European methods that describe systematic approaches to improving employee health and well-being through the alteration of the way in which work is designed, organized and managed. The methods identified are the Risk Management approach and the Management Standards from Great Britain, the German Health Circles approach, Work Positive from Ireland and Prevenlab from Spain. Comparative analyses reveal that these methods all consist of a five-phase process and that they share a number of core elements within these phases. However, overall the five methods have not been thoroughly validated. To examine the validity of the core elements, we review them in the light of current research in order to support their appropriateness in conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions. Finally, we discuss where we still need more research to determine the working ingredients of organizational-level occupational health interventions.