Building the Worksite Wellness Foundation Infrastructure: A Critical Component of the WorkWell KS Strategic Framework.

Abstract

Workplace health programs can be ineffective, and changes are likely to be temporary without first establishing a wellness infrastructure. This study sought to determine whether attending a WorkWell KS Building the Worksite Wellness Foundation (Foundation) workshop enabled worksites to develop this infrastructure. Survey data were collected from worksites before attending a workshop and approximately 1 year later. Survey items were designed to assess whether the worksite was implementing best practices. In total, 212 worksites participated in a workshop and completed both a baseline and follow-up assessments. At follow-up, more worksites reported having a wellness committee (89.6% vs 59.7%, P < 0.001) and having wellness committee duties included in position descriptions (26.2% vs 6.4%, P < 0.001). This study suggests that Foundation workshops can support worksites' implementation of best practices to establish worksite wellness infrastructure.