A healthy workforce is essential for successful business. On average, Americans who work full-time spend nearly eight hours a day at their worksite. Employers are in a unique position to create work environments where health and safety is valued, supported, and promoted. Developing partnerships between public health and the private sector is critical to enhancing not just the well-being of employees, but of the community and population as a whole.
State Health Departments benefit greatly from these collaborations, as employers can be critical partners in implementing programs to address a variety of public health goals (e.g., reducing obesity), which can lead to improved population and community health.
NACDD trains health promotion professionals in the Work@Health curriculum to complement, amplify, and expand state-based efforts to engage employers in building effective, comprehensive, workplace health programs. Work@Health is an evidence-based program that trains employers to develop and implement health promotion strategies to reduce chronic disease and injury risk and improve worker productivity in the workplace. Throughout Work@Health, states and trainers build new partnerships with the business community both by recruiting and working with business influencers and through directly training employers. Trainers are also introduced to evidence-based tools and resources, including the CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard, and given opportunities for networking and peer-to-peer learning and sharing.
Work@Heath is a program of the Center for Advancing Healthy Communities. For more details or information about how to participate in Work@Health, contact Lisa Erck.