Health promotion in small workplaces - a feasibility study

The workplace has long been regarded as an ideal setting for health promotion activity. Most activity to date has tended to focus on large organisations, yet in Wales the majority of people are employed in much smaller organisations, often with very limited supporting structures. The ‘Small Workplace’ feasibility study tried to address this inequality by conducting a health promotion programme across a range of workplaces that employed fewer than 50 staff. Data were collected from 531 employees in 37 workplaces. The results highlight the difficulty of engaging with genuine SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), the need to tailor interventions to individual workplaces, the importance of identifying a ‘champion’, the time constraints and limitations associated with small businesses and the problem of fitting ‘health’ into an agenda of competing priorities. Stress was identified as a major problem, particularly in women for whom it was frequently reported as being domestic in origin. There is also considerable scope for health promotion in relation to exercise, spinal pain, diet and smoking.