Creating Healthy Workplaces program
VicHealth has identified five areas where workplaces can begin to make advances, not only in improving the health of employees and preventing future problems, but also in enhancing productivity and reducing absenteeism and staff turnover. The Creating Healthy Workplaces program is structured around five areas:
- reducing stress
- promoting equal and respectful relationships between men and women
- reducing prolonged sitting
- reducing alcohol-related harm
- preventing race-based discrimination and supporting cultural diversity
Using a settings-based approach to health promotion, the program focuses on generating organisational and system-level change within workplaces. We know that this approach is an effective and sustainable way to improve workplace health.
The Creating Healthy Workplaces program will enhance and sustain workplace health promotion research, policy and practice in Victoria by building the evidence base on effective workplace health interventions.
For more information on workplaces and health, contact: workplace@vichealth.vic.gov.au
Victorian workplace setting – Pilot projects
VicHealth is inviting submissions from partnerships to implement two pilot projects in Victorian workplace settings. In each of these three-year pilot projects, a large-scale study in a Victorian workplace/s will be undertaken to both test and expand the current evidence base on workplace health interventions. The outcomes from these projects will contribute to the development of tools and resources for Victorian workplaces.
Request for funding for VicHealth's Creating Healthy Workplaces program:
Applications close 1 June 2012
Apply here http://www.tenders.vic.gov.au
Evidence reviews
We have compiled five evidence reviews of international workplace health research – one for each program area. The reviews identify the strongest evidence for effective workplace health interventions. Printed copies of the summary reports are available by emailing workplace@vichealth.vic.gov.au. The full reports are available only as online PDFs.
Reducing stress in the workplace
Summary report (897 KB) Full report (1,348 KB)
Preventing violence against women in the workplace
Summary report (902 KB) Full report (1,955 KB)
Reducing prolonged sitting in the workplace
Summary report (836 KB) Full report (1,321 KB)
Reducing alcohol-related harm in the workplace
Summary report (993 KB) Full report (1,744 KB)
Preventing race-based discrimination and supporting cultural diversity in the workplace
Summary report (1,861 KB) Full report (1,331 KB)
Translating the research into practice
VicHealth will run a series of large-scale pilot interventions in Victorian workplaces from 2011–13. These interventions will apply current research to a Victorian context, and help us develop and evaluate effective workplace health promotion strategies. This allows us to further build the evidence base for workplace health promotion practice and policy.